Two and a half stars. It's important to myself that I point out in reviews where I go the idea to read the book or where I picked it up, and the format of the book if it deviates from the normal library book or paperback. This--could have easily been placed on hold for two reasons: I was reading different fiction stories about cults, or I saw this on someone's TBR in my Goodreads feed. I want to say it's both and they occurred around the same time, but I can't for certain. I do remember thinking, "Oh, this person is interested in fictional cult stories? Oh, no, they just like YA friend stories, which I think are fantastic as a genre as well, and maybe they would like my favorite book." And I didn't get around to recommending it to them. Yeah, that's--yeah. Okay, solved. Onward.

The first half of this book is a character study. While the writing was vivid, I was indifferent but not bored enough to put it down. As stuff kept repeating, I realized idly I was missing something and was slowly disliking the book. Then, around page two hundred, this book gets a plot really fast. The book jacket makes this seem like a missing kid story. It is not--it's about kids whose parents forced them to become doomsday preppers.
I suddenly paid close attention and was annoyed that two totally different plots had been yoked together. I didn't fully understand until I finished the book and pouted at its unimpressive cover, and then it hit me: readers need to go through the whole character study of the first two hundred pages in order to fully understand the second half of the book. It's all there. The way Snow writes is brilliant, and I didn't see it at first at all. Why the excessive, over-the-top mentions of bubonic plague? Because people get sick with one on a massive scale. Why the weird, controlling, cult-member parents? Because they force their kids to join a tiny one with every intention of--yeah. Why all the odd focus on family? (Original snide remark redacted). And because it was a buildup to demonstrate just how creepy the Dunkle family was. One thing I really liked in this book was how the families all were from different socioeconomic backgrounds and just wound up squabbling about every little thing. That's what would happen in real life: you sit there bored, annoyed, and sad and scared during a plague, and things fall apart as you all bring out the worst in one another.

The Dunkle family naming conventions: they could easily point to certain characterization considering all their first names start with K. That noted, um, my dad's siblings and he all have first names starting with K and middle name starting with D. My late grandfather's first name starts with K, and my late grandmother's name started with D, so I smiled a little in recognition. And yeah, I might frown if it were made fun of. Plus there's a name that's been passed down for four generations in my family, and my siblings and I agreed awhile ago we'd continue it if able. So, I noticed all that in the book and was all, Daisy, stop making fun of their names.
The Dunkle family from the very start made me uneasy, although I couldn't explain why. Every time Kyle popped up, I felt like I needed a shower. And he kept showing up and getting creepier and creepier, and I wanted to scream in fear. Still couldn't explain why! Then his behavior hit the peak that it did and I wanted to vomit. I was grateful to myself for being creeped out the entire time, even if I couldn't tell why at first. And one of his sisters sighs about how it's such a cute little romance. NO, CREEPY CULT DAUGHTER, NO. I liked how the daughter who had wanted to go to a mainstream high school was characterized, and how little actions she took were really subtle foreshadowing. At first, I thought her characterization was just to lighten an increasingly dark story, but no, Snow's ability for foreshadowing is amazing. Every time Daisy hit her head in the morning and the littlest sister was all, "Watch your head," I smiled a little. Some of the interactions and quips had me laughing, even.

I think the ending was rushed and also bland. I was annoyed. I fully admit to being aware that I'm not the intended audience for this book, and I was expecting more than I got in some ways. Snow's writing skill makes me definitely curious about other projects of hers, and I do wonder if she's written anything for adults. I'm eager to find out. ( )

When I read MS and YA books, I do so with the mindset of will my students like the book and read it all the way to the end.
Even though I didn't like everything about the book, I think middle school readers will like it.
There is plenty of mystery and suspense. I think the story drug a bit after Daisy reaches the compound and realizes what is going on. The adults and the twins were totally unlikeable. I thought they were too big to still be in diapers. And where did the diapers come from, dispose able? Surely they weren't washing cloth diapers in the cold creek water.
I was hoping that the families turned out to be just doomsdayers and as Daisy kept commenting, what if nothing is happening out there and we are living in the wilderness for nothing. ( )