Thank you Macmillan Audio /Netgalley, #partner for the ALC of Wonderland in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: April 11, 2023
Summary:
From the bestselling author of the hugely popular thrillers Things We Do in the Dark, Little Secrets, and Jar of Hearts comes Wonderland, a roller coaster of a listen. Now in audio for the first time!
After a personal tragedy and professional scandal forces homicide detective Vanessa Castro out of Seattle, she takes a new job in Seaside, Washington, determined to make a fresh start for herself and her family. The small beach town, best known for its popular amusement park, Wonderland, seems like the perfect place to raise her young son and teenage daughter.
But it’s not that easy starting over, especially as the town’s new Deputy Chief of Police. When a dead body turns up at the park her first day on the job, and then a teenage Wonder Worker goes missing, Vanessa’s investigation is met with resistance. After all, Wonderland is the largest amusement park in the Pacific Northwest, attracting tourists from all over the country and providing thousands of jobs for the locals. A scandal that hurts the park hurts the town, but the more questions Vanessa asks, the more questions arise . . . especially when she learns that the missing teenage boy is the not the first park employee to disappear. The deeper she goes, the more she begins to suspect that the terrifying rumors about Wonderland’s dark past might actually be true.
Surrounded by secrets, lies, and corruption at the highest levels, Vanessa’s family is now in the center of a serial killer’s twisted game . . . and there’s nobody she can trust but herself.
My thoughts:
I have been a fan of Jennifer Hillier’s books for quite some time and so I was thrilled to see that they had finally released this earlier book of hers on audio. It was originally only released as an e-book and I had never gotten around to reading it. Now this is one of her backlist books I can cross off my list!
Like most of her books, this one was just as creepy and twisted as I would expect. This is the second or third thriller I have read set in an amusement park and I have to say, I wasn’t really a fan of them to begin with and now I definitely will not be heading to one anytime soon!
This book grabbed me from the get-go and I was unable to put it down, finishing it in one day. I loved the characters, especially Dectective Vanessa Castro. She’s new in town and wants to do right, but definitely has a few secrets of her own. And that’s not it as far as the secrets go…it seems that everyone has their own fair share of secrets. And most interesting of all is the relationship between Wonderland and the police. Will this impede the current investigation?
This book has so many twists and turns and the creep factor is off the charts. It kept me on edge all the way through and I had no idea where it was heading. I love Jennifer Hillier’s writing and this one was no exception!
Audio thoughts:
This was such a great book to listen to…the creep factor alone had me on edge and I thought the narrator, Eunice Wong, did a great job bringing the story to life. Her pacing and intonation were spot on and she infused just the right amount of suspense into her voice as needed.
