The Assassin Game

Boarding school on a island with little contact with the rest of the world? Sign me up!

This was such a atmospheric story, which I didn't expect for a YA thriller. I felt like I was in a cold boarding school on a small island in Wales!

I was so sure who the killer was, but then it flipped it on its head! All these teens have seemingly gone crazy and it's so interesting to dissect, but good luck figuring it out before the end!

This book was provided to me as an uncorrected digital review copy by the publisher, via Edelweiss.

Cate attends Umfraville Hall, a boarding school meant to educate the most gifted students. Cate doesn’t match that description; there are things she is good at, but nothing at which she excels. The fact that her family owns the island on which the school sits has bought her way into the hallowed halls of the exclusive institution. Her only chance of fitting in, even after attending the school for three years, lies in the game “Killer”. She has been chosen to participate, which improves her status, but now she has another worry: staying alive.

I really enjoyed this book. I don’t say that lightly, because when one takes on the task of show more reviewing books before they have been released, one also takes on the risk of feeling obligated to read some very poorly written material. This book kept me up past my bedtime, and that’s huge for me. Bedtime, to me, is sacrosanct. I reeeealllly like to sleep, so for a book to keep me up late, it must be either very intense or have characters that have gotten under my skin. This book does both. I chose to review this book because I enjoyed the premise. It’s not an extremely original idea, but setting it on an island is. And this isn’t just any island, but an island that is frequently cut off from the mainland by the incoming tides. That cranks up the creepiness factor. The dialog feels natural and flows well. The exchanges between the characters are what you would expect to hear if you listen in on a conversation between teenagers. The story is well-paced, with no rushing or dragging. My very favorite part of this book, though, is Cate. She is an extremely flawed main character. She is absolutely no good in the titular game. The one time Cate seems to actually discover a clue and make a solid assumption from it, it turns out that she is wrong. The rest of the time, she’s just doing her best to hide from the “killer” rather than actually trying to figure out who it is. Rather than be annoyed by her ineptitude, I found myself thinking “Oh, that’s so Cate”. Then there’s Vaughan. He’s not the typical leading man, because, while he’s good-looking and intelligent, he’s also pompous and awkward. Vaughan is sometimes unlikable, other times completely lovable, and I wasn’t sure until the very end if he was a good guy or a bad guy. I love that! The ending wasn’t a complete surprise to me, but I didn’t have it completely figured out, which is almost as good. The only part of this book that I can say anything bad about is the title. Shouldn’t the book be called “Killer”, since that’s the actual name of the game? Other than that, I would recommend this book to any teen reader who enjoys flawed characters trying to figure out a life and death mystery. show less

"This is Killer, and you have all been invited to play. And you should play like your life depends on it."

What a fun little addictive read. I cracked it open, thinking I'd read a hundred pages or so and just finished it in one sitting instead. It's a quick read, easy to slide into and get to know the gang of new initiates and legacy guild members a like. The school takes a minute to get to know but that becomes easy as well.

I liked all the red herrings as you tried to guess who was the Killer, and who was actually hurting people. The game was fascinating but you do have to suspend some disbelief but that was easy to do to just enjoy the story and be entertained. I loved it!

The Assassin Game begins with a fairly preposterous premise. A private school called Umfraville located on a small deserted island off the coast of Ireland is owned by Cate's family allowing her to reside at the school and take all of her high school classes there. Most of the students come from money or have some special talent. "The Game" is legendary at the school. Certain students are chosen to be initiated and become part of "The Game." The object is to survive "The Killer," who sets out to "kill" each of the other particpants before anybody guesses who he or she is. When Cate is finally initiated, a boy from her past reappears, and everything about "The Game" changes as real murder attempts start happening on the island.

The book show more was very well written and kept my attention enough for me to read it in one sitting. The problem I had with the book was that I didn't really like any of the characters very well. Even Cate, who is the main character could have opted out of "The Game" at any point in the story, and possibly stopped what can only be called organized bullying that school officials turned their backs on even though they knew all about it. An interesting read, but not very much fun. show less

Set on a remote Welsh island, The Assassin Game by Kirsty McKay is a solid young adult mystery that takes place in an elite boarding school for (mostly) gifted students.

One of the few "ordinary" students attending Umfraville Hall, Cate is thrilled when she is selected for the highly coveted Assassins' Guild, an exclusive secret society whose yearly game of "Killer" is a long standing tradition. The rules of the game are fairly simple: one member of the Guild is the "killer" who then creatively stages the fake "murders" of the other members of the group. The would be "victims" try to stay out of the "killer's" crosshairs while at the same trying to guess the "murderer's" identity.

Cate is surprised to discover her old childhood friend, show more Vaughan, is now at student at the school and even more shocking, he has designed a social network (the Crypt) just for the Guild.The Assassin Guild elders vote to let Vaughan into the group and while not all of the members are happy with their decision, the Crypt is an instant hit. The game is progressing nicely with the first two clever "deaths", but things quickly take a sinister turn when Cate begins receiving creepy threats and someone creates an extra profile on the Crypt. Once the "hits" become a little too real, Cate and Vaughan are convinced there are two "killers" but will they uncover the identity of the real would be "killer" before it is too late?

Cate is a likable character with a limited circle of friends. At the end of the previous term, a couple of romantic missteps have made things awkward with one of her close friends so she spends a lot of time on her own since her other close friend is super involved with the school newspaper. While initially a bit uncomfortable with Vaughan's arrival (their friendship came to a somewhat abrupt end years earlier), Cate is soon enjoying his company. He keeps her a little off balance with some of things he says and does, but overall, their friendship is mostly trouble free. Cate initially believes the threats she is receiving are part of the killer game, but she soon realizes these incidents do not exactly fit the "killer's" MO.

After two of the Guild members are seriously injured, the police are called in to investigate. Suspicion falls on Vaughan, but Cate remains convinced of his innocence. Tensions mount as severe weather conditions trap everyone on the island and Cate begins to make some very unwise decisions. Is Cate putting her trust in the wrong person? Will her impetuous and ill-advised choices end in tragedy?

The Assassin Game is a well-written, atmospheric young adult mystery. While not exactly an edge of the seat thriller, Kirsty McKay does an excellent job keeping the identity of the real "killer" and the motive for the attacks under wraps until the novel's dramatic and pulse-pounding conclusion. All in all, an entertaining twist on a familiar plot that readers of young adult fiction will enjoy. show less

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book or my review itself.

In The Assassin Game, Kirsty McKay introduces her readers to the game "Killer". Each year, a group of students are selected to participate, thus becoming members of a renowned Guild. The school knows about the Game, but lets it continue as long as it doesn't get out of hand.

But the year Cate joins, things do begin to get wildly out of hand. What is meant to be a fun, exciting game where an unknown "Killer" pretends to off other players through inventive pranks, becomes something far more, and Cate is being watched by a twisted predator who has taken the game too far.

What Did I Like?

I am a show more sucker for any mystery set on an isolated island. Throw in a boarding school setting, and I'm going to read it, as those two tropes together essentially guarantee a variation on my classic favorite, "the killer is one of us".

The "Killer" game is also highly creative and inventive, and set up well. It provides a real sense of eeriness and suspense, and is such a great idea to set up the more serious crimes that begin to occur. Everything and everyone becomes suspicious, which heightens the tension, and makes this a book you can't put down.

What Didn't I Like So Much?

I found some of the main characters less than endearing, particularly a boy who gets introduced a few chapters in and becomes a crucial main character. I was cringing at some of the things they would do and say. This may have been on purpose, though I doubt it with the aforementioned character, but it made it hard for me to see why Cate would latch on so hard to these people.

The ending, while very twisty and creepy, felt like a bit of a letdown in term of the perpetrator's motive. It felt a bit cliched, which was disappointing.

So...?

So I would say read this book. It's quick, it sucks you in, and it's got lots of great suspense. The ending may not be everything I had hoped for, given the excellence of what preceded it, but I still enjoyed this book. show less

“It’s like elves and orcs around here; the geeks and the jocks. And me in the middle. Invisible.
But not today, finally. Today, I am Guild. Today, I am in the Game. Today, I am part of Killer.”

Let’s play a game. Cate is a not-so-special cupcake attending Umfraville boarding school on a secluded island. Umfraville is a ‘special’ school for kids of talent from all the basics: athletics, art, computers, and general geniuses. Cat attends because her parents own the island.

Now, the students get restless staying on the cramped island so long, and they have a secret society that plays ‘Killer’ throughout the year until the killer is named or everyone is ‘killed’.

First off, the book is really slow to start. The author gives a show more lot of information dump on Cate, how their family came to own the island, how past generations have played Killer, and her relationship with people on the island. Basically it was pages and pages of Cate’s narration giving the reader this information; a bad case of telling and not showing.

The ‘secret’ society was the first hint that the story wasn’t going to be up to par. As it ends up, everyone on the island knows about the guild, including the teachers. And really the guild is more like a cult with rituals and black capes.

I loved the idea of the game and how one of the players twist it around into reality, but it wasn’t executed well. There wasn’t a clear transition between the game just being the game and the game becoming real and dangerous. You would also think that an island full of genius teens and teachers would have a bit more brain power than the nitwits running around in the dark.

When it finally, FINALLY came down to the real ‘killings’, there wasn’t really any thrilling or suspenseful moments. A student was attacked, it was over, and Cate moseyed on.

Cate’s character feels disconnected. It seems she should be the heroine of the story but she’s not all that smart or brave, nor does her character grow in any way.

Vaughan is the character that makes this book get higher than a one star rating, even though by the end the author had his character mimicking Sherlock way too much. He has a quirky personality and is a computer genius, but can also be diagnosed with bipolar disorder with how quick his moods shift.

The romance in the book was completely unnecessary, especially to the level the author took the relationship. It’s another case of a YA book just HAVING to have romance no matter if it makes sense in the story or not.

Overall, the story was not well thought out, though I did like the ideas behind the story. There were a few characters that kept me reading to the end, but it wasn’t at all that satisfying for a thriller. Get your chills from a different book. show less