White is crossing over into the adult market this year, but her contemporary debut is perhaps one of the furthest from the work we’ve seen from her before. (And that’s a compliment, by the way). Hide is a dark horror story that’s full of blood, gore, and a secret society of elites murdering the young, marginalized, and poor in order to secure the success of their own families ... But though her adult debut is very much a grisly tale of horror, it also features many of the same elements that make White’s other worlds so appealing, from its fast-paced, page-turning plot to its diverse cast of memorable characters and the complex, often unlikeable heroine at its center, who is wrestling with a dark past of her own ... White skillfully balances tense group dynamics with the individual experiences of solo players, even as she interweaves snippets of the park’s dark history and the people behind its current state. Hide’s constantly shifting narrative, peppered with loads of tension and intense dread, is incredibly propulsive, and the novel’s slim page count means that no aspect of the story is wasted or feels superfluous ... The setting is deeply creepy, fully realized, and genuinely frightening at multiple points ... Hide’s ending is also intriguingly open-ended. Not in the sense that it feels like White is angling for a sequel—far from it—but more of a choose your own adventure vibe where you as the reader can decide what’s most likely to have happened on the black page after the final period.

Offers thrills and chills in equal measure ... Hide excels at balancing fast-paced plotting with precise character development, centering Mack while still delving into the lives and emotions of all 14 participants ... White's canny vision of a deadly game that pits millennials against each other and the self-indulgent families that oversee the game's completion has more on its mind than just delivering shiver-inducing horror spectacles (although it does that, too). White's atmospherically raw and psychologically complex portrayal of this sweat-inducing, muscle-clenching game engrosses readers without ever losing sight of the dark truth lurking beneath the surface: when it comes to facing the sins of the past, long-awaited reckonings make no exceptions.

Hide has the makings of a wonderfully scary tale and mostly lives up to that promise ... Hide is a fun read. White doesn’t always connect her own dots, so there are some aspects of the story that don’t make much sense, especially in the last quarter of the novel. Still, the characters are compelling, and the hide-and-seek aspect of the book is entertaining, if not exactly scary. White has a lot of good ideas that are horrific, thrilling and emotional, and this effort heralds a great new direction in her career.

White’s adult debut still feels fundamentally like a YA novel. The prose is simplistic, and though the characters are out of their teens, most of them are emotionally stunted from trauma and seem younger (one has her first kiss ever during the competition). The idea that generational wealth requires violence to sustain it is delivered with an anvil, while the horror elements are underbaked; there are very few actual scares to be found ... This mashup of The Breakfast Club and The Hunger Games may appeal to young teens, but it’s not recommended for adult horror readers.

White makes her adult debut with a contemporary thriller centered around a classic Greek myth, with just a touch of reality-show flair ... Suspenseful ... Horror enthusiasts will devour this devilishly clever story.

An enthralling, high-energy thriller grounded in supernatural horror ... White’s depictions of players other than Mack begin in stereotype, but she gradually reveals enough emotional depth in each that, by the time they become a team determined to survive, the reader is ready to cheer them on in both their escape and their satisfying revenge against those who would treat them as disposable. White skillfully balances the terrifying solo experiences of individual characters, the tense group dynamics, and the park’s backstory to create a constantly shifting narrative backed by a growing sense of dread. With this exhilarating outing, White proves she has a finger on the pulse of millennial horror.