Amber Prescott is just one of six teens to be invited to have dinner with the Mayor after winning a 20K education scholarship. All six arrive at the venue, surprised but pleased at this exciting development in their separate lives. They all know each other from school, but only a handful are friends – or are they?

Soon after they arrive, the thick oak door to the conference room slams shut. There is no key, but there is a note. And a weird looking syringe. And a bomb. The note says they have 1 hour to decide who will die. Just one will do. Who will it be?  The result is instant panic in some, and shock in others, but Amber is determined to solve the problem and save everyone’s life. But is it an option?

Amber is there with her boyfriend Robbie, Diego, her childhood friend who ruined her father’s business, her ex-best friend Pia who Amber misses terribly, her new best friend Sasha who is ready to choose the victim as soon as the door slams shut, and Scott, the school drug dealer.

Working together one minute and then thrown into turmoil the next, the heat of the room is also rising. They search the room for an escape, and discuss their options.

Everyone blames everyone, but as a fragile calm settles, they go back over past events, trying to figure out who put them in this situation? Who hates them this much? Secrets are revealed, and blood is spilt as the tension rises and the bomb ticks down. They have to choose! Don’t they?

This book has it all. It’s a high school drama, it’s a thriller. It’s a love story and a story of loss and grief, friendship, loyalty, popularity, rivalries and revenge. The characters are diverse, all with their own complicated lives of parental pressures, addictions, goals, dreams, or just day-to-day survival mechanisms.

Split into alternate chapters of NOW (in the room with the bomb), and a period back in time, moving closer and closer to the present – revealing the back story behind the reasons they are all there. The excellent twist threw me completely and I wanted to start back at the beginning to savour the set up! The strong language (they are 17/18 year olds after all), puts this as 16+ readership. Gripping!

Author – Diana Urban

Age – 16+

(High School, Futures, Plans, Dreams, Goals, Music, School Play, Drama, Thriller, Captives, Locked in, Escape Room Scenarios, Drugs, Family, Suicide, Bulling, Manipulation, Revenge, Rivals, Baseball, Grief, Movie Soundtracks)