Ruby Hale, who avoids confrontation and spiders, hopes to be a travel influencer. Given that interest, she films, edits, and posts content to her YouTube Show, Ruby’s Hidden Gems. Seeing the feats other cultures have achieved and the architecture that they’ve built all speak to Ruby’s soul. So, when her French class schedules a trip to France, Ruby is beyond excited. She wants to soak in as much of the world as she can in order to earn her way to exploring more of it.
Once Ruby reaches Paris, her adrenaline junkie friend Valerie Moreau encounters a young man named Julien who offers a tour of the catacombs. Ruby has been “dying to see the catacombs—the intricate web of tunnels beneath the city where the skeletal remains of six million long-dead Parisians line miles and miles of passageways in artistic arrangements” (32-33). Julien promises: “This will be the most unique experience you’ll ever have. It’s like an entire underground city. The history, the artwork—there’s nothing else like it on Earth” (34).
Because the tour must be kept secret, two additional friends who see Ruby sneaking out, are along for the preview: Selena Rodriguez and Olivia Clarkson. Although Ruby knows this sneak trip is a mistake, she abandons her own good judgment and enters a death maze to get views for her channel. However, this once in a lifetime adventure quickly turns into a nightmare in Diana Urban’s book Under the Surface.
Despite vowing to take the four girls to a party with other cataphiles, urban explorers who visit the ancient catacombs, Julien’s behavior grows suspicious. Soon, the group is lost. Ruby’s best hope is that their chaperone and French teacher Mr. LeBrecque will report them missing or that her romantic interest, Sean will find a way to bring about her rescue. Sean is JROTC and plans to join the military after graduation.
As the group wanders in the dark beneath the City of Light, Julien tells stories of how the city depends on the dead, that unless the bones in the catacombs are respected and preserved, Paris will fall. With each bit of conversation about the protective energy emanating from the bones, various pieces of art they pass, and their being pursued by mask-wearing ghouls, Ruby wonders if these guardians of the dead aren’t in fact a cult. After all, there is more to Julien under the surface, and Ruby is trying to uncover what secrets he’s keeping. As the girls encounter numerous obstacles, they realize they are fighting for their lives.
Under the influence of Urban’s pen, the reader will enjoy an intense plot interspersed with clever word play, vivid description, and interesting twists. Told in Dan Brown fashion—think The Da Vinci Code—, Urban also shares key morals: “Life’s too intricate a web for a single snipped mooring thread to unravel it” (201), and “confrontation can stamp out the bad in someone before it’s too late” (202). The novel further offers discussions about hope versus faith and about how we all wish to leave our mark on the world. Another memorable moment is the joke telling episode when Ruby asks: “What has two butts and kills people?” (261).
- Donna