There was a time when they were all friends, when they came together as a refuge every week to play Gonfalon and escape their real world problems. When it started in middle school. there were 6 of them, Ever, Finn, Carter, Liva, Maddy, and Zac. Zac left the group, and they were 5.

Now, it’s coming to an end. Soon some of them will graduate from high school and head off to college. Others in the group will stay behind to finish high school or to work. And although the group has already started to develop some fractures, they still have this weekend. One last weekend to come together as friends to play the game. They have costumes, hand-sown by Liva, and Liva’s family cabin all to themselves. They have this last chance to get away from family and school, work and responsibilities, for one last campaign.

Ever had come up to the cabin early to prepare for the rest. As the creator of Gonfalon, they had created all the quests, all the challenges, all the puzzles in the game to distract and get the best out of them. They had moved around the furniture and added complicated markings to depict the magic in the game. Ever made sure everything was in place so the entire group could come to the cabin tomorrow and start playing their last quest right away. And even though the cabin and the woods around it are rumored to be haunted, Ever doesn’t worry about that. They just concentrate on making this weekend perfect.

But an overnight rainstorm makes things more difficult from the start. The trek from the cars to the cabin is blocked by a wall of rocks that came down from the mountain. Ever, Liva, and Carter don’t have too much trouble scaling it, but Maddy’s injured knee and Finn’s crutches make it painful just to get to the cabin. But they do, and after a few minutes to get settled, they all get in costume and prepare for the mysteries that await them.

The group start to solve Ever’s mystery, but other mysteries keep popping up. There is strange music in the air, the heat goes out, and Ever’s props were moved and changed. The atmosphere, already charged from the personal secrets and betrayals, becomes laden with the ghost stories of a killer in the woods. But it’s not until Liva goes missing that the friends truly start to feel that they are in danger.

The rest of the friends realize that the only way to get out alive is to pull together, but will they be able to put aside their grievances and focus enough to save themselves from a potential killer? Will they all be able to survive this last weekend together?

Marieke Nijkamp has written this chilling, thrilling look at friendship, how it can go wrong and how it can right. Even If We Break is a powerful look at the secrets that divide us and the choices we must make to remove those divisions and come together as a dynamic group. And if this roller coaster of a story alone isn’t enough, these characters are also dealing with personal issues like neurodiversity, gender diversity, addiction, bullying, poverty, and their sexuality.

I was excited to dive into Even If We Break, and once I did, I didn’t want to stop. This story is part horror story, part locked room mystery, with plenty of teenage angst added in. These characters are pushed to the edge, and they have to find the strength within themselves to survive. This is the perfect escape for a difficult year as well as powerful inspiration to be your best self in spite of circumstances, or maybe because of them. I highly recommend this one if you find yourself looking for a particularly intense YA read.

A copy of Even If We Break was provided by Sourcebooks Fire, with many thanks, but I liked it so much I also bought the Kindle version from Amazon.