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julells's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I really loved the idea of the book and it was definitely okayish written. However the entire plot turned out to be rather irrational and the ending was just really disappointing to me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Torture, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence
Moderate: Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse
vj_thompson's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
If you can get through the terrible dialogue and the child-like behavior, I think it’s worth finding out how the books ends. The. Ending. Is. Crazy!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Animal death, and Gore
Moderate: Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Death, and Bullying
Minor: Kidnapping and Car accident
featherinthewind's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
do not read this if you want a decisive answer and ending because what the hell. I will say this book is much better than her other ones but I did notice it had the same issues as others. For one, there are so many characters to keep track of and only a few really matter. I couldn’t keep everyone straight and only started to match names to descriptions half way through. The story was strong and kept its edge and suspense.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Stalking, Animal death, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
arthomas's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Stalking, Child abuse, Car accident, Bullying, Torture, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Murder, and Toxic relationship
swiftreader's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
This book took me longer than usual, mostly because I was going back and forth on whether I should DNF it. The story was long and dragging and none of the creepy things were actually creepy. I just wanted more, it started off good but slowly the scary parts of it just seemed like inconveniences compared to the one gory scene other than that everything else seemed very mundane. I’m not sure what I was expecting but Miss Author, why? Why do we know who the killer is so early on??? I feel like that set the book up to fail terribly.
Also I didn’t feel a connection to Kayla or Esme, I genuinely didn’t care if they lived or died because they were so flat. The only characters I cared about were the kids and the side characters. Like I would have been super upset if Andy or Tia died. But the two leads I felt nothing for which is sad. Other than liking boys and being nervous as hell what else could we have learned about Esme? It might have been good if it was multi POVs or something idk. I just wanted mystery, I wanted suspense and to be absolutely spooked by this killer which I feel shouldn’t be too hard considering that our leads are literally being stalked in the woods but somehow even that managed to become boring after a while.
Also the weapon the killer used was boring, like cmon I wanted splatter and slasher. Something more than a bam and done type of thing. It was so boring and the killing didn’t start until the end when the author had the perfect opportunity to pick them off one by one.
I wonder if this author ever actually went to sleep away camp. Because I very clearly remember the one I went to and no way would there be so many children and teens but hardly any adults. Besides Andy and the other counselors who I imagined were in their early twenties there was no one else there. Maybe I’m nitpicking but where was the other staff??? No cooks or chefs? No one working in the infirmary? (Which is a requirement with so many children) No cafeteria worker? Janitors or other adults over 25 besides Andy?!?! There’s no way that Andy would be the only supervisor there because yes camp councilors are councilors but there must have been more people to operate a six week camp of that size. I’m not even gonna bother questioning Andy’s horrible decisions when it came to safety…because I imagine his incompetence was just a way to explain why this all was happening when he should have called parents and police a while ago. But Plot I guess.
Btw teenagers don’t talk like that. They most likely will not say their favorite books are It and The Great Gatsby. Some may but most teenagers wouldn’t.
For anyone who wants to read, if you want to read an entire book about silly pranks and maybe a few semi-decent scares (which weren’t really scary but whatever) and then have the killings be quick and short, this is the story for you. This book will not have you on the edge of your seat. It will not make you feel creeped out or even slightly unnerved.
Also I didn’t feel a connection to Kayla or Esme, I genuinely didn’t care if they lived or died because they were so flat. The only characters I cared about were the kids and the side characters. Like I would have been super upset if Andy or Tia died. But the two leads I felt nothing for which is sad. Other than liking boys and being nervous as hell what else could we have learned about Esme? It might have been good if it was multi POVs or something idk. I just wanted mystery, I wanted suspense and to be absolutely spooked by this killer which I feel shouldn’t be too hard considering that our leads are literally being stalked in the woods but somehow even that managed to become boring after a while.
Also the weapon the killer used was boring, like cmon I wanted splatter and slasher. Something more than a bam and done type of thing. It was so boring and the killing didn’t start until the end when the author had the perfect opportunity to pick them off one by one.
I wonder if this author ever actually went to sleep away camp. Because I very clearly remember the one I went to and no way would there be so many children and teens but hardly any adults. Besides Andy and the other counselors who I imagined were in their early twenties there was no one else there. Maybe I’m nitpicking but where was the other staff??? No cooks or chefs? No one working in the infirmary? (Which is a requirement with so many children) No cafeteria worker? Janitors or other adults over 25 besides Andy?!?! There’s no way that Andy would be the only supervisor there because yes camp councilors are councilors but there must have been more people to operate a six week camp of that size. I’m not even gonna bother questioning Andy’s horrible decisions when it came to safety…because I imagine his incompetence was just a way to explain why this all was happening when he should have called parents and police a while ago. But Plot I guess.
Btw teenagers don’t talk like that. They most likely will not say their favorite books are It and The Great Gatsby. Some may but most teenagers wouldn’t.
For anyone who wants to read, if you want to read an entire book about silly pranks and maybe a few semi-decent scares (which weren’t really scary but whatever) and then have the killings be quick and short, this is the story for you. This book will not have you on the edge of your seat. It will not make you feel creeped out or even slightly unnerved.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Animal cruelty, Stalking, Kidnapping, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Animal death
mollybooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Stalking, Death, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and Animal death
*spoilers in the content warnings*immensekassing's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Violence
Minor: Kidnapping
abrianna_reads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Violence
emileereadsbooks's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Thank you PRH Audio for the complimentary audiobook.
Wowza. This book is really bad. Like why didn't I DNF it bad. Esme is working as a junior camp counselor at the camp where she did something bad as a kid (this is revealed as you progress through the book). Someone is terrorizing the camp and making threats. So of course they don't call the police because this unknown horror person tells them not to... ummm y'all are taking care of 7-8 year olds and you aren't willing to protect them? Plus Esme keeps saying she wants to keep a secret but she is the worst detective and secret keeper... She is horrible about learning who to trust. Do better Esme.
Characters are murdered at the end and it's just seems like it was the easiest way to finish the book except the book doesn't really finish because the murder gets away and it ends on a cliff hanger.
Would not recommend. Do not waste your precious reading time. I really should stop trying to read YA.
Wowza. This book is really bad. Like why didn't I DNF it bad. Esme is working as a junior camp counselor at the camp where she did something bad as a kid (this is revealed as you progress through the book). Someone is terrorizing the camp and making threats. So of course they don't call the police because this unknown horror person tells them not to... ummm y'all are taking care of 7-8 year olds and you aren't willing to protect them? Plus Esme keeps saying she wants to keep a secret but she is the worst detective and secret keeper... She is horrible about learning who to trust. Do better Esme.
Would not recommend. Do not waste your precious reading time. I really should stop trying to read YA.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence
Moderate: Animal death, Kidnapping, Murder, and Torture
onkenzisshelf's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
What I Liked
- This was a very twisty thriller based on a summer camp which I really enjoyed.
- Super fast-paced ending.
What I Didn't Like/Wanted More Of [I hate having more negatives than positives but here we are]:
- This book jumped around SO much. Like, annoyingly so.
- The characters and dialogue were SO cringey and annoying and frankly boring. Listening to this book made it worse. I just didn't care about any of them.
- There were absolutely no twists on who the antagonist was, even though the author set it up perfectly for there to be some major twists.
- SO freaking gory and the ending was entirely unnecessary for a YA, summer camp thriller - almost felt a little like AHS 1984 which I also did not like.
You Should Read If You Like
- Honestly I LOVED Natasha Preston's other books so I don't recommend reading this if you feel the same.
- Summer camp thrillers
- American Horror Story 1984
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Kidnapping, Ableism, and Fire/Fire injury
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