Scavenger Hunt

by Dani Lamia

Winning the game could change your life. But losing the game could end it… Caitlin Prescott gave up everything to turn her father’s game company into a worldwide success. Along the way she lost her mother, her marriage, and she barely sees her children. She’s rich, driven, and brilliant. But she’s also alone… After her eccentric father passes away, Caitlin is furious when she learns that instead of leaving the company and its fortunes to her, he has chosen to make his heirs compete in one last game… A scavenger hunt with a multi-Billion dollar inheritance waiting at the end. But old secrets and sibling rivalry soon take a dark turn, as Caitlin and the others confront the demons of their past in their search for clues. And when a live video reveals the brutal murder of her greedy brother, the surviving heirs discover the terrifying truth… Someone else is playing the game with them. Someone who will do anything to protect one final secret. What began as a scavenger hunt has been twisted into a maniacal deathtrap, from which their is no escape. And when the game is over, only one of them will remain alive…

Genres: Fiction, Suspense, Audiobook, Mystery, Thriller

336 pages, Paperback

Published June 2, 2020

About the author

Dani Lamia is a pseudonym for the writing team of William Roetzheim and Randy Becker.
William’s love of writing began at a young age, however he started his career as an early pioneer in the field of AI software development. His systems have been deployed on Navy ships, submarines, and NASA space shuttles, as well as by businesses and government agencies. After launching multiple software companies, William turned his attention to the arts and became an award-winning playwright, poet, and published author.
Randy is an Emmy-nominated producer who began his career as an actor starring in film, television, and on Broadway (including the Tony Award–winning play Love! Valour! Compassion!). After producing a film of his own, he made a dramatic career change and now expresses his creativity through writing and producing.

Reviews

[Heather Adores Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was an interesting premise, but wasn’t overly wowed. Will review soon

What to expect:
~ single 1st person POV, present tense
~ reference to suicide
~ murders
~ somewhat surprising ending

Narration notes:
She did fine.

[Tabitha - · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, thank you to @level4press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So, what happens when your dad dies and leaves a will saying you have to compete with your siblings in one last game for control of the inheritance?

Well, I'd quit. Let's be honest. But omg this book was so unexpected to me. I started by hating the MC, and then growing to decide she's a whole mood and I loved her.

The game got wild and I was pleasantly surprised by it. I'm fine with how it ended minus a single detail, but didn't ruin the book!

This was a fun, wild, quick (if my kids weren't in my business) read!

[Liv · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading Journal Details
Book: Scavenger Hunt by Dani Lamia
Format Read: Audiobook (~8 hours, 21 minutes long)
My Rating: ⭐️✨ (1.5/5)

My Quick Take Review
Scavenger Hunt blends the glamor and rich privilege of Gossip Girl with the repeated chaos of Pretty Little Liars. The book's premise is bold, but its execution misses the mark by leaning too heavily on shock value and shallow characters born with silver spoons.

Some Key Features
🤑 The ultra rich
♟️ Game company
🚁 Helicopter
📜 Last Will & Testament
🤪 Sibling dynamics

My Full Review
Dani Lamia's Scavenger Hunt is a wild ride told solely from Caitlyn Nylo's perspective, a CEO of a high-powered family business. Think of the excessive privilege of Gossip Girl meets the erratic, continued suspense of Pretty Little Liars, only with less emotional payoff and shallower characters.

I wanted to like this book, I really did. While there were definitely some unexpected twists, they often felt too far fetched, even for a story centered on the ultra rich. Sure, rich people can get away with quite a bit, but even in fiction, there are limits—and this book often blasted right on past them.

I liked the sibling dynamics, which had a sense of authenticity to them. Sadly, that was one of the few areas with any emotional grounding. Character development as a whole fell flat and overly reliant on the daily scavenger hunt reveals rather than genuine, layered storytelling.

Equally, I found the story's really strong "I'm rich" vibe made it tough for me to fully connect with and root for the characters. I wonder if spending more time with Caitlyn and her siblings prior to the scavenger hunt, such as a family gathering or something, could have helped build a deeper connection from the story.

The book swung back and forth between being pretty lame and over-the-top entertaining that sometimes was unrealistic. That said, Dani Lamia has a really engaging writing style, and even with the issues I had with the story, I'm still interested in checking out more of her works. I think some of my reactions might just come down to not really clicking with the underlying "I'm better than you because I'm rich" attitude in the story.

[Tam Sesto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting characters, interesting plot, and a surprise ending.

After the death of the owner of a successful game company, his children learn the inheritance will go to the winner of a scavenger hunt.

The main character, Caitlin Prescott was hard to like. But as the book evolved, you started liking her more and more. Then the ending came, and I felt like if the book had continued, I would go back to disliking her. Her siblings were a bit annoying. Lackadaisical Henley, cheating Bernard, innovator Alistair, and baby of the family, Gabriella. I found myself rooting consistently for Caitlin, even though I wasn’t fond of her initially.

The author kept the action moving. The plot was interesting and easy to follow. The ending was an interesting twist. I liked the style of the author’s writing enough to want to read other books by her.

Thank you to Hidden Gems Books, Dani Lamia, and Level 4 Press, Inc. for the opportunity to read and review this ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ book.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scavenger Hunt by Dani Lamia is a wild ride. Following the death of their father, the five Prescott children are brought together for the video of his will. To all if their surprise, they will have to complete one final scavenger hunt in order to receive the family fortune. A sick and twisted game that leads to more death. Who, lives and who dies? A twist in the ending I did not see coming.

Thank you Hidden Gems for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. All opinions are my own.

[Lupe · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a fun little, action packed novel! I enjoyed reading about the Nylo Scavenger Hunt - even if the ending felt a little rushed, it was the darkest ending that I’ve read in a while.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that made good on what it promised with a titillating premise and astounding execution.

[Genevieve Paquette · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 right up until the ending, which was just not good.

Spoilers, the puzzle master is the mother who, with their lawyer/her lover's help, faked her own death and ran away. She came back to get revenge on her family- her husband, for trapping her in a life she didn't want and for stealing her ideas, and her kids for... existing. Yeah, no, that part read like a plea for abortion rights. She was trapped into parenthood but figured she could always kill them later. Like, the author tried to make her sympathetic but also completely unsympathetic and a raging (and admitted) sociopath. Not sure how well it worked, but I digress.
So yeah, she conned her former lover, the family lawyer, to help her. Her last child was actually his, and she convinced them both to work with her, saying she would make sure that that child would be the last one standing. She, of course, lied. Three of the kids (the seemingly least awful ones) made it to the last clue, where she held them at gunpoint,threatened the whole block with a bomb, and made them play a boardgame- to the death. The two older siblings let the youngest win, and as soon as she did, she revealed that she was in on it. And then her mom shoots her. And then her brother. And then the lawyer/her bio father. Finally it's just the mom and the narrator/protagonist left. She basically says, I'll admit to my crimes if and only if you visit me all the time in jail and let me teach you everything I know, and let me be your mother. If not, she'll make it so the protagonist takes the fall. Obviously she chooses the first option. And that's how it ends.

I was so disappointed. It was such an anticlimactic, unsatisfying (and honestly boring) ending. It kind of ruined the entire experience for me. It didn't exactly come out of nowhere, which is something, but I still had trouble suspending my disbelief and found myself asking, ok, but how? Why?

Until the big reveal, though, it was great. Great pacing, solid writing, an engaging mystery, and, importantly, a well written protagonist. It's a rare thing when a character is written to be kind of awful but still sympathetic and it actually works, but here it does. She lets us believe that she's a kind of awful person, a garbage mother, an obsessive, friendless workaholic, and she is, but she's not nearly as bad as she makes herself out to be. She isn't great, but she does have a more or less functional moral compass. You still find yourself hoping that she makes it out alive.
I found myself hoping, at the end, that she wouldn't end up corrupted by her mother, but instead somehow outsmarting her, even if it takes a long time to do it. The way the book ended, though, makes me doubt that's what the author intended.
But yeah, I was surprised at how great I found the first like, 8/10ths of the book. Not so surprised (but still disappointed) by the last 2/10ths.

[NoNo JoJo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Preface: I received a free copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review
Actual rating: 3.5 stars

For the first 90% of this novel, I was super on board. Interesting premise, neat cast of characters, strong main character/POV in particular (our lead is a super interesting, conflict character)...it was a good time, easily a 4 to 4.5-star read. Unfortunately, I found the actual conclusion to be pretty underwhelming. It's one of those thrillers where the ending is just the craziest thing that could possibly happen, without any real rhyme or reason. The power of money makes basically anything possible. Everything ends up feeling pretty contrived, unfortunately. To be honest, the ending I was hoping for was it would all be some sort of AR thing, since that was set up prior and I felt some of the characters had depth we didn't get to explore because of the sequence in which they died, but sadly that wasn't the case.

Overall, it was still an interesting, fast-paced read, but probably not one I'll revisit.

[D.R. Rosensteel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Caitlyn Nylo is the reason that Nylo Corporation is a worldwide success. She buries herself in her work as the ruthless CEO of the family’s multibillion-dollar game company. Her dysfunctional family is little more than a mutual loathing society, of little help to her in making the business a powerhouse of the game industry. But when her father dies suddenly, she finds herself in a final game of his creation. The family fortune and ownership of Nylo Corporation are on the line. Her father’s final will and testament pits her against her four siblings in a winner-takes-all game of scavenger hunt. But there is a twist. Losing your life in the game means dying a gruesome death in real life. Caitlyn has to choose between defeating her siblings to win a cool twenty billion or giving up all that she has built to keep them alive.
Dani Lamia explores the dark side of the human experiment in this fast-paced page-turner with an ending that I never saw coming. Worth reading!

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was not a fan of this book. It had so much extraneous information I was super bored for most of it. It also had a really slow start. The actual scavenger hunt game was interesting enough, but it was such a short part of the book. Most of it was following Caitlin around during her life, listening to her reasoning out why she was the way she was. It was difficult for me not to skip paragraphs, sometimes even pages. But it was well written, I didn't notice any errors, and might be interesting to others.
I received a free copy of this book for an honest review.

[Abby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overview: Disturbing, questioning my reading choices.

I assumed the whole scavenger hunt was an elaborate hoax and that no one really died. Uh, I was wrong and horrified at the end.

Note to self: look up authors other work to get a sense of the writing style. I'm not into horror, will not be reading others. Bad personal choice.

Didn't like the main character, didn't like the swearing, way too much filler. Only kept reading for the scavenger hunt because I like puzzles.

Mistakes were made.

[Dive Into A Good Book · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! I did not see that ending coming! Scavenger Hunt is masterfully crafted, with dark, sinister twists. That will keep you at the edge of your seat, turning each page faster and faster. Until finally you are left with the shock ending of the year. The characters that Dani Lamia creates are hard to like. Each having their own issues and secrets they are wading through.

Caitlyn Nylo is the CEO of her family's game company that was created by her father. She is ruthless, cutthroat, go getter, who will let nothing stand in her way of getting what she wants. Caitlyn calls herself a monster. In a way it is okay that she acts this way since she has come to terms with it herself. She has twin girls she rarely sees and claims she does not care much about. You try hard to dislike her, in the end she sucks you into her life, and way of thinking.

Her father drops dead of a heart attack and the future of the company and the twenty-billion-dollar inheritance is up for grabs. In her fathers will he has left strict instructions that all five of his children will compete in a scavenger hunt that he created. The winner will take all, the business, and the entire inheritance. They are each given three lives, once your lives are up you think you are just out of the running. That is simply not the case.

The scavenger hunt game appears to be designed for totally family destruction, with only one true winner still standing. Who will it be? You think your family has problems, think again! This book piques your interest from the start and leaves you with your mouth gaping at the shock ending. Thank you to Level 4 Press for sending me this truly thrilling book!

[Pratty · Rating 3 out of 5]

A motivated and workaholic Caitlyn has given up everything - her family, friends, personal and private life - to maintain her father's multibillion-dollar gaming company. However, she gets the shock of her life when she doesn't inherit the company and her father's position after his death. Instead, Prescott Nylo has left behind a scavenger hunt in which Caitlyn and her four siblings must play for the winner to take over the fortune. In a dark and twisted turn of events, the hunt transforms into an intricate game of life and death, truth and lie, trust and doubt.
What started as a very interesting and impressive premise ended as an utter dumpster fire of a story. I loved the idea of having a gray female main character and the very dark ending that this book had. I did not see that coming. The bonding among the siblings also felt quite genuine; there was tension, but they also cared for each other. But everything else that happened in the story was so convenient. There was quite a lot of filler and paragraphs upon paragraphs of irrelevant information in the story that contributed to nothing at the end. I would have loved for the book to focus more on the puzzle of solving the scavenger hunt instead of all the miscellaneous tasks done by the characters.

[Dr. Malini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scavenger Hunt by Dani Lamia defies easy categorization. As a self-professed hater of literary novels, I was surprised to be completely drawn into this slow burn, which initially reads like a literary work. The story centers on Caitlin Nylo, a cynical rich kid whose world crumbles after her mother's suicide.

Despite a deliberate setup that spans a third of the book, Lamia's vivid characterizations and Caitlin's damaged worldview are utterly captivating. This meticulous groundwork pays off immensely, leading to a scavenger hunt that veers wildly from any expectation. And then there's that twist: a shocking reveal in the penultimate chapter that will leave you reeling. You won't finish Scavenger Hunt with a smile, but you certainly won't forget it. Perhaps "literary mystery" best describes this impactful and memorable read.

[Porkchop4 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give this a 3.5 if possible as though I enjoyed the bulk of the book, the rushed and convoluted ending sullied the book for me. Given how everything prior was paced within the book the last three chapters seemed tacked on as a way to meet a publishing deadline and simultaneously created the most nonsensical and possibly the most vile and evil character I've read in a very long time. Once the motives of the villain are revealed you're left with more questions than answers and you're waiting for that final twist to see them get their due, but the story just ends with a thud.

[Sara Bregasi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a super fun read! The action begins very quickly, and a big part of this book is actually dedicated to the scavenger hunt. There were constant clues, challenges, and tension between Caitlyn and her siblings.

Under 300 pages, the book had my attention the entire time. I really liked the author’s writing style, and while the MC is not a conventionally likeable character, I ended up really liking her.

I definitely didn’t see the twist coming! It’s a bit wild, but it was so much fun overall.

[Melanie | addictedtobooks86 · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the owner of a successful game company dies, his five children are brought together only to learn that in order to receive their family fortune they must compete in the ultimate scavenger hunt…and the winner takes it all. A twisted game leads to more deaths, who will survive the scavenger hunt? Loved the characters, the action, the suspense, and that ending! I did find the MC, Caitlin to be a hard one to like, but she grew on me eventually. If you are looking for a fun horror book that is a quick read and a wild ride…then look no further and check out Scavenger Hunt!

[Kate | Date With A Thriller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holy moly this was one hell of a ride! 🙌

As the CEO of her father’s game company, Caitlyn Nylo has lived and breathed games all her life. When her father dies, she and her siblings have to compete in one last high stakes game to either win it all…or lose a lot more than just the game! 👀

I didn’t want to put this one down and I was dying to know who ultimately was behind it all!! Definitely a page turner once it gets going!! 👏

The main character at first was very unlikable, but as the story progressed, I started to see a slightly softer side to her! ❤️

[Jared Culpepper · Rating 2 out of 5]

I booed out loud at the ending. It’s got some familiar sibling characters that are fun in small doses and a premise that, while cool, seems like it would be hard to pull off in any kind of believable way. Even if it can be done, this book didn’t. The book promises an adventure that it fails to provide, giving out a slapdash character study. Our narrator is every bit as confused as she is unlikable but she has some fun quips. Overall, too many wasted words and dead ends. It feels like the author got tired of writing this story about 2/3 way into it.

[Venus · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow

The writing is impeccable. The vocabulary was advanced and exciting. Although I wouldn’t call it a horror, it certainly was scary and real in a way that probably only women would recognize. The plot is such a unique idea, the execution was simple and purposeful. I wish there were 200 more pages.

[Danielle B · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE SCAVENGER HUNT is a fast paced thriller filled with many shocking moments and surprises. I really didn't expect it to end the way it did and that was an added bonus for me. If you liked the movie, Ready or Not, I think you'll enjoy this book!

Many thanks to Level 4 Press for my gifted copy.

This review will be shared to my Instagram (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.

[Staci Eaton · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was terrible! The main character was SO un-likable as were her siblings! There was so much boring filler and parts of the story I still don’t understand why it was in there! The ending was also depressing and felt pointless…. In the end I’m annoyed I read this book

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a little slow to get into at first, but picked up about 1/3 of the way in or so and made me want to keep reading. I really enjoyed the concept of the actual scavenger hunt, and the symbolism of the three lives was a nice little twist.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even better than I was expecting! If you like who-dunnits and murder mysteries or love some family/sibling drama (or, bare minimum, you enjoy seeing spoiled elite rich kids squirming),you should definitely enjoy this!

[Yusuf · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. The main character is snarky but enjoyable to follow. While the stakes were high, there wasn’t much tension. The ending was surprising but rushed. Solid mystery.

[Lee Cochenour · Rating 1 out of 5]

Might be in the bottom 5 books I've ever read. Nonsensical plot, not a single likable character, and bad writing. No clue why I bothered to finish it.

[Kim Coburn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twists that I did not see coming. Kept me interested.

[SugarC · Rating 4 out of 5]

First novel by this author and I must read more! Loved the it's written along with how things played out for the characters. End had me like whoa! Worth a read!

[Carol Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 - 4 stars! What an odd, very original, totally messed up story. The ending was very unexpected but a crazy story I couldn't wait to find out what happens.