I went into this book thinking it would be pretty much the same as Nerve, and while it borrows the premise, it is nothing like it in the long run. Nerve is fun whereas this is not. This books main character, Cass, is being hunted for what we can only assume is sport when she signs up to app DareMe in order to pay back a debt to some dangerous people. It starts out with little dares but escalates onto theft and borderline murder. A very intriguing book from cover to cover, and I do hope it gets the sequel the last chapter sets up for!

Thank you to NetGalley and Joffe Books for a complimentary early release copy of Win or Die by Darren O’Sullivan.

Wow this book was an absolute joy ride from the very beginning! The premise and pacing of the story had me hooked. Something intense is always happening and it kept me engaged throughout the whole book. The characters were interesting, I liked that we got multiple perspectives throughout the book to see how different characters were handling DareMe situations. There were never any dull or flat moments in Win or Die, the thrilling parts of the story were excellent and played out nicely. It really brought on the tension and kept me invested!

The ending of the story does feel a bit abrupt to me, the epilogue brought things together but I would have liked to see just a few more chapters before this end piece. I think something from Sam’s perspective would have been a nice addition. Overall rating 4.5!

Really fun action packed thriller, if you like thrillers with games you’ll love this. Kind of a race against the clock sort of thriller and well written and good pacing. Would recommend

Tightly plotted and entertaining from the jump, this keeps you on edge throughout. I would strongly recommend this

Thank you for this ARC. I have never read anything by this author- that is about to change. What a rollercoaster of a read. Loved the premise, the characters. A real page turner. Would thoroughly recommend to others.

Wow this really was hard to put down I read it in a couple of hours packed full of action a must read for thriller fans

This could have been so interesting but I had to DNF because I could not deal with Jamison’s point of view and I didn’t care for that part of the plot

This is my third book by the author and each time i am always astonished by how good and engrossed i get into reading these books.

From the get go there is unlimited amount of twists, action and suspense. An edge of your seat thriller read that will play on your emotions and have you rooting for characters that feel relatable and real.

We follow alongside Cassie as her little brother Sam has gotten himself into trouble and owes big money nineteen thousand pounds to be exact and has to have it paid in one week. After he is found beaten, Cassie as his big sister would do anything to help her brother which is where DareMe comes along. A new social media app where players film themselves doing dares to earn money. What soon starts out as simple dares becomes much more dangerous even risking your life to earn money for the cause of saving Sam.

Cassie is a character that i really rooted for and loved following alongside her, no matter how scary or daunting a dare was she went straight into it, it was heartbreaking but the resilience and strength she put into everything just showed how strong of a person she was and i rooted for her all throughout hoping for the best outcome. A brilliant character that i’m going to be thinking about for a while.

Win or die also shows how mob mentality and social media can make a dangerous situation arise for things such as popularity gains, online approval and making money and how something such as a simple dare can turn into something a lot worse even life threatening.

Told in short chapters which will engross and keeping you guessing who is the good or bad. Full of suspense, pure tension, and twists you won’t see coming.

You will be biting your nails until the very end when a bombshell moment even i did not see coming.

Definitely don’t want to miss this, a must read for everyone you won’t regret it.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher Joffe Books for the copy of this arc in exchange of my full honest review.
Publication Date: 16 April 2025

5/5 stars

I finished this last night and COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! Holy cow, what a banger this is!

I cannot believe how invested I was in Cassie and Sam.

This book was so clever and engrossing. The challenges were brilliant, the plotting was perfect, the dialogue outstanding and the ending? Yassssssssss!

Thank you so much to Joffe for gifting me a copy. It is my pleasure to write an honest review.

Rating: 4.0/5

Darren O'Sullivan discloses in his "Acknowledgements" section that the idea for this book was borne out of a conversation with John Marrs and there are definitely aspects of this novel that are reminiscent of something that John Marrs may have produced. However, it would be doing the author a great disservice to suggest that "Win or Die" is merely a facsimile of a Marrs story - it certainly isn't.

Cassie's brother, Sam, has got involved with the wrong type of people and now owes them £19,000. Cassie wants to help her brother, but how can she possibly raise so much money - and in just one week? That is when she hits upon the idea of using a phone app called "DareMe". Players carry out dares posted on the app in return for cash rewards. Some are just silly and potentially embarrassing, but others can be recklessly dangerous. It soon becomes clear that merely doing the silly stunts is not going to get Cassie the amount of money she needs, but she never anticipated just how much peril she was going to place herself in.

The story is split into two parts. Part One sets the scene and draws the reader in. Yes, you have to grant the author a degree of dramatic licence, but the reward for doing so is that it delivers an engrossing experience on the back of an intriguing premise. It also sets up the potential for an exhilarating "woman on the run" adventure in Part Two. One of the things that I particularly like about Part Two is that Darren O'Sullivan has constructed it in such a way that the clock counts down in what feels very close to real time, which has the effect of heightening the sense of involvement. Against that, there are times in the second half of the story that the writing is not quite as polished as it is in the first half. The element of the plot relating to the bad guys and their ultimate unmasking is a touch clumsy and predictable, but this can be forgiven in the context of how impressive the remainder of the book is.

I hadn't read any of Darren O'Sulllivan's work previously, but I dare say that is about to change.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this one! This is my second book by this author and I was happy to be able to read it. It was fast paced, so much happens and you want to continue as you want to see what happens next. The scary part of this book, is something like this could honestly one day happen. People will do extreme things to get noticed and in the end make money. I liked Cassie and understood why she was doing what she did and was really hoping everything would turn out. There are some surprises (at least for me) and the ending was a nice set up to what could be another one!

I really enjoyed this book! The premise was intriguing and I was immediately hooked. The action started a few chapters in, providing enough background information on Cassie, the main character.

Cassie makes the difficult decision to join DareMe, and app that pays user to partake in open or closed dares. Unfortunately for her, she becomes wrapped up in a difficult situation, made worse by the fact that she doesn’t know what her opponents are after.

The writing was clear and the storyline progressed at a good pace. My only take is that I found the revelation of who was hunting her to be a bit underwhelming. Maybe I missed it but it didn’t jump out at me.


As always, Thank you to NetGalley and Joffe Books for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

I love the authors books and was very excited to get approved for this arc. This book is jam packed with everything you want from a thriller, twists, surprises and emotions. The authors writing style is always gripping and this is so well done. I still preferred the players but this one is an excellent read. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this arc.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review. I am a big fan of Darren O’Sullivan so I was excited to read his new book Win or Die. What a fantastic rollercoaster of a story that had me on the edge of my seat throughout. It was non stop action packed with emotion and so many great surprises. I highly recommend this book to everyone! Fabulous writing! I cannot wait for the authors next book. 5 massive stars.

If you want edge of your seat action constantly, this is for you. Dare me is a social media craze, where players film themselves doing reckless dares for money. Cassie needs money quick to save her brother. But soon, she’s playing for her life. I read this quick, could not put it down.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this advanced copy

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review-
This book got my breathing fast, nervous, hoping, scared- so many emotions!
Sam makes a mistake and owes big money. With their parents gone it is only Cassie and Sam. He has one week to find the money so Cassie decides to help. She goes to the Dare Me app and takes on challenges to earn money. What begins as an easy way to make money becomes Cassie fighting for her life. Will she win?

An excellent read for any and all readers! Author comes at you with both barrels and knocks you out of your shoes! Great job fleshing out all the characters. I give this book FIVE stars! Definitely recommend!

I love books or movies that center around games and so eagerly picked this one up after reading the intriguing plot about an app which gives the users dares to complete. The book was fast paced, and had plenty of actions. My only gripe was I'd have liked to have spent more time focused on the dares, rather than the other subplot that is going on. Recommend this one if you like intense, dark thrillers. It reminded me of the movie/book Nerve (Jeanne Ryan) which I'd also recommend if you like this one.

I have not read a book like this in so long and by like this I mean with the game trope and it was dark and good. I was sucked in from the absolute very beginning. I highly recommend this one.

In this day and age of everything being online, every part of our lives stored on this palm held device and everything having an app, this made this book even more believable!

Cassie and Sam, since the passing of their Mum 10 years ago, only have each other. So when Sam gets into trouble, owing the wrong type of people an awful lot of money, Cassie takes it upon herself to save him. With her brother badly beaten, what other choice does she have.

She's always watched the other players on DareMe, taking on silly dares to earn small amounts of money, so, signing up to be a player, Cassie becomes KJ74.

Within a couple of hours, Cassie is starting to get the hang of it, and the money is coming in until a dare goes wrong. Now, there is a bounty on her head. Can she outrun what seems to be the whole city? Will the players realise that this isn't 'just a game'? This is her life!

This is a high octane, suspenseful, page turning thriller that had me up until the early hours.

I loved how it really touches on society today and had me questioning the dark side of social media. As a mum to three teenagers, of course, it's always a worry, but this actually resonated deeply and brought up conversations of 'what if'! It shows just what people would truly do for love, money, and popularity.

The characterisation was brilliant. The change in Cassies character from book 1 to book 2 was evident. You could picture her perfectly and feel every emotion with real clarity. The bad guys felt intimidating, and their presence was like a dark shadow looming over the page.

The only negative I had was that I'd guessed the bad guys quite early on, so it wasn't a shock when they were outed, but thats a very small negative.

This has got to be one of my favourite social media led books that I've read so far.

Huge thank you to Netgalley and Joffe Books for the ARC.