Four Found Dead

by Natalie D. Richards

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

A hair-raising locked-mall murder mystery, Four Found Dead is perfect for fans of Karen McManus and Holly Jackson. Pop your popcorn, grab your favorite Slurpee, and head to an eerie theatre in this high-stakes slasher.

A terrifying thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Five Total Strangers and Seven Dirty Secrets!

The last show has ended, but the nightmare is just beginning.

Tonight, Riverview Theaters is closing forever, the last remaining business in a defunct shopping mall. The moviegoers have left, and Jo and her six coworkers have the final shift, a shift that quickly takes a dark turn.

First a stranger arrives with a chilling accusation. Then the power goes out and their manager disappears, along with the keys to the lobby doors and the theater safe, where the crew's phones are locked each shift. The crew's tension turns to terror when Jo discovers the dead body of one of her co-workers.

Now their only chance to escape the murderer in their midst is through the dark, shuttered mall. With its boarded-up exits and disabled fire alarms, the complex is filled with hiding places for both pursuer and pursued. In order to survive this night, Jo and her friends must trust one another, navigate the sprawling ruins of the mall, and outwit a killer before he kills them all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781728215822
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	05/02/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	129,438
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Natalie D. Richards writes books that will keep you up way past your bedtime. She lives with her family in Columbus, Ohio and when she’s not writing or reading, you can probably find her wrangling Wookiee, her enormous dustmop of a dog. Visit her on Twitter @natdrichards or at nataliedrichards.com.

Editorial Reviews

03/27/2023

In this drawn-out thriller by Richards (Seven Dirty Secrets), eight teenagers fight for their lives against a murderous assailant in a desolate shopping mall. Jo and her seven coworkers are busy celebrating their bittersweet last night working at Riverview Theaters, the sole remaining open business in their soon-to-be-renovated Ohio mall. But when Jo goes to retrieve her confiscated phone from their manager, she discovers a coworker’s recently murdered body. Suddenly, the lights go out and the mall’s doors are sealed from the outside, and with the group’s phones still locked in the theater’s safe, they’re forced to rely on their wits to survive until someone can call for help. Each of the teens has a secret, and as they’re hunted down, their secrets’ connection to the murderer’s motive slowly unfurls. The immediate reveal of the killer’s identity saps narrative tension, and gratuitous banter frequently stymies atmosphere. Nevertheless, Jo’s urgent-feeling first-person POV, interspersed with newspaper clippings and personal email exchanges, ably guides the plot, which teems with rich character interactions and propulsive action as slasher-flick ambiance takes over the nostalgic setting. Jo reads as white, and the supporting cast is racially diverse. Ages 14–up. Agent: Suzie Townsend, New Leaf Literary & Media. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"The tension is high, the fear tangible... A high-octane thriller that towards the end cannot be put down" — Youth Services Book Review

"[Four Found Dead] teems with rich character interactions and propulsive action as slasher-flick ambiance takes over the nostalgic setting." — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2023-02-25
It’s closing night for the Riverview Theater—and four employees will be found dead in the morning.

The eight people working that evening are finishing up their last shift before the Ohio mall is closed down and completely refurbished. Before leaving, they need to get their phones and keys from the manager’s safe, but this routine does not unfold as usual. Their manager, Clayton, is as harsh and angry as ever, but Jo gets the sense that something is wrong: It turns out he has brought a gun to work, concealed in his waistband. And then the lights go out, the panicked workers discover all the exits are locked or boarded over for construction prep, and everyone is trapped inside with no way out. Despite the promising setup, the story goes on for too long, with some chapters feeling like filler instead of propelling the action. Jo’s first-person narration is effectively supplemented with news clippings and emails. The book features supporting characters who are racially diverse and fairly well developed; protagonist Jo is a White girl whose personal history of trauma is slowly revealed. Given the title, it’s clear from the outset that half the major characters will not make it out alive, but the central mystery of why they die may be obvious early on to astute readers.

An overly long thriller. (Thriller. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews