I could not put this book down. I read it in a weekend. It was very good and so mysterious. It was not a usual genre for me to read but I couldn't stop thinking about the characters, even after I was finished.

Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC!
I saw someone else say this book gave off midnight mass vibes and I have to agree; I also really liked midnight mass so I naturally ended up really liking this book! I will agree that some parts moved a little slow for me but overall this was a really fun, creepy read! Love the cover too ☺️

Thank you to the Author, Netgalley, and the Dutton Publishing for this ARC of this book. I throughly enjoyed this book. An Isolated island with light cultly vibes... Count me in. It was fun to see that the island is stuck in the 90's, because honestly, Same. It was a fun ride and one, I'll most likely read again.

Thoroughly enjoyed this. An island where all of the inhabitants have to live like it is 1994...sign me up! I finished the book wanting to know what Clifford Island had in store next.

Thank you so much Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for a review.
I requested this one based on the cover and just knew I’d love it. Such a good read!!

This weird and spooky story gives off Midnight Mass vibes! Something is going on on Clifford Island and one woman is trying to figure it out while she grieves her dead son. Then she disappears. Is it a ghost story, an x-file, a murder mystery? Yes.

I love reading r/nosleep stories; My bf and I read them to each other in the hopes of actually and hopefully scaring the other. One particular subgenre? trope? we enjoy are the stories that have rules that need to be followed lest something terrible should happen. I had absolutely no idea Dead Eleven was written by an aforementioned NoSleep writer, or that this book would be a much beloved "rules horror" story 🥰

I requested this book based almost entirely on that incredible cover. I'm a collector of horror VHS, and it was obviously quite fitting to the story - which I was also intrigued by.

I absolutely loved this book! It was honestly everything I look for in a book, and double that sentiment regarding horror. I loved the characters, especially Lily and Willow. I loved every 90's reference. I loved the creepy, sussy, isolated setting of Clifford Island. I've read so many books recently with multiple POV and time lines, to the point I was worried I was burnt out on the concept, but it was well-done here and easy to follow.

I vacillated between a 4 or 5 for this one, but ultimately decided on a 4 due to the (maybe) spoilery reasons listed below.

**Spoilers?**

If asked, my complaint would be the pacing of the story, it felt a bit slow at times because we're seeing the same days from several points of view. While I was enjoying the story, immensely, I found myself wishing it would move along. Now that could be entirely my fault for being impatient in wanting to know what happened to Willow. So perhaps my main complaint is that the ending felt far fetched in a silly way. The whole idea that they're this large network of people recruiting and surveilling, and with this far reaching power to keep tabs on people and have information scrubbed from the internet was a bit much. I really feel that detracted from the story. I love the idea that the Dead aren't the only monsters on that island, but Pastor Rita having that level of power felt cheesy imo. That being said, I've already recommended this book and would happily read another book from Jimmy Juliano.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Sadly this book was a DNF for me. I just couldn’t get into the story at all. The pacing just felt so slow and just kept repeating the same information over and over. It wasn’t at all creepy to me. By the time I DNFed, I didn’t really care what was going to happen anymore. All thoughts and opinions stated are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the arc in return for an honest review!

Willow is grieving the loss of her young son and when she finds the words Clifford Island written on her son's floor, she feels compelled to visit to see if there is a connection to her son. On the island, she notices everyone seems to be stuck in the mid 90's - fashion, technology, music and tv shows are all stuck there. As Willow meets people, she tries to find the connection to her son. 5 weeks after her arrival she disappears. Her brother Harper finds out where she went from her old neighbor and he too visits the island and is able to piece together the strange happenings quickly. The mystery of why the town lives in the 90's along with a few creepy sightings around the island made this an entertaining book.

I never connected with Dead Eleven. When reading the premise and the opening, I felt that Jimmy Juliana would hook me throughout with an offbeat, humorous but scary story of someone searching for a loved one and another trying to escape a cult like almost Stepford Wives scenario but that wasn’t the case.

Throughout, I never felt that the story capitalized on the setting, characters or setup to the best it could and Juliana, while crafting an interesting world, never is able to make it feel real or even dynamic. Many things I saw fell flat with such a great idea but Dead Eleven just never made it.

I measure the success of a horror novel in two ways, if I have to turn on the light at night or stop reading until it’s morning. Both for this novel. Truly spooky horror and not always the monster we see but the implied threats, the what could happens, the fear of the townspeople all combine to make this a first rate horror. The author knows how to build a scene, taking you up the roller coaster ride until you plummet down without a seat belt.
After the death of her son, Willow is drawn to the strange and secretive place of Clifford Island where she thinks she’ll find answers. She befriends local teen Lily who only wants to escape her island home, where everyone is stuck in a time loop of 94. I mean every house watches the OJ Simpson chase over and over, there is no internet or cell phones. But Willow disappears after five weeks leaving her brother Harper to try and find her.
Deliciously chilling and spooky.

OMG OMG OMG OMG!

I know it's just the start of the year, but I can easily say that this is one of my reads... and I'm going to go ahead and make that prediction now for the end of the year that this feeling will stay true, even then.

Okay, so, like, I am so thankful towards Jimmy Juliano, Dutton, and NetGalley for granting me early access to this 90s horror masterpiece... like yall, I don't re-read books. Still, I could SOOOOO see myself picking this one back up during spooky season for the vibes. A+++++++ on this one.

Willow has gone missing following the loss of her son and the estrangement of her husband. After these losses, she fled her hometown to start a blank slate on Clifford Island off the coast of Wisconsin. This simple, picturesque town is anything but ordinary, for all of its townsfolk seem to be stuck in the nineties. From their fashion sense to their taste in music, and oh forget about modern technology being a thing, Willow learns she's a long way from home and has a sense of normalcy.

Outside of the Cliffordites' odd behaviors, she begins to catch the sense that she's being watched and perhaps not just by a human presence, for one evening, she stumbles upon her dead son -- leading her to believe that she was led to this remote island for a reason. A wild sequence of events pops off going forward, that ultimately leads to her disappearance.

In the present day, Harper, Willow's older brother, has arrived on the island to search for his missing sister and slowly understands the mayhem that Clifford Island experiences daily. A town stuck in the nineties with virtually no explanation must guard some secrets and likely knows more than they're putting out about Willow's sudden departure.

Dead Eleven scratched all of my horror movie itches and is packed full of twist after twist, with unreliable characters and paranormal guests!

Super excited for this book's release! It was totally gripping. I almost hate to draw comparisons for such an original book, but for folks who loved Night Film by Marisha Pessl, A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw, or even House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski -- this will be right up your alley.
I was sucked right in by the author's note at the beginning. If our narrator didn't have a different name than the author, I would have almost believed him. Harper arrives at Clifford Island in search of his missing sister Willow, who he's (regrettably) barely spoken with in recent years, even after the death of Willow's son. As a journalist, he sets out to figure out what's happened to her, but it's immediately obvious that there are bigger questions to be answered. Why is everyone so weird? Why is it so hard to find any mention of Cilfford Island in the news or online? And why is everyone so obsessed with the night of the slow speed chase of O.J. Simpson's Ford Bronco?
This book has it all: fun 1990s references, honest meditations on grief and memory, and great gory ghosts. I also loved Lily, a Clifford teen who would definitely be the last character standing if she were in a slasher film. Get into it!