Never Coming Home by Kate Williams

 A young adult suspense thriller that is partly related to their current obsession with all of those viral sensations.

Ten social media personalities are invited to Unknown Island for a free tropical vacation. The island has been advertised and promoted on all the usual online sites -- it's exclusive and by invitation only. Each guest received the honor by email and the details were exciting -- especially the part about all of them being under age 21. The chosen are 6 girls and 4 boys and their social passions run the gamut: a young CEO, a DJ, a politician, an athlete, the rich girl, a beauty blogger, a superstar influencer, a chef, an environmentalist and, the youngest is an online gamer. All told, they have millions of followers and hope to strike that elusive top rank raising their numbers.

They arrive on the island by boat and helicopter only to find that they are basically untended without any resort staff or welcome committee. Their luxurious bungalows are shacks and barely furnished. The kitchen cupboards are almost empty except for junk food. There is no internet and no air conditioning. There's only one way in and no way off the island as they have no transport. It's hot and their shock and dismay mount quickly. What is going on? The answer comes with the first death. Are they to be picked off one by one by someone hiding on the island with some type of revenge motive? Or has one of their number lured them there with murder on their mind?

I thought I would like this a lot more than I did. I was reminded of the scam that was the basis for the Netflix documentary Fyre as well as several well known books where people die one by one. It was hard to keep each character straight, but helped by the list in the front of the book. Didn't matter, nobody was around too long. I didn't really like any of the personalities and they, as expected, did some pretty dumb things as events spiraled out of control. The conclusion definitely was a bit lame and unsatisfying. Found it all just way too out there to be a believable scenario, but I figure the target audience will eat it up!

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for this e-book ARC to read and review.

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

Genre - young adult suspense thriller