Fans of Chelsea Cain and Lisa Gardner will devour this edgy thriller about the gruesome secrets hidden beneath a small-town amusement park. From the author of Creep, Freak, and The Butcher, Jennifer Hillier’s “fine knack for creating hideous killers” (Booklist) is vividly on display.
Welcome to Wonderland. By day, it’s a magical place boasting a certain retro charm. Excited children, hands sticky with cotton candy, run frenetically from the Giant Octopus ride to the Spinning Sombrero, while the tinkling carnival music of the giant Wonder Wheel—the oldest Ferris wheel in the Pacific Northwest—fills the air. But before daybreak, an eerie feeling descends. Maybe it’s the Clown Museum, home to creepy wax replicas of movie stars and a massive collection of antique porcelain dolls. Or maybe it’s the terrifyingly real House of Horrors. Or…maybe it’s the dead, decaying body left in the midway for all the Wonder Workers to see.
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—whose defiant picture at the top of the Wonder Wheel went viral that same morning—is missing. As the clues in those seemingly disparate crimes lead her down a mysterious shared path of missing persons that goes back decades, she suspects the seedy rumors surrounding the amusement park’s dark history might just be true. 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? Acclaimed author Jennifer Hillier’s bone-chilling thriller is masterful and fast-paced, hurtling toward a shocking, bloody conclusion.
WONDERLAND
Jennifer Hillier
At this point, I know exactly what I’m going to get when I pick up a Jennifer Hillier novel. It’s going to have a swift pace, and an engaging plot with very human-like characters. And according to history-I’m going to love it.
Vanessa Castro is new on the job as deputy police chief in the small town of Seaside. She comes to Seaside trying to outrun her past, start over and make a better life for her family, what’s left of it.
On her first day, the town and its connection to Wonderland present itself with a murder and a missing person. Vanessa learns the hard way how deep those connections go, and we learn all the ways in which WONDERLAND and Vanessa’s personal life are similar.
The book opens with two mysteries, which unravel into several more. It is an expertly written crime mystery disguised as a thriller. It even had some qualities of a horror movie where the town revolves around a haunted amusement park.
Vanessa has trouble with boundaries, telling the truth, and being vulnerable. She is an excellent character. She has just enough mystery to keep you interested. Most of the time her storyline was more intriguing than the main storyline of the book. I would read another book that starred Vanessa for sure.
I listened to the 2023 version of the audiobook that will be released next Tuesday. I enjoyed the narration and thought the performance led to my enjoyment of the book.
You should add listening to this thriller to your Spring Break plans.
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copies!
WONDERLAND…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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