An interesting take on the boarding school story, but instead of midnight feasts and tuck boxes we have huntin' shootin' fishin' and the Medievals, a group of students who would seem to have it all. The main character, Greer, admits to being a murderer in the prologue so the story is about finding out exactly who she is meant to have killed.

A pretty decent YA novel, with a bow taken in the direction of Christie's And Then There Were None but ultimately nowhere near as satisfying. I enjoyed the story and was intrigued by the whole premise. At the end of the day though it wasn't quite thriller/suspense-y enough for me. I suspect 13-year-old me would have devoured it though!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. A fresh take on boarding school. I was unable to put it down

There are few books that can keep me up and reading late into the night these days. STAGS was the first one in a while, but it was just so good. I didn't want to stop reading, even when I knew there would be a while before the action got really good again.

It was all just so ominous. Even when Greer was trusting Henry and putting the "accidents" that happened down to just bad luck, there was this background sense that they were being toyed with. I'm not sure how much that's because of what it says in the synopsis. If the synopsis left us questioning more over whether they are just genuinely accidents, would it have felt so ominous? It would be something I'd like to know.

I really enjoyed the relationships between the characters. The friendship that formed between the three victims and the way that they barely knew each other before, but being in the house drew them closer together.

After the way it ended, I'm really hoping for a sequel.

Brutal and gory account of three teens deadly brush with the popular crowd. Set at St Aidan the Greats - an exclusive boarding school where future politicians and business leaders begin networking, Greer is getting used to the fact the Medievals - the richest, most beautiful students - will never know she exists. So when she's invited to a weekend of Huntin' Shootin' and Fishin' at Henry de Warlencourt - the king of the Medieval's - country pile, she's surprised, but excited. Only to find entertaining her, and her fellow classmates isn't the only thing the Medieval's have in mind. Not a perfect book - I would have loved to see more of the activities, and also more clues as to the eventual ending on the way. I wish the author had gone a little further with the gruesomeness, and also found the final activity anticlimactic compared to the other two. But it was thrilling enough to keep me awake until 2am, and have me scrambling for it again when I woke up.

I was excited for this book from the first moment I heard about it. The very premise was something that pricked my interest. I was able to get a copy of this book signed by M.A Bennett during YALC this July and I impatiently waited for The Reading Quest to start so that I could start this book. As you can tell, there was a lot of build up and a lot of anticipation for this release.

S.T.A.G.S reached all of my expectations.

From the very first line – “I think I might be a murderer” – I was engaged in this story.

It’s written like almost like a memoir, everything told in retrospect which I think adds to the tension and thriller aspects of the story. You know something happened, you know someone died, you know who is responsible – you just don’t know what it is.

Bennett is really good at keeping the tension up throughout the story. The events of the deadly weekend are paralleled against the posh blood sports that take place each day – day 1, huntin’; day 2, shootin’; day 3, fishin’. Details about each bloody hobby are described and then seen acted out by the perpetrators. It’s a great way of adding foreshadowing – and therefore tension – to each arc of the story.

I really liked Greer’s voice. I enjoyed the moments of uncertainty that she felt, I liked all the movie references because that was something that was distinctly her and gives her a fantastic voice that you can follow with ease.

All the characters really were charismatic and entertaining in their own way. From the ‘Medievals’, blond and beautiful, to Shafeen, who wants to find out the secrets and save those he cares about, to Nel, who just wants to fit in. Each of them have you questioning intentions or feeling empathy deep in your chest for these feelings of inadequacy.

There’s a lot of focus on the modern world vs the old, and the social commentary that comes with that is incredibly interesting to read. Positives and negatives are both raised, the romanticisation of the past repeatedly challenged. In the end, this questioning is something that sets the characters and the world that S.T.A.G.S inhabited apart from everything else.

And as for the plot twist, well, let’s say – M.A. Bennett, is there going to be a sequel?

This was such a fun book to read. It tells the story of Greer, the new girl at a prestigious school and the weekend away from hell. What I liked the most here, was the tone. The narrative is told from Greer's perspective and she has a really sassy voice that works so well. The story is interesting and the plot construction keeps your attention, despite always having a fair idea of what is going to happen next. The characters are well drawn and the dialogue is smart and feels authentic. There are parallels with any school clique story and the underdogs banding together, but the author has managed to use these tropes in novel ways with a strength of prose that is undeniable. I like all the film references and overall, really enjoyed this book.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

WOW! I am still reeling from this book even though I finished it hours ago, and if I didn't have a serious need to get through some books on my reading list before school starts, I would delve right back into S.T.A.G.S again from the beginning to see how many more little details I missed. I've already tweeted and told friends that this book is like Hogwarts meets How to Get Away With Murder, but there is honestly so much in this book to get excited about, and I hope I can control my excitement enough to write a coherent review.

S.T.A.G.S stands for St Aidan the Great School. It is the prestigious boarding school that Greer, the protagonist, has won a scholarship to attend for sixth form. Intimidated and lonely, surrounded by children who are wealthier than her and know all the rules better than she does, she is intrigued and excited when she receives The Invitation. She has been invited to spend a weekend 'huntin, shootin, fishin,' at Longcross, the manor house belonging to the school's golden boy, Henry de Warlencourt, along with his gang, called the Medievals, and two other misfits. However, Greer's belief that she might have finally been welcomed into S.T.A.G.S begins to waver. As each of the bloodsports ends in a well-timed 'accident', the three guests begin to wonder whether they are the predators, or the prey.

This novel has a mystery feel to it from the beginning. I loved how Bennett uses foreboding so well, instantly telling us from the start that a 'murder' takes place, and that there is something ominous going on in S.T.A.G.S, and yet, like Greer herself, we can't quite figure out what it is. Just as she does, we're suspicious of characters, and then we see them in a slightly more flattering light and we wonder whether they're really the bad guys at all, or whether they're just misunderstood. I liked how she alternated tense scenes, like the hunting scenes, with Downton Abbey-esque dinners, more romantic scenes, or slightly friendlier chats with the Medievals. It meant that your idea of the characters was never set in stone, and they changed with every scene. Until the very last page, you can't quite put your finger down on the problem, you can't figure out who the real bad guy is, where the 'bad guys' end and the 'good guys' begin, and how Greer and her friends will ever be able to escape.

The plot moves forward constantly, and even where the pace of the story is slower, there is always tension bubbling away beneath the surface. Every conversation that the characters have, every room that we enter, every little detail means something, and you are kept on your toes throughout. I loved the way that the three guests at Longcross, Greer, Nel, and Shafeen, come together to try and figure out what is really going on at Longcross, and discover that the seemingly harmless traditions of not using technology hide something far darker underneath. I never felt that Bennett's writing dragged the story down, even though she often described things like buildings and dresses, because she did so in a way that felt natural to Greer's voice and fit in with the story, and always picked up details that she had mentioned and made them important later in the story. She has an excellent skill at weaving details and storylines together in a way that you suspect they will add up to something more significant, but can't quite figure it out. In fact, right up until the last page, she is pulling tricks out of her sleeve and shocking you.

Underneath all of this excitement, mystery, and suspense, there are deeper themes of class, race, and tradition. Even if the setting of S.T.A.G.S and Longcross is as establishment as it comes, and as alien to you as it was to Greer and me, this book is not Downton Abbey or Hogwarts-esque. It isn't even, as Greer jokes, Mean Girls-esque. It is dark, thrilling, and thought-provoking. It makes you question establishment and traditions, and also wonder what deep, dark secrets could be lurking in plain sight.

I've said this in a few reviews recently, but this is definitely one of my books of the year, and even after writing this review, I'm still reeling. I just know that I'll read anything that M.A. Bennett writes after this.

This idea was cool, but...disappointing? I was expecting more full-blown horror over having nightly dinners with drunk antagonists.

This book is told from a reflective Geer in first person, this mean once in a while we get a reminder than bad stuff is gonna go down. It hypes up to nothing in my opinion. Yeah, something happens, but its kinda small (in terms of books).

The bad guys are bad, the main characters do stupid stuff for no reason. The ending doesn't work well for me. I have specific reasons, but we don't do spoilers here. They feels like this book had another ending at one point, because something that happens would have made more sense if the characters had done the more obvious thing. I really hope that things weren't changed to force a sequel because this book doesn't need one and the ending would have been stronger. Like I feel like its been set up for one, but I don't think there's enough interesting stuff going on for another book. There's nothing wrong with being self-contained.

We have another pointless romance. Why ROMANCE? This is weakly use to give character motivation, that's not needed, nor is it done well. It's stated. This is more a general YA complaint, I'm just going to complain until someone gives me friendship and and developed characters. I actually would have liked the relationships, the thing is this book just has a lot small scenes that overbalance it into the negative for me and with only 300 pages they have a big impact in my memory when trying to review this book.

Geer is all about the film references, since she named after film star. I usually enjoy this sort of thing; but it soon becomes apparent that this a crutch to cling to other people's imagery and emotion than your own ability. Also the youngest film she references is Twilight.

I live in the country, I basically always have. Deer and pheasant are roadkill. If you're city folk, you might be horrified by shooting a deer, but pheasant are pigeons. Deer are counted as vermin due to how many they are. They like to jump in front of cars in pairs, like sheep. Pheasants choose to wander roads to be ran down and cause damage to cars. There a point where Geer (a name that never flows) picks up a dead pheasant, I thought it was alive, never questioned it until she started crying in her head. Pheasants are stupid, a pheasant would let you pick it up as it stares at its dead comrades. If I wanted I could catch a pheasant, I could. Literally, no reason to do so. Hunting Pheasants is the same as fishing in fish farm. I don't approve hunting without reason, eat what you catch and don't agree with some of the practices but as a country girl I have kill pheasants and I will probably kill again (Stop jumping in front of my car).

Geer becomes dislikable when she doesn't care about fish...The one thing that there is not an over-abundance of (though, they probably farmed anyway). Though, if your a city girl like Geer, you won't know this stuff so really this is just my pet problem. I often have those.

The plot while interesting, makes very little sense. Modern society is bad, there clearly think its bad in several ways, but ends up being all about the internet. The arguments for and against the internet are hella weak. It involves the media's wrong definition of what an online troll is. Trolls don't specifically harse someone and bully. Troll is someone who intentionally annoying and idiotic, yes often offensive, but not towards individual people. The art of the troll is annoy large groups of people. If someone sends you a death threat or personalised insult they are not a troll. Sadly some people are just as dumb as trolls prend to be. Though, it probably getting to the point that media is dumb enough that keep repeating, the definition might have changed for younger people, but living with a 13 year old, I can tell you they don't call their antagonists trolls. It kinda felt like it was written by someone who doesn't use the internet (with research I can tell that this non-debut novelist has to be a like ten years older than me and therefore did not grow up with the sites that can be argued to have shaped the modern internet and might be like my sister who knows nothing about internet despite using it daily). The arguments are dumb because hate mail has existent since the start of anonymous mailing systems have and bullying has been a problem for like always. Geer nor any of the characters challenges this argument meaning it doesn't do much. Argument have to be challenged to stand at all. By the way, I would have took Vine out of this book, as vine has been dead for a year, there is no way it couldn't be took out. It just quickly dates this book. I wonder if Vine had a bigger part until it died or no one noticed it died (I got an arc but it doesn't have the Proof disclaimer at the front so...I'm going with its the finished novel).

There's an obsession with rich YouTubers...yeah some of them are trash, but YouTube is never defended as being more than a place for rich boys doing nothing and hosting viral cat videos. Its hosts several community involving intelligent discussion and artists as well. Also there are tons of daily vloggers that puts tons of work into their videos. I've been on YouTube for ten years and the target market will include people who remember YouTube always having been a thing for them. If this is gonna be such a thing in the novel, then at least give me a character that watches YouTube. Geer loves films, there are tons of films on YouTube and there is the more legal practice of reviewing and discussing films. There are groups of young filmmakers that make short films on YouTube. There are production value on YouTube. It would have better if anyone had challenge them.

Overall, I give this 3/5 stars for This is M.A. Bennett's first YA novel. This an okay, quick read that tries to place class snobby within the internet age. Secret murder societies are bordering schools are over done and the internet aspect just wasn't done well enough to be interesting. I think a big problem is this book wasn't as cool as the summary made it sound and therefore I am disappointed. There were things I should have liked and enjoyed about this book, but sadly it was very whatever. It's an okay read, if certain things had been different it could have been brilliant.

BTW, I read this on my phone. I read books on my phone the majority of the time, phones are carry of media. Another argument that could have been used in their favour.

5 Words: Privilege, power, huntin', shootin', fishin'.

Holy wow. I misjudged this book a lot.

I knew from those first gripping pages that there had been a death, that someone thought they had murdered someone else, but I loved how unreliable it felt.

I'm not entirely sure what it was about the cover or the blurb (yes, I read it for once!) that made me think that this was set in the US, but it's not. And that came as a very pleasant and welcome surprise.

I found myself quickly sucked deep into the world of the Medievals and Savages and the intrigue of school politics, and that was enough to keep me feverishly turning pages even before the main story kicked in. And once that main story kicked in I was hooked by the ominous cloud hanging over everything, the portent of what I thought I knew was to come (I was wrong).

I loved Greer. I loved how she had this film connection with her father and how it was such a large part of her life that slipped into Greer's narrative.

I feel like this would translate amazingly into film or TV - and the setting would be all the more breathtaking. Think Skins set in Downton Abbey with a dash of Mean Girls.

The ending of STAGS was left open, ready for a sequel. But I actually hope it is left on its own, as that would make the story (and the ending) even more powerful. Also, I can carry on the fanfic in my head.

Perfect for readers of YA mystery or psychological thrillers. Right from the start we know there are murderers and a murder. We are just waiting to learn the how and why of it. The entirety of this book is so fun, fast-paced, and entirely original. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep readers on the edge of their seats. Bennett's writing is excellent truly building up tension and suspense. This is one unputdownable read. Highly recommended to readers of YA thrillers. We've got a hit here! Be sure to check out today!

After Greer starts at prestigious school S.T.A.G.S on a scholarship she's isolated for the majority of term. When she's invited for a weekend of huntin'shootin'fishin' with the 'cool' group of the school, she jumps at the chance. But... is it friendship they're looking for? Or victims? 

I wanted to read S.T.A.G.S. because it sounded like a really different kind YA book. I'm not used to reading YA thrillers. Plus, I had high hopes it would actually be thrilling and not just claim to be a thriller. The premise intrigued me so much because I wanted to know what was going to happen on this hunting, shooting and fishing trip.

I loved the premise of the book. From the very start we know a murder will occur by the end of the book. Therefore anticipation builds throughout as we wonder how it's going to happen. Full of stereotypes, the villains aren't particularly sneaky but they are highly manipulative with the victims. I felt that in some places the posh stereotype was overplayed slightly but it was more funny than annoying. The plot also affected more than the 4 days we living it within the book, which made it more interesting.  

The three victims were all very different characters. They're all distinct  whereas the Medievals are carbon copies of one another. I also found it funny how they showed how backwards they were in thinking, they discussed technology as if it was a big problem. Greer our main character happily points out all the fantastic things we can do with technology, and I wholeheartedly agree with her. I honestly didn't understand how all the pupils in S.T.A.G.S. didn't use mobile phones just because the popular crowd didn't. 

This isn't a classic whodunnit mystery. We know who is murdered and by who fairly early on. The biggest mystery is about what the trip to Longcross is really for, and why the students are going along with this trip every year. The ending, although shocking, felt abrupt. There was a little bit too much time spent on filler. Such as a clichéd YA romance and Greer talking to a stuffed deer head(??). It would have been better focusing on why it was happening earlier on in the plot. Overall though, I really enjoyed reading S.T.A.G.S. as it really caught my attention.

I was expecting S.T.A.G.S to be a dark boarding school tale with a hint of horror and was thoroughly looking forward to reading it. Greer has received a scholarship to attend the prestigious school whilst her single father is working abroad. She's from Manchester and not from old money, so she doesn't fit it. So she's quite surprised when she received The Invitation from the Medievals to the annual huntin' shootin' fishin' weekend at Longcross.

Now at the very start Greer admits to being a murderer and the blurb gives away the fact that people end up being hunted. So the main impetus to carry on reading was to find out who they killed. It was overall a bit tame, no one ever seems to be in mortal danger. Yes, the hunting aspect is cruel but it felt more like pranks played by bullies rather than any murderous intent. I thought there'd be more running (or hiding) for their lives.

Honestly, I found the Medievals were caricatures of posh people and therefore were a bit unbelievable. They reject technology and all things they consider "savage", wishing that the world had never moved on from feudal days. Although they have more moral arguments against technology. And Greer was so ridiculously mooney-eyed over Henry, even when it was obvious to everyone that he was a bit of a nob.

When you're not caught up in the story or characters, it's a lot easier to be irritated by small details and unfortunately this happened a lot in this case. One thing that's worth saying is there is a spoiler for The Fault in Our Stars. Why do that? I know it's been read/watched by a lot of people but there will always be new readers coming along, especially when you're writing for young adults. There are ways you can reference things that will be understood by fans yet vague enough not to directly spoil.

I probably should have DNFed it but I was reading on my daily commute and I'd got so far that I wanted to know who they actually killed. It's all a bit convoluted and I felt it was trying to be too many things at once.

Honestly if you're not dying to read this book after reading the blurb, then I'm lost for words. It promised teen drama, of the boarding school variety, the glamour of the rich and wealth, and danger in the most brutal form of bloodsports. As soon as I saw this on Netgalley I was itching to read it and am not at all surprised to hear it's been optioned for the big screen.
The characters in the book are so clearly depicted, from the outsiders: Greer, our protagonist, 'Carphone Chanel' and 'The Punjabi Playboy', to the Medievals: six gorgeous, sleek and shiny upper sixth students who run the school. The book had me constantly second-guessing characters and unsure who to trust – even to the last page!
Whilst at times Greer's constant movie references (and spoilers) became a little tiresome, on the whole the tight plotting of this this book had intrigue, murder, romance and suspense and I am sure we'll be seeing more great things from M.A. Bennett.

I found out about this book a few months ago and ever since its been one of my anticipated reads, this book is a YA, thriller, mystery, which is one my favorites!

The main character, Greer, attends S.T.A.G.S on a scholarship where she’s in sixth form, where she soon receives an invitation to go to Longcross Hall for a few days where the Medieval’s, (like prefects), are hosting, huntin’, shootin’, fishin’, and they invite three other people from the school to attend, they chose the three most ‘outcast’ and different from the other students that attend S.T.A.G.S

I read and finished this book in just a day only putting it down for food. It was absolutely gripping and interesting, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and I didn’t want to put it down whatsoever and I wasn’t let down by my anticipation for it which was good!

‘I think I might be a murderer.’

After the first line in this book, we already understand that there has been a murder, and by the second chapter we know who got killed, but however we are left questioning what happened and why did this happen, I wasn’t disappointed, by the end of the book I was left wanting more. From the way that this book ending I believe it could go two ways by it being a standalone or a sequel coming out. I kind of want there to be a sequel because like I said, I was left wanting more, I want to know a bit more about what happens and how Greer and her friends deal with it so if there is a sequel I will be picking it up in a heartbeat.

I highly recommend this book if you enjoy a good thriller/mystery and also if you’ve read and enjoying One of Us is Lying by Karen M McManus which is also an incredible read if you haven’t read that either.

"It was a bit like that bit in Beauty and the Beast when the Beast dances with Belle. Except there was no Belle. And no music. And no candlelight. Just a beast."

* * *
3 / 5

I don't often read books of the thriller variety, but this one was a special treat for me, mostly because there wasn't that much actual thriller. It's got all the staples of a classic YA boarding school story: rich kids, fancy buildings, pretentious British house names, privilege, power, and bullying, and adds a little hint of thriller. S.T.A.G.S was easy to read and had a couple of likeable, realistic main characters.

"Maybe I accepted it because I was lonely. Or maybe, if I'm being honest, I accepted it because it came form the best-looking boy in the school"

First, we have Greer. She's a bit of an archetype initially: poor girl who gets scholarship to one of the most prestigious schools in England, doesn't really fit in with all the rich kids and is excluded. Bennett gives Greer a splash of individual character by making her a complete film nut and she often describes scenes in terms of famous films, which is pretty cool and unique. Greer, social recluse (not by choice), is thrilled to receive an invitation to spend a holiday "huntin' shootin' fishin'" at the manor of Henry de Warlencourt alongside the rest of the Medievals, the elite group of six Sixth-form students.

Joining Greer is Shafeen, tall, handsome and from Rajasthan in India, teased despite his moneyed background and branded with the moniker "Punjabi Playboy" despite being neither Punjabi nor a playboy. He's my favourite character of the book: kind, chivalrous without being sexist, rich whilst being aware of what is has done for his life, sensible and headstrong. The third individual to receive The Invitation is "Carphone Chanel", also new to STAGS, whose only mistake is to have the "wrong kind" of money, living the Gatsby lifestyle.

"It wasn't just the stockings that marked them out; it was a particular kind of confidence they had about them. They lolled about like expensive cats"

When the three outcasts accept Henry's invitation to a weekend of blood sports, they aren't quite sure what they're getting in for. The first fifth of the book is set in the school, building up to the trip, and it's a solid start. Bennett definitely knows how to write; Greer's voice was very engaging and Bennett clearly did their research as regards hunting. Shafeen, Chanel, and Greer all accept The Invitation for different reasons but as the trip goes on and the stakes get higher, they begin to think that there is something very wrong about Longcross Estate. That perhaps this hunt is not quite what they thought.

This book doesn't rate higher for me because of a couple of details. First of all, Greer spends a lot of time waxing lyrical about how beautiful Henry is, about how charming and delightful his lifestyle is. Now, I don't blame her for buying into the illusion, to be seduced by the allure of the rich, but I don't need to hear about how much she likes his face every three paragraphs. This normally happens when the action and suspense of the book lulls; there are parts that I thought could have been cut in order to preserve the quick pace and emotional engagement of the book, like Greer's chats with her maid or her traipsing round map rooms. There also needed to be more to differentiate the other five members of the Medievals: all I could recall about them was that the two guys drank too much and the three women were beautiful but intelligent. That's it.

"I might have been academically smart, but I was monumentally stupid not to realise sooner what was going on. It's not as if I wasn't warned."

I did think the suspense aspect of STAGS was done really well. Like I said, I'm not a massive thriller fan, but I thought this book hit the right note for me. There's that vague, ominous sense that something isn't quite right conveyed throughout the book, though you aren't quite sure what it is. What was quite surprising was the introduction of quite an important plot point at about 85% the way through the book; this aspect felt rushed and a bit predictable. It did result in quite an impactful ending, however.

Overall, I found S.T.A.G.S to be a quick, easy read that tries to instigate a bit of thought about class, morality, wealth, and the role of technology in our lives, but is mostly just a fun thriller.

My thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of this book.

Pleasantly surprised by this book, I thought it would be a lot like The Hunger Games, but it was very different in the end, which I enjoyed. I wished for more gore, but that's just my personal preference. It was a good read though, well written, good plot, and great ending!

This book was touted like part Looking for Alaska & part Hunger Games or Battle Royale. And when the book starts with the phrase "I think I might be a murderer" you expect a thrilling ride. It was actually spoiled kids playing at a weekend of Downtown Abbey (without the charm of the series) where the hunt is supposed to turn into something more sinister, but does not really rise to the occasion.

The protagonist Greer (who is a movie obsessed likeable character with a sardonic wit) gets a scholarship to the titular exclusive boarding school, complete with "Mean Girls" type group called the Medievals. She is mostly ignored due to her no money status, until she receives the quite coveted Invitation to the yearly Medievals' weekend of blood sports.

The premise was actually a compelling idea, and trying to understand the dynamics of this unique school at the beginning was interesting. But then until more than half the book nothing really happens & the narrative was very uneven. There were parts where it started to get engaging & you thought "okay here we go" and then it would suddenly get so slow I could feel my eyes glaze over.

But the book aggravates you so much you even start to be annoyed by Greer, especially with her desperate wanting to fit in & liking the "villain" even with all his despicable behavior. The cute movie referencing becomes excessive movie name-dropping to such a point that they don't make sense anymore.

There was a great idea for the "truth" of the school at the end of the book, which if presented earlier may have changed the whole course of the story making it the exciting fare it could of been. STAGS might of worked as an episode of procedural TV drama, but as a book, not so much.

Running Man, Hard Target - human hunting now hits schools

A school of privilege, and one in which the wealthiest invite 'lesser' classmates home for the weekend, to be targeted in blood sports. Many films have used similar themes - Battle Royale and Series 7 The Contenders as a sign of a weakening, immoral society, as well as those mentioned above. It's a concept that shocks but also fascinates - who would hunt a fellow human?

At STAG (St Aidan the Great) Boarding School, Greer is a scholarship girl, the only student without money at a highly privileged and ancient institution run by monks. Invited to a fellow sixth former's ancestral home one weekend with fellow misfits, she is put to the test as she begins to suspect her host and his friends of using them as sport.

It moved quickly, but I was a little disappointed in the danger the threesome were put in - rather convenient escapes and near misses, it never had the feeling of 'The Wicker Man' when everyone turns on the victim and you fear for their lives. The final twist isn't too much of a surprise, though I did enjoy the reasoning behind the whole scheme.

Greer herself benefits (to my film fan mind) from a quirky love of films, seeing significant events as key moments in films and telling us what she is reminded of. Personally, I loved these references though I can imagine that not all readers will recognise the references.

Enjoyable enough, not really any surprises but a few elements that make it memorable. Would transfer well to the screen.

With thanks to Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

Honestly I read this book faster than anything else this year and it was incredible. Gripping, mysterious, gruesome, and shocking at times. I'm always a sucker for a boarding school story and this novel delivered that and so much more suspence and twists that I could have ever expected. It was kind of slow around the half way mark but the ending completely made up for that, and I look forward to a potential sequel. The End?
The vharacters were well thought out, and diverse, there were lots if strong political and economical messages that were weaved throughout the story which really packed a punch.

Overall I enjoyed this much more than I expected and will have to pick up a physical copy for my collection! I'll have to keep my eye out for more work by this author as well.