All Your Twisted Secrets

Violence looms over whole plot: Teens have to pick one of their number to kill so that they don't all get killed. But there's more: a fatal stabbing, a broken ankle, a girl driven to suicide by an internet bully, a boy blackmailed into selling drugs because he fears his druggie dad will be arrested and leave him homeless, a harassment campaign that makes a girl fall and knock out her front teeth, characters who do things they know are wrong because of social pressure, physical fights, etc. A number of characters are so determined to get their own way and realize their dreams that they don't care what they're doing to others. In the past, a serial killer terrorized the town. A teen busted for having a BB gun at school was not planning a massacre; he was carrying protection against his violent father.

Characters do a lot of talking about "hooking up" in flashback scenes, but it's questionable how much actually happens. In flashbacks, some brief but intense kisses. Two peripheral characters are in a same-sex relationship. Some discussion among some characters as to whether sex with the same gender counts as sex.

Plentiful "f--k," "s--t," "bitch," "crap," and other crude language. "Damn," "hell," etc. Lots of subtly twisty verbal bullying.

In the months leading up to the locked-room nightmare, all the characters have been part of drunken parties (fueled by booze stolen from their parents) and/or used and sold drugs from pot to speed.

Parents need to know that Diana Urban's All Your Twisted Secrets is a dark, angsty tale trapping six high school seniors, all of whom have a lot of baggage, in a classic escape-the-room scenario that gives them an hour to choose which of them to kill and do the deed -- otherwise they'll all die. Escaping doesn't seem to be a real option. Terror ensues, along with flashbacks starting a year or so earlier to flesh out the characters and the conflicts, crises, and past wrongs that have led to this moment: stealing liquor for drinking parties and the answers to a biology test for cheating purposes to win favor with the cool kids; romance on the rocks due to different life goals; a family's financial troubles due to another family's success; a kid whose sole support is his druggie dad; an online bully who drove a character's beloved sister to suicide. There are flickers of kindness and empathy as things become increasingly overwrought, a horrific conclusion that leads to overdue realizations, and lots of nastiness, button-pushing, and strong language ("f--k," "s--t," "bitch," "crap") along the way.