Cut Off by Adrianne Finlay
Published by HMH Books for Young Readers on August 11, 2020
ISBN: 0358006457
Pages: 384
Genres: Horror, Science Fiction
Format: Chapter Book Fiction
Goodreads

This Sci-fi thriller for readers in grades 10-12 provides page turning suspense and thought provoking outcomes.  Recommending for Cream of the Crop consideration.   The newest entertainment is a 24-hour live streaming game show called “Cut Off” that takes the “Survivor” type reality show premise to an extreme level through a 3D Virtual Reality experience.  Four young adult contestants are left after an earthquake knocks out their communications with the producers of the show and they must work together to survive and try to be rescued.   At first it seems like the earthquake is the issue, but hour by hour they are faced with ever increasing life threatening situations that seem to come from within each contestant’s own worst fears.   Is it real or a hallucination?  Can they find their way back home or will they all die?  Finlay intersperses action chapters with producer’s files and contestant audition interviews that fuel the page turning suspense of the story.  There are many twists and surprise connections that send the ending to an unsuspecting conclusion.    There is action, suspense, danger, technology and a bit of romance in this suspenseful, Sci-fi/Horror mashup.

Reviewed by Sheila Dube, Youth Services Librarian, Springvale Public Library