Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I really like Jennifer Hillier. This is one of her older books, but it was recently released on audiobook. Solid book. Kept me interested the entire time, but not earth-shattering.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I have rapidly become a fan of Jennifer Hillier and her way of writing. “Wonderland” is a great thriller of a read…so good that even while raising children and running a household, I finished this book in 4 days!! Record breaking for me haha! I truly look forward to more novels by her, and most definitely highly recommend “Wonderland” and all of Hillier’s previous bodies of work! 5⭐️!!
wonderland
Rotten, creepy, and corrupt. Seaside is a town that’s home to Wonderland. On the surface, it a postcard perfect beach town with a retro-cool amusement park. Under the surface, it’s a completely different world, literally. Folks, especially young blond men, have a tendency to disappear after working there, but corruption and collusion has kept it quiet. When a dead man turns up under the Wonder Wheel, the new chief deputy, Vanessa Castro, is tasked with putting the pieces together. This book was dark and twisty. Seaside is rotten at its core. So much so that finding the killer, or killers, was nearly impossible until the very end.
Rotten, creepy, and corrupt. Seaside is a town that’s home to Wonderland. On the surface, it a postcard perfect beach town with a retro-cool amusement park. Under the surface, it’s a completely different world, literally. Folks, especially young blond men, have a tendency to disappear after working there, but corruption and collusion has kept it quiet. When a dead man turns up under the Wonder Wheel, the new chief deputy, Vanessa Castro, is tasked with putting the pieces together. This book was dark and twisty. Seaside is rotten at its core. So much so that finding the killer, or killers, was nearly impossible until the very end.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I liked this one almost as much as Jar of Hearts! Jennifer Hillier is a great suspense writer with the ability to keep you guessing until the end, and she did exactly that in this novel. I wasn’t quite sure if my suspicions were correct until the end, and I loved being kept on my toes. Please take the warnings seriously as this is definitely not a light read.
K I L L E R !
WONDERLAND is a 5 Star+ Top-Shelf Psycho-Crime Suspense Mystery Thriller!
Part whodunnit thriller and cop procedural set in the small fictional town of Seaside, WA, where there’s a popular amusement park filled with teenage “Wonder Workers”… some of whom go missing.
Someone better grab the film rights to this Wonder, ASAP! No one can do creepy, and twisted, like Canadian, JH. Definitely worthy of the hype, plus more!
Now, to the down-and-dirty, twisted roller-coaster ride.
What you will find at WONDERLAND: intrigue, magic, fun, clowns, Ferris wheels, amusement, porcelain dolls, thrills, excitement, and mystery. What you do not see behind the façade of Wonderland and the small town, of Seaside, Washington, its preppy young faces, purple shirt crisp uniforms, and winning smiles, . . is a serial killer.
Of course, there is the Clown Museum, home to creepy wax replicas of movie stars and a massive collection of antique porcelain dolls, and did I mention hidden dungeons and tunnels? Spine-tingling.
Everyone wants to work at Wonderland.
Most of the management and ownership of this well-known amusement park—for generations past, has been a victim of a sexual predator. Even the prior owner of Wonderland, Jack Shaw, now deceased, preyed on young boys and used them to his advantage.
Many of his once victims, now grown– have returned to Wonderland, to demonstrate life goes on, by working in management or ownership. The police department seems to cater to Wonderland's needs since without this business, the town would have no jobs, revenue, or nothing to attract tourists.
Everyone has a secret. Many have a dark past. They are disguised; successful, handsome, beautiful, and the worst kind of scary, you would not be aware of their addictions, love/hate, demons, or obsessions. They look like normal, the guy or the girl next door.
MEET THE MAIN CHARACTERS:
As the book opens, Wonderland normally a sea of moving bodies, noise, and energy; is totally inanimate, dead. Blake, a disgruntled young teen employee, the social media king, wants to give his last FU to Wonderland, by climbing up the Wonder Wheel and taking selfies to tweet. He plans on this being his last day at work, and wants to make an impression with his middle finger, displayed promptly. It was only 5 am before the park opens; however, he happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
A murdered homeless man with his face eaten off left at the park, and Wonder Boy, missing in action on the same day. After further investigation, she finds a number of young boys, all blonde, age eighteen, which have gone missing over the last eight years. They all worked at Wonderland? It appears the police department has many cold cases and looks like they did not do a lot of investigating. What is the connection?
Vanessa is tough and determined to get to the bottom of this mystery—a dangerous serial killer. She continues to balance her work and personal life, as a single mom. She refuses to allow the politics of the small town and the connections between the police department and Wonderland, to get in her way.
Her head is spinning and this small town is anything from dull. Between all the cold cases, the parents of the boys demanding answers, her strained relationship with her daughter, the weird relationship with Oscar, and the pressures of the job, mayor, and chief of police; Everyone expects her to find the serial killer before he or she strikes again.
WOW! One fast-action heart-pounding intense page-turner. With many red herrings, mixed with, wit, and contemporary social media fun ---keeping you guessing until the end! Loved Vanessa’s character; hope we see more of her in the future, as well as Ava.
For all you [b:Freak|13086970|Freak (Creep, #2)|Jennifer Hillier|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1336756613l/13086970._SY75_.jpg|18257824] & [b:Creep|10088219|Creep (Creep #1)|Jennifer Hillier|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348414324l/10088219._SY75_.jpg|14916104] fans, you will enjoy revisiting Seattle PD Officer, Jerry Isaac, (love him), with the scarred neck and tortured speech, who comes back to town, to help out Vanessa with a case he worked on years ago in Seaside.
Also if you read [b:Little Secrets|45046683|Little Secrets|Jennifer Hillier|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1602090696l/45046683._SY75_.jpg|69749592], this is PI Vanessa Castro's original story. A former homicide detective with Seattle PD, Vanessa has just moved her family to Seaside to take on a new job as the town’s Deputy Chief of Police, only to discover a dead body in Wonderland midway through her very first day.
Jennifer, being pregnant and giving birth, during the writing of Wonderland, did not slow down Hillier, the serial killer queen of fiction. Your Twitter fans, and bloggers offer a special “thank you” for your brilliant execution once again. Trust me, you need to buy; one you will not want to miss; A wild twisted ride!
I was delighted to revisit WONDERLAND again in audio format narrated by the fabulous narrator, Eunice Wong, for a highly entertaining performance for all voices.
I read WONDERLAND for the first time when it came out in 2015 and landed on my Top books of 2015. I was introduced for the first time to Jennifer with [b:The Butcher|18775334|The Butcher|Jennifer Hillier|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1649202335l/18775334._SY75_.jpg|26325820] in 2014 when I started my blog and grabbed this gem from NetGalley and was blown away. Top Books of 2014. I then went back and grabbed the audiobooks,[b:Freak|13086970|Freak (Creep, #2)|Jennifer Hillier|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1336756613l/13086970._SY75_.jpg|18257824] and [b:Creep|10088219|Creep (Creep #1)|Jennifer Hillier|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348414324l/10088219._SY75_.jpg|14916104], and then Wonderland.
Since these have been a huge fan and have read all her books. I would not miss a book! They are all 5-star WINNERS. A huge fan, I anxiously await her next book, and she is so much fun to follow on social media. A TOP thriller author!
A special thank you to #MacmillanAudio and #NetGalley for a gifted ALC in exchange for an honest review.
Blog Review Posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Audio Pub Date: April 11, 2023
My Rating: 5 Stars
April 2023 Must-Read Books
*****
My Reviews - View on the blog post
THINGS WE DO IN THE DARK
TOP BOOKS OF 2022
LITTLE SECRETS
TOP BOOKS OF 2020
JAR OF HEARTS
TOP BOOKS OF 2018
WONDERLAND
TOP BOOKS OF 2015
BUTCHER
TOP BOOKS OF 2014
FREAK (2012) before blog
CREEP (2011) before blog
WONDERLAND is a 5 Star+ Top-Shelf Psycho-Crime Suspense Mystery Thriller!
Part whodunnit thriller and cop procedural set in the small fictional town of Seaside, WA, where there’s a popular amusement park filled with teenage “Wonder Workers”… some of whom go missing.
Someone better grab the film rights to this Wonder, ASAP! No one can do creepy, and twisted, like Canadian, JH. Definitely worthy of the hype, plus more!
Now, to the down-and-dirty, twisted roller-coaster ride.
What you will find at WONDERLAND: intrigue, magic, fun, clowns, Ferris wheels, amusement, porcelain dolls, thrills, excitement, and mystery. What you do not see behind the façade of Wonderland and the small town, of Seaside, Washington, its preppy young faces, purple shirt crisp uniforms, and winning smiles, . . is a serial killer.
Of course, there is the Clown Museum, home to creepy wax replicas of movie stars and a massive collection of antique porcelain dolls, and did I mention hidden dungeons and tunnels? Spine-tingling.
Everyone wants to work at Wonderland.
Most of the management and ownership of this well-known amusement park—for generations past, has been a victim of a sexual predator. Even the prior owner of Wonderland, Jack Shaw, now deceased, preyed on young boys and used them to his advantage.
Many of his once victims, now grown– have returned to Wonderland, to demonstrate life goes on, by working in management or ownership. The police department seems to cater to Wonderland's needs since without this business, the town would have no jobs, revenue, or nothing to attract tourists.
Everyone has a secret. Many have a dark past. They are disguised; successful, handsome, beautiful, and the worst kind of scary, you would not be aware of their addictions, love/hate, demons, or obsessions. They look like normal, the guy or the girl next door.
MEET THE MAIN CHARACTERS:
A femme fatale, CEO, of Wonderland Bianca, (Dragon Lady) —a cougar in her late thirties, loves young teenage blonde boys. She lures them with her position, offering promises, and advancement while using her sex appeal and alluring evil seduction. When she is tired of them, they are discarded like trash, and on to the next. She leaves behind a string of sex-crazed teenagers and men. Can we count, how many? How does she have time to do her real job?
An MIA grimy creepy night security guard, of Wonderland, Glenn loves porn and is not playing with a full deck. Why is he still working here after all these years? What does he know? Is he capable of murder? Where was he the morning of the murder of Homeless Harry and the missing boy wonder, Blake? Is his mom protecting him?
VP of Operations, Oscar Trejo, best friend with the new owner, Nick (who is sending emails and traveling). Good-looking and intelligent, he appears to be rather protective of the CEO, Bianca, yet he longs to get to know Vanessa a little better.
The new Deputy Chief, with her own demons, Vanessa Castro has left Seattle behind for a new start with her teenage daughter, Ava, and younger son, John-John in Seaside. It is her first day as deputy police chief and everything falls into her lap on day one.
There is an unidentifiable homeless man rotting inside an amusement park, and now a teenage employee with a photo going viral on the top of Wonder Wheel the same morning—now he seems to be missing?
The mayor, Frank Greenberg was a best friend of Vanessa’s late husband, and she has to do a good job to make him proud. Of course, as the book opens she is getting a little action of her own in the sack, which could complicate things when she finds out his identity.
To make matters worse, her fourteen-year-old daughter, Ava is now working at Wonderland with a janitor stalker on her trail and has eyes for a sexy teen new employee.
As the book opens, Wonderland normally a sea of moving bodies, noise, and energy; is totally inanimate, dead. Blake, a disgruntled young teen employee, the social media king, wants to give his last FU to Wonderland, by climbing up the Wonder Wheel and taking selfies to tweet. He plans on this being his last day at work, and wants to make an impression with his middle finger, displayed promptly. It was only 5 am before the park opens; however, he happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
A murdered homeless man with his face eaten off left at the park, and Wonder Boy, missing in action on the same day. After further investigation, she finds a number of young boys, all blonde, age eighteen, which have gone missing over the last eight years. They all worked at Wonderland? It appears the police department has many cold cases and looks like they did not do a lot of investigating. What is the connection?
Vanessa is tough and determined to get to the bottom of this mystery—a dangerous serial killer. She continues to balance her work and personal life, as a single mom. She refuses to allow the politics of the small town and the connections between the police department and Wonderland, to get in her way.
Her head is spinning and this small town is anything from dull. Between all the cold cases, the parents of the boys demanding answers, her strained relationship with her daughter, the weird relationship with Oscar, and the pressures of the job, mayor, and chief of police; Everyone expects her to find the serial killer before he or she strikes again.
WOW! One fast-action heart-pounding intense page-turner. With many red herrings, mixed with, wit, and contemporary social media fun ---keeping you guessing until the end! Loved Vanessa’s character; hope we see more of her in the future, as well as Ava.
For all you [b:Freak|13086970|Freak (Creep, #2)|Jennifer Hillier|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1336756613l/13086970._SY75_.jpg|18257824] & [b:Creep|10088219|Creep (Creep #1)|Jennifer Hillier|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348414324l/10088219._SY75_.jpg|14916104] fans, you will enjoy revisiting Seattle PD Officer, Jerry Isaac, (love him), with the scarred neck and tortured speech, who comes back to town, to help out Vanessa with a case he worked on years ago in Seaside.
Also if you read [b:Little Secrets|45046683|Little Secrets|Jennifer Hillier|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1602090696l/45046683._SY75_.jpg|69749592], this is PI Vanessa Castro's original story. A former homicide detective with Seattle PD, Vanessa has just moved her family to Seaside to take on a new job as the town’s Deputy Chief of Police, only to discover a dead body in Wonderland midway through her very first day.
Jennifer, being pregnant and giving birth, during the writing of Wonderland, did not slow down Hillier, the serial killer queen of fiction. Your Twitter fans, and bloggers offer a special “thank you” for your brilliant execution once again. Trust me, you need to buy; one you will not want to miss; A wild twisted ride!
I was delighted to revisit WONDERLAND again in audio format narrated by the fabulous narrator, Eunice Wong, for a highly entertaining performance for all voices.
I read WONDERLAND for the first time when it came out in 2015 and landed on my Top books of 2015. I was introduced for the first time to Jennifer with [b:The Butcher|18775334|The Butcher|Jennifer Hillier|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1649202335l/18775334._SY75_.jpg|26325820] in 2014 when I started my blog and grabbed this gem from NetGalley and was blown away. Top Books of 2014. I then went back and grabbed the audiobooks,[b:Freak|13086970|Freak (Creep, #2)|Jennifer Hillier|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1336756613l/13086970._SY75_.jpg|18257824] and [b:Creep|10088219|Creep (Creep #1)|Jennifer Hillier|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348414324l/10088219._SY75_.jpg|14916104], and then Wonderland.
Since these have been a huge fan and have read all her books. I would not miss a book! They are all 5-star WINNERS. A huge fan, I anxiously await her next book, and she is so much fun to follow on social media. A TOP thriller author!
A special thank you to #MacmillanAudio and #NetGalley for a gifted ALC in exchange for an honest review.
Blog Review Posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Audio Pub Date: April 11, 2023
My Rating: 5 Stars
April 2023 Must-Read Books
*****
My Reviews - View on the blog post
THINGS WE DO IN THE DARK
TOP BOOKS OF 2022
LITTLE SECRETS
TOP BOOKS OF 2020
JAR OF HEARTS
TOP BOOKS OF 2018
WONDERLAND
TOP BOOKS OF 2015
BUTCHER
TOP BOOKS OF 2014
FREAK (2012) before blog
CREEP (2011) before blog