What is your biggest fear?

By Gianna Liantonio

The Fear by Natasha Preston was released in March of 2022. It is a young adult mystery and psychological novel. Preston is known for these types of books, each one being fast paced page turners that will always have you on the edge of your seat.

Do you know your biggest fear? For the people in Rock Bay, they have to keep it a secret or they’re not safe.

What a seemingly innocent post asking people what their biggest fear is turns into a target list.

Izzy already does not want to put her fear on the list, but when her cousin and sister put theirs on she fears for their lives, scared they’re going to be next. She is always looking over her shoulder, being wary of each footstep she hears and shadows she may see along the walls.

Izzy, her best friend Sydney and cousin Amiyah find the first victim at a party and from then on, they see the post isn’t as innocent as they thought. As more students get killed, she becomes fearful for her loved ones.

Izzy starts to become paranoid of everyone around her, thinking anyone at school could be a suspect, which is a possibility given the victims have been high school students. She becomes suspicious of her English partner Axel who is already classified as the school loner, but may have a darker past than others know.

You definitely don’t know who it could be throughout reading this book, being suspicious of everyone. Along with Izzy, you start making a suspect list of who it could possibly be. The targets at the time seemed to just be popular kids, so Izzy tried to think who had it out for them. She starts to find out that the once so popular group had secrets to hide and conflicts, not being as perfect as everyone thought.

She starts to work with her highschool crush Justin who before this all happened, would never be able to speak one word to him. Along with Justin, she gets aid from Tristan, her older sister’s friend and also Axel’s cousin. She still remains guarded, not fully trusting anyone other than her best friend and cousin, not feeling comfortable to be alone and feeling watched constantly in the small town.

This book is definitely a page turner that will have you keep guessing to the very end who it could be. I definitely did not know who it was while reading, always thinking it’s one person and then something else happens making me think it’s someone else. The killer becomes elusive, everyone seeming guilty yet innocent at the same time. The real question is: Who is telling the truth and who is really good at lying?

Natasha Preston writes amazing mystery thrillers with cliffhangers at the end of each book making you wonder how the characters’ stories actually end. They are still worth the read and will have you make up your own theories and ideas and how the story could continue.

You definitely won’t guess who the killer is even when you get close to the end. It is definitely worth the read along with her other amazing novels!

The Dare is a new mystery thriller that will be released May 7, and I am so excited to have more amazing stories written by her!