Under the Surface is a young adult thriller novel by Diana Urban.
The story follows Ruby, who have a travel Youtube channel and is excited to explore Paris with her friends Val and Sean. Sean, who she is too scared to confess her feelings too in fear that he will crush her heart.
Sean is excited to spend a week with Ruby in Paris for their senior trip, maybe it will finally be his chance to show her how he feels, even though he is waiting for her to make the first move. Sean helps Ruby with the channel by editing the videos and helping with taping.
Ruby begged for the catacombs to be added to the trip, much to the dismay of her teachers. Ruby is excited to feature the spooky part of Paris' history on her channel, and hopefully have it help her get more followers.
When Val decides to sneak out their first night there, to meet with a French Boy she just met, Ruby is determined to stop her. On her way out of the hotel she runs into two other classmates, one who happens to be her former best friend. They all go to find Val, instead of risking getting caught, but when they find Val, and her mysterious friend Julian, Ruby can't help but want to follow them into the catacombs, where Julian has promised a party.
But the deeper they delve into the catacombs, the more weird things start to happen. After Selena falls, leaving her a floor below them and injured, they have to go deeper into the darkness to help her, but when they get there she is gone. With limited food, water and supplies, the group is then stuck in the catacombs, with minimal hope of being able to get out.
As the night ticks on, the girls and their reluctant guide try to find their way to the party, or at least to the surface, but the more they move the worse it gets, After losing cellphone service early on, and having her camera take by Julian, Ruby is trying to figure out how to get out, and back to Sean. Now, the group is lost, trying to find a place to sleep and surrounded by mostly darkness. That is until Ruby makes a turn, only to find two men in skull masks waiting for them, holding knives. As Ruby runs away, her friends follow, ending up further into the underground maze.
Now the group must figure out how to get back to the surface, while also avoiding masked figures who want to murder them. At the same time, Sean notices Ruby is missing, along with Selena's girlfriend, and they are determined to make sure someone searches for their friends, even if it means facing the catacombs themselves.
I am not normally a thriller reader, but this book was fantastic. I loved the setting of the catacombs and the mysteries that lead too. All four girls are fighting to make it back home, even with their mysterious boy seemingly leading them astray. Even with the thriller, and sometimes slasher, aspects of the book, it is still young adult friendly, which definitely made it easier for me to read. Overall, I think the idea behind the groups within the catacombs and why they were there were interesting as well. I mean, a party in the catacombs, that's wild.
Though Ruby's character arc is definitely a 'I'm going to die, what do I do' kind of arc, I did enjoy it. I liked Sean's a lot more, he fought for what he loves and learned to use his voice to fight both his own parents and the detectives in Paris.
The spooky setting was definitely a big win for me. The maze like description of the catacombs made you feel just as lost within them. You could also feel like you were in the darkness, hoping for any chance of someone finding you.
There are some death scenes within this book, so make sure you are OK with that when deciding to read it.
Overall, a 4/5 star read!
This book is scheduled to come out August 13, 2024!
Comments