#MurderTrending is a YA trilogy by Gretchen McNeil.
America was plagued with a violent crime epidemic until a anonymous businessman only known as the Postman came up with a solution: repurposing Treasure Island off the coast of San Francisco into "Alcatraz 2.0", where convicted murderers can be sent to be hunted by professional killers known as "Painiacs" while the Postman streams all of this on his own app so the entire country can watch for their entertainment.
The first novel, #MurderTrending follows Dee Guerra as she is sent to Alcatraz 2.0 after being framed for the murder of her step-sister Monica, where she tries to both survive and discover the truth behind Monica's death.
The second novel, #MurderFunding set months after the first novel, follows Becca Martinello as she learns her recently deceased mother might have been the Painiac "Molly Mauler" and so she auditions for Who Wants to be a Painiac?, a supposedly unconnected, non-lethal fan continuation of the Postman app to learn if her mother really was Molly Mauler, before becoming entangled in something much larger.
The third novel, #NoEscape follows Persephone "Persey", as by solving a supposedly unsolvable escape room puzzle, she wins admission to an upcoming escape room challenge with a grand prize of $10 million. However, the challenge is not what it seems and it's not long before people start dying and Persey must solve the puzzles to survive.
- #MurderTrending (2018)
- #MurderFunding (2019)
- #NoEscape (2020)
#MurderTrending contains examples of the following tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Persey's father is emotionally abusive towards her, he constantly insults and belittles her by calling her a worthless idiot and cuts her out of the will the moment she's shows him a bit of spine.
- Appropriated Appellation: It was Nyles who came up with the term "Painiac" and "Postmainiac" to describe the killers on Alcatraz 2.0 and the fans of the Postman respectively, but both those terms are quickly popularized and begin being used officially.
- Corrupt Politician: The President agreed to the Postman's extremely dubious proposal of sending convicted murderers to Alcatraz 2.0 to be hunted for sport by state-sanctioned killers while the Postman profits from streaming the kills on his own app. It's revealed the President also used the Postman's connections to the Russian government to help him get elected.
- Fed to the Beast: Molly Mauler is a Painiac whose specialty is to feed her victims live to animals, such as wolves or snakes.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Hannah Bell is a Painiac whose gimmick is that she dresses up as a chef and eats her victims after she kills them.
- Kill and Replace: It is eventually revealed that Mara, who has been helping Dee on the island and kill the Painiacs isn't actually Mara, rather she's Kimmi, who killed Mara and disguised herself as her the day before Dee arrived on Alacatraz 2.0.
- murder.com:
- The Postman app is this on a national, legal scale as everyone in America can watch the inmates on the island all they want and everyone gets notifications whenever a kill is happening so they can watch the carnage.
- In #MurderFunding Victor Merchant tries to start his own version of the app in Russia, luring over a dozen people to stream their deaths as a pilot for it.
- Psycho for Hire: All of the Painiacs are hired killers who hunt and murder inmates on Alcatraz 2.0 for as much as the thrill of killing as the money they're paid for it.
- Self-Made Orphan: Persey's brother Lincoln killed both of their parents after their father made it clear he wasn't going to give him anymore money unless he went back to college so Lincoln killed them to inherit the money instead.
- Serial Killer:
- The Painiacs are described as state-sanctioned serial killers who hunt and kill the prisoners on Alcatraz 2.0 for fun and money.
- The Postman himself is one, where his daughter Kimmi telling Dee how he frequently brings people down into his basement and kill them.
- White Sheep: Coop is shown to be the only good person in his family in contrast to his father, the Postman and his sister Kimmi who are both Ax-Crazy sadists and his mother, who is completely okay with their bloodlust.
