Wonderland

Jennifer Hillier

Horror Thriller

An atmospheric and edgy thriller that combines Heartsick with Please See Us , this novel from the author of the “truly frightening” ( Suspense Magazine ) Creep follows a police officer investigating a string of disappearances at a mysterious amusement park.

By day, Wonderland is a magical amusement park boasting a certain retro charm. Excited children, hands sticky with cotton candy, run frenetically from ride to ride while the tinkling music of the oldest Ferris wheel in the Pacific Northwest fills the air. But behind the scenes, the rides need repairs, and the clown museum is filled with a lot more than just wax figures. Someone is working hard to keep the park’s dark secrets hidden beneath its weathered attractions.

Vanessa Castro’s first day as deputy police chief of Seaside, Washington, is off to a bang. The unidentifiable homeless man rotting inside the tiny town’s main tourist attraction is strange enough, but now a teenage employee is missing. Clues lead Vanessa into a mysterious web of missing persons cases that goes back decades. She moved to Seaside to escape her own scandalous past, but has she brought her family to the center of an insidious killer’s twisted game?

Filled with fast-paced chills and a shocking, bloody finale, Wonderland is “top of the line thriller writing…You better call in sick, because you’re not going anywhere until you finish reading it. Oh, and you might want to lock the door, too. Just to be safe” (Jeffrey Deaver, New York Times bestselling author).

-Excerpt taken from Goodreads.

Check Goodreads to see the book’s ratings.

My Opinion

(4 / 5) This was a wild and creepy ride. I’m always hesitant with horror because I hate paranormal aspects thrown in. I want “real.” I want something to creep me out purely because there is a possibility it could happen. This did it. It was intense and disgusting and a crazy ride.

I was glued. I listened to this in one day because I couldn’t bear to put it down. The mystery had layers and layers and they were very slowly uncovered spectacularly. You have characters that you’re rooting for and characters you’re suspicious of and all of it comes together so well. I don’t want to give much away but by the end there were so many bombshells that it was an explosion of chaos. I loved it.

AUDIO REVIEW: Eunice Wong did an amazing job. The different voices flowed well and her intensity was perfect right when it was needed. She was able to add in an extra element of creepiness that I believe you wouldn’t get while reading.

General content summary: This is definitely not for all readers. There are some disgusting people doing some disgusting actions and I highly advise readers to check the content/triggers below.

F words= 20+, intimacy references (multiple), intimacy with stranger (few details), corpse (details of animal eating the body), masturbation (few details), a middle age woman targets teens for her lovers (multiple),  a man allegedly watches m/m porn, possible previous molestation of young boy, previous parental death, bipolar disorder and family having to live with it, war PTSD, possible suicide (some details, gun), spousal infidelity (previous), pedophile and grooming many boys, adult getting boys drunk and high to take advantage of them (multiple), mutilated corpse (few details), nakedness and intimacy (details), a gun shot killing (previous), m/f kissing (he puts hand up her shirt then they stop), sexual relationship between adult female and teen male, teen pregnancy, body found, abortion (previous), contemplation of suicide and plan, male pays for male prostitute, woman comes onto a man (naked, words, intimacy, multiple), killing with a baseball bat (blood), allegedly a man poured gas over a sleeping man and set him and house on fire, transgender female, crass language to a young woman, attempted rape (some details), captivity (multiple), a teen killed his mother (previous), man accused of multiple rapes, gunshot wound (blood). 

Thank you to MacMillan Audio for the gifted copy!

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