Under The Surface

Ruby is thrilled to be in Paris after months of getting ready for a school trip. She's hoping to find some undiscovered places to film for her YouTube channel, Ruby's Hidden Gems, but it's hard to sneak away from the school group and Mr. LeBreque. She and Sean (on whom she has a crush) and Val (whose parents have their own media empire and travel a lot) ask to go off when the rest of the group is looking at the Eiffel Tower, but don't find anything interesting. After a day of sight seeing, Ruby is angry to realize that both her new camera and wallet have been stolen. She's trying to figure out what to do when Val tells her that she is going off to meet a cute guy she met, who is going to take her to a party in the Catacombs. Ruby thinks this is a bad idea, but follows her, and enticed by the idea of getting footage for her channel, goes along. There's also Selena, Ruby's former best friend and now nemesis, as well as Olivia, the class valedictorian, who have decided to come along. Ruby is leery of Julien, the French guy who invited Val, and Julien isn't thrilled to have so many people along. Things go badly from the start, with all of the things that can go wrong in an unlit, underground, largely abandoned venue. Not only is it creepy, dank, and smelly, but there are thrones made of bones and people in creepy masks who occasionally come after the girls. There are injuries, but also a lot of unpacking of old emotional baggage in between. We also see Sean and the teachers contacting the French police and trying to locate the group, so have some idea of what is going on outside of the catacombs. After a tragedy occurs, there seems to be little hope that the group will escape, and the group makes videos of themselves for their families should they perish. There are a few more surprises, and the clock is ticking. Will Ruby and her friends make it back to the City of Light, or remain underground as a sacrifice to the malingering dead?

Ruby is excited to be with her friends on a school trip to Paris. One of the things on her must-do list is to visit the catacombs. When her friend Val is distracted by a cute Parisian guy's promise of a party, Ruby's gut feeling is to make sure Val doesn't do anything foolish. When the so-called party is supposed to be in the catacombs, Ruby is excited thinking filming it will help her travel YouTuber channel Ruby's Hidden Gems. But things go wrong right off the bat and what at first seemed to be a fun adventure has turned into a very real horror show that can have deadly consequences for all involved.

What worked: Edge-of-the-seat suspense with vivid descriptions of the catacombs kept me totally engaged. Alternating POVs drive the tension and adrenaline-packed action of this story.

I liked the interactions between Ruby and Val. The two at first seem to be opposites. Add Selena, the former best friend who has never forgiven Ruby for a betrayal. When Selena insists on tagging along on the adventure, none of them can even begin to imagine what is in store for them.

There's also Sean, the best guy friend who wants more. Ruby also wants more to their relationship but fears her feelings are one-sided. It doesn't help that the one time she did act on the attraction, it came back to haunt her. Sean has his own struggles and doubts which include his father's assumption that he'll go to West Point after high school.

Once readers are down in the forbidden parts of the catacombs, the descriptions ooze with creepiness. Urban did her research! The endless rolls and shelves of bones of the dead are haunting. Add to that a conspiracy theory. Plus, the element of trust is one that all the characters must come to grips with. Can Ruby trust Selena even though a painful friend breakup hangs between them? And who really is Val? It seems all have secrets. The biggest thing though is to overlook those and work together.

There were a few things I didn't know like what is a Cataphile? It's an urban explorer who illegally tours the Mines of Paris which are the tunnels that are no longer used. The Catacombs are a subset of that network. Or the idea of people sneaking off into forbidden parts. Plus, the Catacombs is a 200-mile-long ossuary. That's longer than I thought! And it adds to the really real threat of actually getting lost if someone isn't paying attention on a tour.

Creepy thriller set in the underground caverns of the Paris catacombs. Darkness and the very real possibility of being lost forever bring confessions, reveals, and also hope of forgiveness. This is one emotion-packed ride through Paris!