Title: Every Last Liar
Author: Kate Francis
Publication: February 24, 2026
Publisher: Sourecebooks Fire
Genre: Thrillers, Suspense, Teens, YA Fiction
Pages: 352

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SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)

All of them are guilty.

All of them must play the game.

But only one can survive.

On the first anniversary of a tragic fire at their high school, seven teenagers jump at the chance to attend a luxury desert retreat. But when they’re left at a rundown abandoned motel and a sinister text message accuses them of complicity in the fire, they realize someone is playing a deadly game of revenge.

The rules? Every hour, one of them must sacrifice themselves, leaving the motel to be killed, until only one survivor remains. Otherwise… they all die.

As the countdown begins, the stranded must answer the when everyone’s guilty, who deserves to live? Who deserves to die?

With time running out, can they work together to uncover who’s running the game before the bodies pile up? Or will it be survival of the fittest?

REVIEW:

**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

I absolutely love a good YA mystery or thriller, especially one that involves a group of people with secrets, a tragedy from the past, and a mystery that slowly unfolds as the story progresses. So naturally, Every Last Liar by Kate Francis sounded like something I would love! The story follows seven teenagers who believe they’ve won a luxury desert retreat, only to find themselves abandoned at a rundown motel in the middle of nowhere. A year earlier, a devastating fire at their high school left several students dead, and now someone believes these seven teenagers are responsible. They’re forced into a deadly game where they must decide who deserves to live and who deserves to die, all while trying to figure out who is behind everything. I thought the overall premise was interesting, and I liked the idea of everyone having secrets that slowly come to light as the story unfolds. There was definitely enough mystery and suspense to keep me interested in finding out what happened.

Unfortunately, I think my biggest issue with this book is that I feel like I’ve already read it. Multiple times. This year alone! I don’t know what is happening in the YA thriller world, but apparently the popular storyline right now involves a group of teenagers, some terrible tragedy from the past, and a suspicious invitation to a luxury vacation that turns into a fight for survival. Seriously, can we come up with something else? I feel like I’ve read at least two other books recently with almost this exact same setup. And while I understand that authors can take similar concepts and create completely different stories, this one just didn’t feel different enough to really stand out. There were some interesting twists and plenty of secrets, but I never felt completely invested in the characters or their situations. I also thought some of the decisions and circumstances were a little far-fetched. I don’t necessarily need every thriller to be completely realistic, but I do want the story to feel believable enough that I can lose myself in it. Instead, I found myself thinking about how familiar everything felt. I really wanted to love this book, but it just didn’t give me anything that felt particularly new or exciting.

With that being said, I don’t think Every Last Liar is a bad book! There was enough happening to keep me reading, and I was genuinely interested in seeing how everything would play out. I liked the way the characters’ secrets were slowly revealed and how the tragedy from the past connected to their current situation. The deadly countdown also added an interesting element because the characters were constantly being forced to make difficult decisions. I think readers who haven’t encountered this particular storyline quite as often as I have could really enjoy it. For me, though, this was a pretty average three-star read. It was entertaining enough, but it didn’t stand out among the other YA thrillers I’ve read recently. If you enjoy locked-room mysteries, revenge plots, suspicious characters, and stories where everyone has something to hide, I would still encourage you to give Every Last Liar a try and see what you think. Just maybe think twice before accepting any free luxury vacations from strangers!