Five friends are headed to Palm Key Island for the Fourth of July and one final party trip before they head off to college. No one told them their rental house was the scene of a horrific crime twenty years earlier. Will history repeat itself in Rektok Ross’s newest young adult thriller?

Riley March became a member of the 10-Squad under peculiar circumstances. The group of elite popular girls from Bishop Prep allowed Riley to join their group after one member committed suicide and Riley overheard some terrible secrets. Riley doesn’t mind her friends are shallow and superficial, because she gets to hang with the popular girls like Cam and Val and spend vacations with them. As the five girls head to a small Florida island, a hurricane is on the horizon, and a killer is setting their sights on revenge. Also, on the island is Riley’s crush, Sebastian, and several other young men ready to party. On the first night on the island, two members of the group go missing after a night out at a local bar. Later, Riley sees someone in a yellow rain slicker dragging a body over the porch. Is Riley seeing things? Can this be real? As the hurricane tracks closer, the group huddles together in the rental house, and the night takes a twisted turn. Who will confess, who will die, and who will get out alive?

SUMMER RENTAL by Rektok Ross is a thriller that delivers what it promises with young adults making bad choices, keeping secrets, and dying one by one. The characters are shallow and mean-spirited, with the exception of Riley and Sebastian. Issues are tackled such as bullying, betrayal, social media, sexuality, and entitlement. The story builds steady suspense as the author reveals the secrets that each young person is keeping. The characters are sufficiently developed with interesting and often unlikeable personalities. The pacing is good, although I would have liked to see more action in the first half of the book, which is reserved mostly for the ending. Even so, the book delivers chills and suspense with plenty of viable suspects and heinous behavior. Being a fan of young adult thriller writers R.L. Stine, Christopher Pike, and Richie Tankersley Cusick, this book reminds me of the creepy slasher thrillers of the past that were so entertaining and fun.  It’s a quick and compulsive read which makes for a good summer beach read.