WONDERLAND review

⭐️⭐️⭐️.25/5

🎡This book has been on my “want-to-read” Goodreads shelf foreverrrrr. I’ve read 4 other Jennifer Hillier books and really enjoyed them. Based on her past work, I went into this one expecting a thriller with lots of twists. However, this one felt more like a police procedural than a thriller.

🎡Here’s a summary of the plot:👇
Wonderland is a magical amusement park that’s home to some dark and gruesome secrets. The iconic Wonderland ferris wheel is a crowd favorite, until a dead body is discovered at its base. The more police deputy Vanessa Castro looks into Wonderland, the more she wonders how many more secrets this amusement park is hiding…

🎡This story started out so strong! It set the tone and I was expecting a fast-paced thriller to follow. But the pacing felt a bit off, and it wasn’t really reading like a thriller. I listened to this on audio and the second half of the book sooo many more characters were introduced and I had a hard time keeping them straight. I didn’t expect the ending at all (I felt like it came out of nowhere?) and the story definitely didn’t feel predictable, which is always a plus! Overall, this one isn’t my favorite of Hillier’s but I loooooved the cameo appearances. If you’ve read Creep or Freak by Hillier I think you’ll appreciate the crossover characters too. 👏

I received this book for free from the publisher through netgalley.com. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Holy crap what a wild ride. There is so much going on in this book. I loved the narrator and the story line was fantastic. I love amusement parks but have to admit they give off a spooky vibe as well. Especially clowns. Clowns are a big no for me.

In this small town there is so much political maneuvering, secrets, and coverups it's a wonder any police work got done in this town. Wonderland is the biggest revenue draw for the small town and pretty much everyone has worked there at one time or another. It has a tainted past and when the new owner bought it he tried hard to restore its reputation and create something new.

However the police try hard to keep wonderland out of the papers. As the biggest revenue provider if Wonderland goes down so might the town so crimes are often mishandled, covered up or brushed off.

I love the main character as a flawed woman who has recently moved to the area after her husbands death. She isn't going to toe the company line and starts making waves as she starts to connect multiple disappearances within the park.

Run don't walk to get this book! Thank you @macmillanaudio and @netgalley for providing me a free copy of this audio book.

Seaside, Washington is the setting for this new thriller from Jennifer Hillier. With the Wonderland amusement park as the backdrop, Hillier takes us on a fun thrill ride with more twists and turns than a rollercoaster! A suspected serial killer is loose in the park and his/her preferred prey are "Wonder Workers", kids who have summer jobs at the park. As the new deputy chief of police, Vanessa Castro investigates she uncovers all the secrets the old Wonderland amusement park and the town of Seaside have tried to keep buried. With multiple characters, it took me a minute to figure out who went with who, but in typical Hillier style, it all comes together for a pretty surprising ending. I listened to the book and it was fast paced, very enjoyable and reinforced my own fears that you never know what's going on beneath the surface even if the surface is an amusement park.

This fast paced thriller by Jennifer Hillier started with a bang and cliffhanger chapter endings. Set in the Pacific Northwest and at an amusement park called Wonderland. MC, deputy police chief Vanessa, new to the Seaside PD finds herself with a dead body at Wonderland on her first day. Wonderland is Seaside’s beloved amusement park with a sordid past protected by the locals, including the PD. Many missing employees over the years add to the mystery of the current death and a post from another employee after climbing the Wonder Wheel all collide to bring this plot along many twist and turns, in true Hillier fashion.

This is my fifth book by this author and I enjoyed this book as much as the others. Jennifer Hillier never disappoints and delivers the perfect mix of thrill, gore, disturbing minds and well thought out endings.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC audiobook version of this new release in exchange for my honest review and opinion.

WOW! Where do I even start with this book! Full of intrigue, diversion, corruption, and debauchery. There was someone new doing something terrible at every turn! It kept me on the edge of my seat and constantly guessing.

I immediately went to Amazon to add all of Jennifer Hillier's books to my wish list for future book buys! Hillier is an excellent writer! She kept me invested in the characters and the outcome of all the dilemmas, constantly guessing what was going to happen and who did it, laughing at the assorted banter that was mixed throughout, and floored by the actual final outcome. Never would have guessed it! I HIGHLY recommend this book! Can't wait to read more of her novels.

Also, highly recommend the audio version. The narration was excellent!

Love the cover. The story itself was interesting but wish there was less cursing. Definitely would recommend headphones.

I really enjoyed this! It's being rereleased on audio after being published as an ebook 8 years ago, and I think the narrator did a great job with it. There's a lot of back and forth between a mysterious, dank space and the bright sunlight of an amusement park-centered town, and those moods are both handled really well by the narrator. I kind of wish the author had taken a swing at some edits before this re-release, but I still had a good time with it. Maybe horror-y thrillers set in amusement parks are my new thing? This book could definitely have used more time in the park imo. I kept hoping for flashbacks to the park in the old days, because it was noted several times that the MC worked there as a kid. I did love the way this book leaned into that "is everyone who works here creepy?" feeling and how unsettling the uncanny nature of an amusement park can be, even to those who love them.

Short synopsis: Wonderland an amusement park in the Pacific Northwest is the only thing keeping the small town of Seaside alive. When a body shows up next to the Farris wheel, and boys are missing the new detective in town gets to work.

My thoughts: Who doesn’t love a good amusement park with all the rides and cotton candy? Throw in a clown and doll museums and we’ve found ourselves on a major creepy rollercoaster of a ride!

I loved the behind the scenes in this one, and the drama as well! I really enjoyed the alternating POV between Vanessa the new cop in town trying to avoid all the politics, and what was happening in the dungeon below the clown museum.

The one downfall for me was there were a lot of characters that I had a hard time keeping everyone straight, especially during the final chapters.

Read if you love:
- Clowns and dolls
- Cotton candy and popcorn
- Amusement parks
- Murder mystery
- Alternating POV

So this book originally published as an e-book in 2015, but @macmillanaudio just made it into an audiobook available now! Such a great audiobook, the narration was done very well! Thank you to Macmillan Audio for a copy of this ALC!

This book has the creepy vibes, at least for me. I don't like amusement parks and to put a clowm museum in the middle of one, hell no count me out. Despite all that, I like this book. I like the area the book is set in. I like how the killer wasn't obvious. I got one part right and the other part was like are you for real? it's that last part that makes me love thriller/suspense books, Jennifer Hillier writes them so well. Now I have to read Little Secrets and all the others she writes.

WOW! This one was quite the ride. I was very excited for the premise of an eerie amusement park mystery.

The audio narration itself was great and it kept my interest in the story. This story has multiple POVs which can be hard to follow sometimes, but I love how the audio helps with it. The story itself was a bit slow for me, and although the ending was not all that surprising, it was somewhat satisfying.

This book is a bit creepy, but I think that if you enjoyed Hillier's other stories/enjoy small town mysteries, then you'll like this one.

Loved this book. The narrator was great as well. I felt engaged and drawn into the story every step of the way. I'm going to be recommending this book to others!

It's official Jennifer Hillier is now one of my auto-buy authors. She is such a great writer. I was hooked from the start. I mean how could you not be? Most of the setting took place in Wonderland, the towns creepy amusement park. I love being creeped out. I would totally go into the Clown Museum.

The story has multiple POVs, which I love. It's nice getting the story told by different people! And some of those twists...I. DID. NOT. SEE. COMING! I love it when I am caught off guard. I really enjoyed the characters. I would LOVE to see another book with Vanessa Castro. It's refreshing to see a bad ass female cop!

I would highly recommend this audiobook!! It was fantastic. Usually when listening to audiobooks with multiple POVs I like having different voices for each one, but the narrator nailed it. Go give it a listen!! Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and Jennifer Hillier for the audiobook!

In Seaside everyone works at wonderland, and some simply never leave. There’s a new Deputy in town and her first day she is notified of a decomposed body in the park and many missing people. Her daughter Ava has the privilege of working in the clown house at the age of 14 but everyone knows the minimum age to work there is 16. She starts Getting creepy vibes until she’s locked in her dressing room with no way out. Will she get out alive or will she just end up as the other wonderland victims? Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for my honest feedback!

Amusement parks already creep me out a bit when they have that carnival feel. Jennifer Hillier provides this twisty, spooky atmosphere and more in this police procedural thriller. Vanessa arrives to her first day on the job with the police department in a small town when she learns that a dead man has wound up at Wonderland, the local amusement park. In addition, a teen has gone missing after a stunt that went viral on social media. What follows is enough to give you chills and having you turning on all the lights.

What was great:
- the setting of the park and the pacific northwest
- enough suspicious characters to keep you guessing
- a strong, smart female police woman

Not my favorite:
= a weird hookup that didn't seem necessary to the story
- the shifting back and forth of varying character's POVs
- the all-to-quick wrap up at the end; just as it was building, it ended in a flash

The audio was very well done. While the narrative did shift, the voices were done well and never took me out of the story. Overall, I enjoyed this and gave it 4 stars. This is my second book by Hillier. Her writing is great and I love the tone of her books. I am looking forward to future releases.

The narrator was wonderful! Really enjoyed this story and loved seeing characters from other books. I literally had no clue who the killer was until the very end—twisty and so corrupt!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for a chance to read and review this audiobook. I found it to be your standard murder mystery and nothing stood out to me as shocking. The narrator of the audiobook was great and I enjoyed listening to this on my drives to work.

Jennifer Hillier has quickly become one of my must-read, recommend-to-everyone authors. Her ability to wind a twisty, atmospheric tale is always a delight and Wonderland is no exception!

Seaside, Washington is home to Wonderland, the most popular amusement park in the PNW. The park employs many of the town's residents and keeps the local economy booming. Therefore, it's imperative that Wonderland maintain a good reputation.

Deputy police chief Vanessa Castro has just moved to Seaside from Seattle when the unrecognizable body of a homeless man is found rotting on Wonderland's midway. That same day, a local teenage boy goes missing from inside that same park. Fearing what bad publicity will do to Wonderland, and therefore the town, almost everyone involved wants to wrap things up as quickly and quietly as possible. Unfortunately for them, newbie Vanessa is unwillingly to play by their rules. As she digs into Wonderland's history, more secrets surface and more questions arise. Not everything is as it appears in this magical, yet eerie, place.

As someone who frequently visits a nearby theme park, I found the premise of this novel to be pretty intriguing. A creepy amusement park with a questionable history? Sign me up! The story took off with a bang and I was invested throughout. I will say that I was able to solve the Wonderland mystery fairly early on, but I'm not necessarily upset about it (likely due to the brilliant audiobook narration and Hillier's ability to spin a pretty great tale). Overall, this one was a fun ride and I was left feeling quite content.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ability to listen to this story.

Vanessa Castro has just started her new job in a new town, popular for it's theme park, Wonderland. Her first day on duty, a body turns up, unrecognizable, at the theme park. The theme park where Castro's teenage daughter has just started working.

There are many stories of scandal (and young men preyed on by the park's current owner), not to mention family scandal at the top of the hierarchy. And other disappearances from the past come to light through the investigation.

What secrets is Wonderland hiding? How can Chief Castro protect her family throughout her investigation of a serial killer? And how is her new love interest factored into all of this? So many questions to answer, and so many twists unveiled.

Holy moly…every time I read one of Jennifer’s books, I think she can’t top herself …Boy was I wrong. I chose this as my first audiobook since she is one of my favorite authors , and since it seemed like a fun thriller. The narrator kept me intrigued from the get go, and I loved the carnival background( nothing is scarier than clowns in mu opinion!). While I did feel this mystery was more predictable than her other books I have read, I devoured this book in a weekend! Hillier can do no wrong for me :)

Featuring ~ multiple 3rd person POV, missing teens, police procedural, serial killer, dark thriller, attempted r@pe, imprisonment, abuse (I might be missing some triggers)

We have a few main characters:
Blake ~ missing Wonderland worker, Vanessa ~ new deputy police chief, Oscar ~ security guard at Wonderland, Bianca ~ CEO of Wonderland who likes to sleep with the teenage staff, and Ava ~ Vanessa's daughter who just started working at Wonderland.

Vanessa begins her new position with dead bodies and missing teens. I found her to be a great investigator and she acted like she really cared about the missing boys. She certainly did a better job than her predecessor.

This is a pretty dark read with more sexual encounters than I would have expected from a thriller. Overall, it was fast paced with some predictability, some twists and a whole lotta creepiness.

Narration:
Eunice Wong ~ 11 hours 39 minutes ~ a great job.