What can I say except, WOW.
After reading so many holiday read recently I needed to get back to my favorite genre. I was looking for a captivating thriller I could jump into and I found just that with this book.

The premise of the book reminds me of a dark twisted hunger games.

Death Row Games is about six death row convicts on one island and the last player standing is able to win their freedom.

It sounds crazy but honestly what do they have to lose? They’re going to be executed anyway. At least this way one of them will have the chance to walk out alive, right?

Our two contestants we have insight to through their POV are there due to life circumstances.

Now they not only need to survive against each other but the elements as well.

This book took me for a spin. I kept trying to guess where it was going. The twist was insane.

I appreciated the multi pov perspective the author included. The pov of anonymous made the whole book feel so sinister. You had no idea whose mind we were in or if it was even a person at all.

I really enjoyed this read. I loved reading and trying to decipher between who was trust worthy and who was not. It was hard to tell if the games really were what they seemed on the surface, or if something more sinister was at play. It kept me on my toes from beginning to end.

This book was fantastic! I really liked how the point of view shifted between different characters. It was really chilling to see the character's thoughts in their "anonymous" form. They were pretty dark characters, with some pretty morbid thoughts and actions. I especially enjoyed seeing the characters go from feeling hopeless and unsure if they could survive to finding the strength to fight back. I was surprised by the moments when the evil characters were trusted. I wish I could have communicated to the good characters that they needed to run! That final page was shocking. I wasn't expecting that!

I absolutely loved this book! I really enjoyed how the point of view alternated between different characters. Being able to see the character “anonymous” thoughts gave me chills. They were a very dark character with morbid thoughts and actions. I especially enjoyed getting to see the characters going from feeling hopeless and not knowing if they had what it took to survive to getting the strength to fight back.

The moments where the evil characters were trusted had me wishing I could somehow communicate to the good characters that they needed to run! That final page left me shocked! I was not expecting that!

Minus 1 star I felt like it was easy to predict who the evil characters were from the beginning.

My favorite characters:
- Brooklyn
- Eddy

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley, author Shade Owen’s and Res Raven Publishing for the ARC and opportunity to review this book.

4.5⭐️ rounded up just because the ending didn’t really do it for me.

This was my first from this author but it won’t be the last. It was hunger games meets death row. A nice change from the usual overdone storylines. It was suspenseful and gripping. A fast paced read. I loved Eddy and Brooke’s characters and felt the author did a great job developing them throughout the book.

The storyline was done well, my only complaint was the very last part. I felt it was just thrown in there and didn’t really fit at the end. I would have preferred it somewhere else along the book.

Overall a great book!

4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️