This is a Ruth Ware novel with the darkness dialed up and the realism dialed down, maybe a dash of diversity for flavor. It's served warm but quickly cools over a narrative that long outlasts its savor. 

It has merits: the plot, the mystery, the way it resists certain tropes and breaks off the rails to offer something just a little different, just a little less expected and easy. It wrestles with some unexpectedly hard issues, But a third of the way through, it lost-the suspension of my disbelief. Then at the two-thirds mark it just got tiresome and frustrating. I wanted to DNF it, but felt like I needed to honor the -time I'd put in. Maybe it was the lack of urgency, or the heavy-handed deep POV: I plowed through, but it was a SLOG, 

Trigger Warnings: graphic depictions of panic and anxiety, graphic near drownings and depictions of being trapped or suffocating Depiction, not graphic, of suicide, References to non-consensual sexual acts, Graphic descriptions of non-sexual assault References -to brutality and sexual abuse, Themes of group violence and exploitation. Gaslighting

While the premise is strong and some sequences are genuinely thrilling (especially the dares), the middle section sags and some plot elements feel too familiar for the genre. The book shines in its intense moments but struggles to maintain consistent momentum.