Lie or Die by A J Clack (slight spoilers)

Ten strangers trapped in a television studio

Forty-two remote cameras

One rule: Trust no one

When a casting call is announced for new reality TV show Lie or Die, Kass is tricked into auditioning by her best friend. Big Brother meets Mafia, Lie or Die pits contestants against each other as they try to discover who is a murderous agent and who is an innocent player. But when contestants start to turn up dead (the real kind, not the fake kind), Kass realises that not being eliminated and winning the game is the least of her worries. No longer a game of truth and lies, Kass and her friends are in a fight for survival. ‘Reality’ just got very real.

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What a rush! Ten people locked into a Big Brother style house, meant to figure out who the Agents are and who the Players are, find their game going horribly wrong. With no one sure who's on what side, they'll have to find a way to work together if they want to survive.

This is fast paced and exciting. Because it's all narrated by one character, there was never a doubt that she'd get into the show, even when she's initially rejected, and there were a couple of really obvious bits of foreshadowing - for instance, the moment Kass looks up at a high gantry and thinks about how she'd never willingly get up there, I knew that at some point she'd have to get up there. There's also a really obvious drugging scene that no one catches on to, but then they were exhausted, terrified and half starved by then. (Warning, the next one's a bit gruesome, highlight to read only if you're sure you're ok with that: at one point they open a secret door and find a body inside. The body has been there for three or four days by that stage. Wouldn't they be able to smell it?)

Those little points aside - and again, from outside the story it's always easier to see what's going on - this is a really good read. The characters don't give much away, I hadn't guessed a couple of the twists, and the thought of being trapped somewhere like that is really claustrophobic. The whole set up is very clever.

There's what might be a sequel hook at the end, or might be just meant to leave us unsettled. Either way works and I'll be watching out for more by the author. Great read.

Lie or Die publishes on the 7th of March, 2024. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.