The Girl in the Wall by Daphne Benedis-Grab

Ariel's birthday party is going to be the event of the year, but her ex-best friend Sera would rather skip out on it. Ever since Sera divulged one of Ariel's secrets, she's been an outcast at their elite high school, and being at Ariel's party is just one more cruel reminder of the friend she's lost. The party takes a deadly turn when a group of masked men with automatic rifles hold the guests hostage, and in the mayhem, Ariel slips away. She is the target, and her disappearance has made the men with the guns very unhappy. Only Sera knows where Ariel is hiding, and she must use that information to figure out how to help everyone escape—before time runs out.

The Girl in the Wall has a lot of tension—between Ariel and Sera, Sera and her classmates, the gunmen and the hostages, and the romantic entanglements that Ariel and Sera experience with two unlikely guys. The book is short and packed with action and many characters, but Benedis-Grab does a good job at balancing the narrative between Sera and Ariel's perspectives, juggling multiple characters, weaving the past few months' experiences in with the present drama, and keeping the story moving. It's clear from the beginning who the target is, but the mystery is in who exactly is orchestrating the affair and how it ties in with Ariel's past. The true crutch of the book, however, is how Ariel and Sera work together through the crisis and somehow manage to repair their friendship through the tragedy. Although the ending seems a little abrupt, The Girl in the Wall is a fast-paced thriller with high stakes, courageous characters, and a touch of romance that readers will race through.

Cover Comments: I like the colors in the cover! I think it captures the fear and the tension of the story quite well.

ARC provided by author.