Set in the remote bush of Aotearoa New Zealand, a busload of high school students suffer a major crash before the wreckage floats down a river towards a waterfall. Just a few of the teens survive, but their phones don't work, and some of them start having nosebleeds and behaving erratically. Days pass, and still Search & Rescue haven't arrived. When they witness another survivor shot by 'rescuers' they must figure out what is going on, and why? I didn't know what genre this was when I started reading! At first I thought it was a teen survival story, then things got weird and the body count started rising. The character development is fabulous. This is a wonderful page turner which reminded me of Lord of the Flies (William Golding), Tomorrow When the War Began (John Marsden) and books by New Zealand authors Des Hunt and Lee Murray. Highly recommended. ( )

A bus full of high school kids is headed off to camp when there's an accident: the bus plummets into the river and only some of the kids escape with their lives and various injuries. This starts off like it could be a very Kiwi Lord of the Flies, and then things take a left turn. Or two.

It's a bit more multi-pov than I prefer - suits the survival/mystery-focused story but means we don't get really in-depth into any of the characters. But an easy read full of cool ideas and, though it doesn't seem incomplete in any way I'd happily read about what happens next too. ( )