The Fear (edició 2022)

Rainy days are meant for escapist, just plain fun to read titles. And most often I like to lose myself in a YA book on those days. The Fear is Natasha Preston’s latest book. This is a first read of this author for me - and it certainly won’t be my last!
You know all those teen slasher movies? The ones where the adults and teachers are a bit useless and the teens are determined to solve things on their own, even as someone picks off their friends one by one. Preston's plot takes inspiration from that idea, but with her own twist on things. Would you repost a meme that asked you to detail your biggest fear about dying?! I for one wouldn't. But a number of teens in the town of Rock Bay have done just that.

You know what’s gonna happen next don’t you? You got it - they're being murdered by the fear they posted online. Our lead character Izzy is one of the few that didn’t post what she’s most afraid of. She's a great lead, determined, somewhat innocent and very likable. Rock Bay is a small town, where everyone knows everyone and their business. School politics, friends, frenemies, hookups, sports, the in crowd, relationships and more. And of course there's that mean girls group, the popular ones. There's some 'love' interests as well. Because it wouldn't be a teen read without one - or two.

Everybody’s under suspicion as Preston waves a delicious 'don’t go in the basement', 'oh my gosh why are you doing that' kind of read. Chances are taken, silly moves are made, but that’s the fun of this kind of book.

We get chapters written from the killers point of view and they’re labelled Fear. I had my suspicions, but was kept guessing as to who the killer was going to be for most of the book. Kudos to Preston for a heck of an ending - I did not see that coming. I absolutely loved The Fear - five stars for a fun, addictive tale. ( )

It all starts with a stupid meme: post your greatest fear. It's winter in this small fishing village and the meme spreads like wildfire. Izzy sees it but she isn't going to post her fear and gets mad when her cousin and best friend post theirs.

Izzy's right because then her classmates start dying in ways that echo their greatest fears. The first victims are Debbie and Kason - members of the school's in-group. Izzy is the one who discovers Debbie's body. She's driving home with her friends after being at a party and is going slowly because there is a snowstorm when she sees something that makes her stop.

When the police interview her, she says she says Debbie had left the party earlier. No one was too concerned since Debbie is known as a mean Drama Queen. Izzy is greatly upset by being the one who discovers Debbie's body. Then the next day hockey player Kason's body is found and tensions rise in the town.

Izzy is determined to find out what happened to her two fellow students. After all, she's the one who found Debbie's body. She's also observant and smart. But suspicions and bodies begin to pile up. She has an overabundance of suspects. It is Justin who is her secret crush? He and Kason were rivals on the hockey team and he dated Debbie. Is it Axel the quiet loner who is Izzy's partner for an English project? Is it Tristan? He seems to show up frequently in odd places. He's also her sister Lia's friend that she hasn't seen often since Lia went off to college.

Most of the chapters are told from Izzy's point of view but a few are told from Fear's point of view. Unfortunately, the clues Fear drops in his chapters don't help us readers eliminate any of Izzy's suspects.

The story was creepy and filled with tension. However, Izzy borders on being Too Stupid To Live as she ventures off on her investigations with little regard for her own safety and wavers between trusting and suspecting many characters.

Then, there is the ending which was both ambiguous and extremely frustrating. Teens will likely enjoy the twisty plot and intrepid heroine. ( )