Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Wonderland

• This is an older thriller that’s been resurfacing lately because the audiobook was recently released and it had a lot of good reviews so I picked it up because it’s by one of my favorite thriller authors!! I kind of wish I listened to the audiobook because this was pretty slow compared to the other books I’ve read by Jennifer Hillier.

• I was immediately hooked and intrigued because a lot is going on and I loved how this is more investigative. We’re following Vanessa, a deputy chief officer that’s trying to solve the mystery of the missing person.

• This is mainly set at a theme park in a shady small town and the writing perfectly captured the eerie feeling. I felt for the characters that were trying to leave the town and leave behind all the negative energy it has.

• I loved Vanessa and how determined she is to bring justice to the victims and didn’t let anyone, especially the men, tell her what she could or couldn’t do.

• The ending was not my favorite which is why this is a 4⭐️. The first 90% of the book was pretty slow and calculated, a lot was going on and there are a ton of characters introduced. And then the last 10%, everything felt rushed and I felt like there were some loose ends and unanswered questions. The killer was also a bit predictable but I still felt bad for Vanessa when she had to find out.

• By the end of the book, I wasn’t sure whose side I’m on. The characters that I was rooting for turned out to have done questionable things and some of them weren’t brought to justice and I didn’t like how they didn’t get charged for their crimes.

• Check trigger warnings if you’re planning on reading this, it’s pretty heavy with topics like SA and adult-minor relationships.

Content Warnings

covublitz's review

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

ICK. I like the general idea of this book (

serial killer in a theme park

), but omg.
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The trigger warning list for this book is a mile long (it would have been shorter to select what’s NOT in it), and it is WILDLY problematic. Characters are horribly unlikeable and should certainly all be in prison. The casual homophobia and transphobia are disgusting, as is the graphic and frequent pedophilia . Main character runs around with a victim mentality when she’s one of the worst of the bunch. Honestly, if they had all died I would have cheered.
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Two stars only because I couldn’t figure out the killer right away (

thought it was going to be the original park owner/child molester and faked his death in the fire so he could continue to kidnap teenage boys and lock them in the sex dungeon he built under the park — nope. Turned out to be an incel revenge plot because the new sexual predator/CEO had rejected this dude when he got too old to be her type, so he kidnapped all the people that aged out of her abuse, put them in the OG sex dungeon because they weren’t good enough for her anyway, and murdered them when he ran out of space and needed to go grab someone else.

).
-
Picked it up for a horror/thriller bookclub. Hate-read my way through it, then took a really long, hot shower to get the ick off my skin. This book sticks with you, and not in a good way. Do not recommend.

Content Warnings

mysterymom40's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

Content Warnings

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