Four Found Dead by Natalie D. Richards
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Scare Factor: 💀
Plot: 📕📕
Format: 🎧
POV: Third


🕊️ ➞ Tropes:

🔪🩸 Slasher 🩸🔪
⚔️ Known Killer ⚔️
🏚️ Abandoned Building 🏚️


🕊️ ➞ Progress Notes & Initial Thoughts:

Honestly, I was disappointed. I loved the concept of the plot but felt that the potential it had was completely ignored. We know who the killer is right off the bat, which I’m not a fan of. I enjoy the mystery of it but I guess there was some suspense as the characters tried to figure out the killer’s motive.

🕊️ ➞ Summary Breakdown & Commentary:

Four Will Die. Three Will live.

Jo and her five coworkers – Hudson, Lexi, Hannah, Summer, and Naomi – as well as her manager Clayton, were finishing up their final shift at the town’s movie theater. The theater, as well as the mall it’s located in, was closing forever. The story opened up with Jo and her coworkers joking around as the last of the night’s customers straggled out. The manager, Clayton, was introduced as an asshole who obviously hated his job and probably his life. Shortly after the doors closed and the guests left, the crew began to clean up when Clayton’s wife began banging on the door. Her identity unbeknownst to Jo, she let the wife in. Clayton immediately turned panicked and led his wife into the back room. A little while later, she burst into the lobby and began yelling how she’d figure out “who she is.” This alluded to the crew that Clayton was having an affair with someone…



After Clayton’s wife’s outburst, the crew resumed cleaning when the power suddenly cut for a minute before they came back on. Everyone was suddenly alerted to the back where Hannah was screaming and shaking as Lexi lay dead on the floor.



One.

Hannah told the group that Clayton overheard them talking shit about them and attacked Lexi when the lights cut. He was gone when they came back on and Lexi was dead. She had been strangled. Was she the mistress?

After that, the crew made a plan to stick together and try to get out. Unfortunately, Clayton took everyone’s phone and keys before their shift and put them in the office’s safe. They planned to somehow get the key while moving around the mall to avoid Clayton and his gun. Getting out didn’t seem as easy as Jo thought since every window and storefront was boarded up to prepare for construction.

During a struggle with Clayton, Hannah was able to get his gun. When Clayton fled, Hannah chased after him and held him at gunpoint. He chastised her and verbally doubted her ability to kill as he stepped closer and closer toward her. He rushed her and pressed her against the third-story railing as she held the gun out of his reach; when she threw the gun off the balcony, Clayton pushed her to her death.

Two.

The story continued with loads of moving around, characters wandering off, and everyone trying to figure out an escape route while also dodging Clayton.

Summer took off by herself while the group was trying to watch for Clayton from different angles.

They eventually spotted Summer while hiding and heading for the arcade. In the dark, they heard Clayton confront Summer, a struggle, and then two gunshots.

Three.

The rest of the group ran for the arcade to get to the control room to engage the emergency alarms and systems. The arcade was the height of the mall with three cascading levels. The third level was used for laser tag and only extended thirty feet over the second level. Each side was connected with a catwalk overlooking the bottom two levels. Coming across the stairwell door, they heard another door open somewhere below. Knowing Clayton was coming up to find them, the group rushed to the top level of the arcade and had to make it across the narrow catwalk as Clayton grew closer. Naomi and Jo were on the catwalk when Clayton caught up to them and after he began shooting at them, the catwalk collapsed and he fell to the bottom level.

Naomi, who was frozen in fear on the catwalk, was able to unfreeze and make it across the unstable catwalk. Jo on the other hand had a close call and had to be pulled up and rescued. The group examined Clayton below and at first, he wasn’t moving. After several minutes, Clayton regained consciousness and began charging for the group.

Summer showed up, revealing she survived Clayton’s attack. She entered the room bleeding, limbing, and holding a protective arm around her stomach as her other hand held a gun.

Three. Two.

She held Clayton at gunpoint as he begged for his life and started to call her “baby.”





Jo deduced that it was Summer who was the other woman. Not only was it shocking, but also illegal. Summer was sixteen and Clayton was thirty.



So Clayton was covering his a$$. He didn’t want his wife to know about the affair, not just for obvious reasons but for the sheer fact that he was grooming a child. He was already losing his job with the closure, if they got out he’d not only lose his wife but his freedom and rights. Not that he didn’t deserve it, it’s just the perfect run–of-the-mill motive.



When a noise distracted Summer, Clayton took that opportunity to gut-punch her and flee. Jo rushed to Summer’s aid as Summer was clutching at her stomach which presented no wounds. Didn’t take Jo long to release Summer was bleeding internally. As Summer struggled to stay alert, the lights turned on and alarms blared. Emergency signs directed them toward the only unboarded exit. Summer succumbed to her wounds and died in Jo’s arms.

Three.

Clayton ran toward the door and made it several steps outside before being shot to death by Quincy. Who only said, “He doesn’t get to get out.”

Four.

Three months later Jo, Hudson, and Naomi remained close. The story ended with Jo reading a letter from Quincy where he stated he felt no remorse for killing Clayton. Said he was glad he was the one to pull the trigger.

After reading the letter, the group fell into comfortable conversation as they all seemed to exclude optimism for the future.


🕊️ ➞ Closing Thoughts:

This one wasn’t my cup of tea, it was entertaining but wasn’t really suspenseful. I prefer a hidden killer, I believe it brings more suspense to the plot line. But that’s just me personally. The motive and story behind the motive were realistic enough to incite a small level of fear in me. The ending was sweet and happy, deaths aside.

If you’ve read Four Found Dead, leave a comment below with your thoughts!

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