Under the Surface
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- £5.49
Publisher Description
An epic survival-thriller about four teens who get lost in the Paris catacombs for days—a gripping and propulsive story of love, danger, betrayal, and hope… even when all seems lost.
"Tense and fast-moving, with a unique setting and compelling characters, Under the Surface is Diana Urban’s best yet."—Karen M. McManus, #1 New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying
Ruby is terrified to cave to her feelings for Sean and risk him crushing her heart.
Sean is pumped to spend a week with Ruby in Paris on their senior class trip, and he’ll wait however long until she’s ready to take things further.
But when Ruby’s best friend sneaks out the first night to meet a mysterious French boy, Ruby goes after her with two classmates, but caves to another temptation: attending mystery boy’s exclusive party in the Paris catacombs, the intricate web of tunnels beneath the city, home to six million long-dead Parisians. Only they never reach the party.
Underground, as something sinister chases them, they get lost in the endless maze of bones, uncovering dark secrets about the catacombs…..and each other. And if they can’t find a way out, they’ll die in the dark beneath the City of Light.
Aboveground, Sean races to find the girl he loves as a media frenzy over the four missing teens begins.
From award-winning author and rising YA star Diana Urban comes a twisty tale of four teens lost in the dark beneath the City of Light and the race to find them.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Peer pressure gets dark and dangerous very quickly in this YA thriller. Ruby, a popular teen social media star, is on a class trip to Paris when she and her three friends are persuaded by a cute stranger to attend a forbidden party deep in the catacombs. But there are no fun times waiting for these teens beneath the streets. Instead, they get lost in the catacombs, pursued by a frightening gang in skull masks who have no intention of letting their secrets—or these teens—return to the surface. It’s a frightening pursuit in the dark, bone-packed tunnels while Ruby’s aboveground friends puzzle out how they vanished and anxiously watch the rescue attempts. Author Diana Urban knows the teenage years can be reckless and full of bad decisions, and she’s evenhanded in laying out both the allure of their poor choices and their admirable resourcefulness as they race for their lives. This is a tense, evocative, and compelling read.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In an exhilarating thriller reminiscent of The Descent, Urban (Lying in the Deep) follows four teens who find themselves fighting for their lives in the catacombs of Paris while on a class trip abroad. When Ruby arrives in the city, her best friend Val quickly befriends a mysterious French boy who invites Val to a party deep within the catacombs. Believing that this exclusive view of the underground site will provide great content for her burgeoning YouTube channel, Ruby—as well as friends Selena and Olivia—tags along. But they soon become lost and stranded—and a group of skull-masked, knife-wielding strangers starts pursuing them. As media attention surrounding the girls' disappearance unfolds topside, classmate Sean, who's in love with Ruby, struggles to piece together information to help exhume her from the vast necropolis before it's too late. Without sacrificing nuanced character relationships, Urban utilizes propulsive prose to imbue the fascinating setting with haunting atmosphere. Punchy dialogue, drum-tight pacing, and tense stakes permeate this nail-biting adventure, a delight from start to finish. Protagonists read as white. Ages 14–up.
