Just So Stories

Penguin Australia

August 2025

• ISBN: 9781761351068
• Imprint: Penguin
• RRP: $19.99

Wowzers! Hold on to your hats, and make sure to get yourself sorted with snacks and drinks for this one because you are not going to want to stop reading it once you’ve started.

Let’s say you take a really tricky escape room, mix it up with an ever-evolving game with different levels, faux leads and cryptic clues, then shovel all those into being trapped with 3 others that you barely know – all of them with serious issues, and all of this on a ticking countdown.

This is a YA that will completely have your teen readers immersed in the action from page one. There’s enough drama, bitching, bullying, danger, smarts and successes to satisfy any thrill-seeker, and even, I predict, lure those reluctant, dischanted readers in.

Andy and three other teens:: one boy who has bullied him for a year or more and two girls, one of whom he has a crush on and one who is just plain weird, wake up in a locked room with no memory of how they got there. A clock is ticking and there appears to be no way to unlock that door.

But Andy is no slouch when it comes to brainpower, and, more importantly, puzzles. But the jubilation of getting out of the first room is short-lived when they find themselves in another with a different puzzle to solve and on, and on, until a hugely mind-blowing climax.

It would take too long to go into too much detail but let me just say it really is a gripping page-turner. As you might expect, along the way, the four in their forced coalition begin to actually connect to each other in more positive ways, and each brings their own unique (sometimes highly infuriating and also, at other times, completely counter-productive) input to their situation.

It is absolutely diabolically and wonderfully written, and I could not find a fault with it. [Also, my brain is tired (not to mention what I know about chess could fit on a postage stamp) so I would still be languishing in the maze if it was me being tested.]

Absolutely first-rate stuff this and I think any mature-minded readers from around 13/15 up would totally get into it. 5 ♟️♟️♟️♟️♟️rating all the way off the board for this one.