This is a difficult review for me to give as I’m still not quite sure how I felt about this book there were some parts I really liked but other parts I completely struggled with. The story was not quite what I was expecting and while that’s not a bad thing I must admit I was a little bit disappointed and I didn’t seem to connect to the characters at all.
I can’t fault the writing at all it was the fact that the book was told mainly in back stories and I felt that it made the read a bit disjointed and not always that easy to follow. Overall this was a different reading experience, did I enjoy it ? Well I’m just not sure but as I say it certainly was different.
My thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing PLC for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

An interesting one! I found the characters to be extremely well-crafted and fascinating and I enjoyed every minute of experiencing their lives and their psyches. Most of them were terrible people... but that didn't impact my enjoyment. I did however find the Quigley House/horror aspect to be a little clunky and out of keeping with the more intricate details of the character's lives. It was as though this were two different books in one... as though the Quigley House story was added afterwards, in to make it more of a commercial genre book. If the Quigley House was there to be some kind of metaphor/social commentary then that didn't quite land for me; I thought the character's back stories did that much more effectively on their own. But since the back stories took up the majority of the book, I overall really enjoyed the read.

This book was clever and suspenseful from the first page. A real delight. It’s quite rare to have something like this – so clean, well-crafted, but also moving – that I didn’t want it to end.

Thank you for this ARC for my opinion. What a story. It was full of so many things, very descriptive on the horror side. The characters slowly building with their lives and getting into your head. The more I read I couldn’t put it down. A great read. Would recommend to others.

When Bryan, Jaidee, Victor and Jane team up to compete at a full-contact escape room, it seems simple. Hold your nerve through six terrifying challenges; collect all the red envelopes; win a huge cash prize.

But the real horror is unfolding outside of the game, in a series of deceits and misunderstandings fuelled by obsession and prejudice. And by the end of the night, one of the contestants will be dead.
The premise of this book sounded interesting from the very beginning. It was a quick, easy read and if you are looking for a quick, entertaining read then this is a great book for you!

This book was not what I expected, and unfortunately that hindered my enjoyment of it. I believed this would be a horror novel set in an escape room, which really sounded perfect, yet this was not at all what the book was truly about. In reality, most of the chapters exploring the characters lives before Quigley House, and what little time we spend inside the cells feels rushed.
The characters are well written, if a little unlikeable, but that makes them feel human - I enjoyed reading about them, but the characters weren't why I wanted to read Reprieve.
A little of the blame lies on me, and my expectations, but I do feel the blurb was misleading.

From the start, we know there has been a murder, we know the identity of both the victim and the perpetrator. We just don’t know the why….

The setting is atmospheric - through the eyes of multiple narrators, we explore the ‘haunted house’ a cramped apartment with multiple generations of unhappy people co-existing, and the bustling streets of Thailand.

Recommended.

This book will definitely have a loving audience but, unfortunately, I will not be in it. I anticipated a ghoulish horror but most of the story took place before these terrifying elements begun. I loved the inserts from the court hearing and longed for the focus to remain there or in the actual escape room.

The premise of the novel sounded intriguing - a group of people going through a series of escape rooms to win a cash prize but someone doesn't make it out. Interesting! However in the book there is remarkably little time spent in descriptions of the escape rooms, and most of it is towards the end. What descriptions there were didn't really fascinate me as much as I had wanted. Early on in the novel I had to check to see if this was a YA book as it definitely sounded like one at points (it isn't).

We find out who dies and who does it right at the start, and the rest of the novel is a social commentary on the back-story of the contestants taking part and uncovering the 'why' of the contestant's death. It does have a lot to say on prejudice, fitting in, belonging and identity. Just not one for me, though others may well love it.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an ARC copy of this book.

A chilling and blisteringly relevant literary novel of social horror centred around a brutal killing that takes place in a full-contact haunted escape room—a provocative exploration of capitalism, hate politics, racial fetishism, and our obsession with fear as entertainment.

The read has a psychological aspect to it that is enjoyable. While it may have been a bit easy to see the ending it was still fitting for the genre. The ending is very disappointing and felt rushed. This had the chance of being an excellent book with the synopsis given but fell short at the end.

The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

If there was a full-contact escape room, full of horrors, an escape room where there had only ever been one winner, would you do it? What if there was a massive cash prize? If you're reading this review of a horror book, you're probably going to say yes. But this escape room is different. And there's a chance not everyone will get out alive.


There is more to this book than meets the eye. On one hand, there is the story of the attempt to get through the cells in Quigley House, but by far the most impressive part of Reprieve are the deep stories of the characters and their intertwining lives. I really felt as though I got to know the people involved, and it made the culmination of the piece all the more satisfying.

There were several instances illustrating why people should be careful judging others, which was neatly done by Mattson, and that is down to the clever narrative voices. If someone repeatedly says horrible things, they are a horrible person, right? Well, read it and find out.

What I'm trying to say is that Reprieve isn't a normal horror novel. Sure, it has gore, it has horrible things happen, there are shocks and twists, but this has a literary feel to it, and I would love to read more from Mattson.

Thanks to James Han Mattson, NetGalley, and Bloomsbury Publishing for this copy.

3.5 rounded down.

‘Reprieve’ yell contestants who can take no more of Quigley House, Lincoln, Nebraska, a house of smoke and mirrors, where teams of four compete in a game that can only be described as ghoulish. There are six ‘cells’ they have to pass through where they encounter repulsive creatures aiming to prevent them from grabbing the requisite number of envelopes to proceed to the next cell. If and it’s a big if, they complete the game they win £60,000 and a t-shirt, yes, don’t forget the t-shirt as you’ve certainly earned it! However, in 1997 when Jaidee, Jane, Victor and Bryan compete something goes catastrophically wrong. The story is told through the eyes of Kendra, Bryan’s cousin who works at Quigley House, Leonard Grandton a hotel manager with links to Quigley House and by Jaidee Charoensuk, a competitor and international student from Thailand. Their narratives are interspersed with court transcripts and via the contestants progress in the game.

First of all, it’s fair to say the premise is quite an original one and the sections I like most are in the game itself as these are described vividly. The characterisation is good, they’re all flawed, some have traits that make you extremely uncomfortable such as Leonard who is a misogynist and owner John Forrester is a manipulative sleazeball and distinctly creepy. It’s hard to know what to make of Jaidee who struggles to fit in, is culturally misunderstood and he misunderstands too. We learn more about each character through the process of the game and this is done well. It’s also good on social commentary especially racism, sexual identity, sexism and politics which is clever and thought provoking. It’s a slow burner, it does have some suspense, in places it’s entertaining and the finale is good as is the epilogue with no reprieve for some characters.

However, it’s described as horror and I don’t find it particularly horrifying principally because it seems to be targeted mostly at a YA audience rather than adult. Some of the chapters just seem yukky rather than making the hairs on the back of your neck stand out. Some dialogue makes me wince, it’s juvenile and I hark back to my YA point. Some parts are unnecessarily overlong and lead nowhere. It’s bleak, repetitive, too long with over detailing and way too much going on in the plot that it becomes dizzying and head spinning. In places it’s tedious and takes effort to keep going which makes for an uneven novel. It jumps about from one narrator and time frame to another which gets confusing.

Overall, even with the flaws the premise is good as are some sections.

With thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

Having read the reviews of this book, I was looking forward to reading it. However, having finished it I’m not sure how I feel. It’s very ‘odd’.

I was really looking forward to reading this book however I was left really disappointed. I struggled through the book and didn't look forward to picking it up. I didn't find any of the characters exciting or interesting, and the story was way too slow for me.

The premise of Reprieve was intriguing to me, a murder taking place in an extreme escape room, and once I started in, the structure drew me in even more.

The book starts with excerpts of a police interrogation about the murder but then jumps back to give the backstories of each of the major characters. The book then cuts between interrogations, progress the rooms in the Escape House and characters backstory. How the characters end up coming together is well done and keeps the interest level high.

The main characters are a good mix too, some likeable, some definitely not. On the whole, an enjoyable read with an interesting story and some nasty action

I was enticed to read this book as the description sounded interesting, an escape room scenario and something different to what I’d read before.

There were some interesting elements when the escape rooms were discussed in detail and them all navigating their way around, but I found it long winded hearing all their back stories. I feel there could have been more to the escape rooms themselves and less about the characters.

I didn’t particularly like the ending and when I read the last sentence I thought “is that it?” I wanted to know what happened with Leonard and Boonsuri and more about the aftermath for John.

Overall I was a little disappointed and it didn’t live up to the initial hype.

Bryan, Jaidee, Victor and Jane team up to complete a full-contact escape room, but a series of deceits and misunderstandings unfold, fuelled by obsession and prejudice, and by the end of the night one contestant will be dead... A horrific tale that looks at both the present and also the past to fill in the backstories. Not a bad read, maybe just not for me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of the book in return for my honest feedback.

Where to start on this book?... Dark, gripping, horrifying and intensely human, it's a tale of obsession, manipulation and misunderstanding - a sure-fire classic horror story.

I enjoyed this book especially the ‘cell’ escape room theme parts. The book jumps from interviews to backstory to the escape room. The back story parts, I felt, were a bit long and drawn out and I would have preferred more of the book spent on the escape room.
Overall a good book though

I really enjoyed this book, the set up, the depth of character given to the protagonists, but, ultimately, it was a little disappointing in the pay off. Maybe just not for me!