received the audiobook ARC from netgalley/the publisher and was really excited to get into it. i’ve loved other books by jennifer hillier and had high hopes. while i think this one was entertaining and moved along at a really good pace, i wouldn’t put it at the top of the list of her books. i saw some other reviews saying this was predictable but i didnt see the ending coming. however, and this is probably very nitpicky, as a lawyer i found almost all of the interrogation and legal-adjacent scenes poorly written.

the narrator was great. i listened at 1.75x and still found it easily understandable (could’ve gone faster as i normally do but wanted to fully absorb this ARC). i vote read this one but don’t expect it to be your new fav thriller.

Jennifer Hillier has become one of my very favorite thriller authors! Wonderland was originally published only in ebook format back in 2015, but is being released in audiobook format next month. I was lucky enough to get asked to review a copy, and I am so glad because I didn't even have this one on my radar (and it definitely makes me realize that I need to go back and explore Hillier's backlist more because I have loved every book I've read by her). Wonderland will keep you guessing the entire time you are listening, and there are plenty of twists that you will not see coming. I loved the morally gray characters, and I loved that so many of the choices they made were in keeping with that gray area. I thought the amusement park setting was fun, and I think Hillier did a great job of capitalizing on the setting as an integral part of the plot. The audio narration was very well done (I am not sure if I have listened to Eunice Wong before, but she is now on my radar). Definitely put this one on your list!

Audio ARC provided by NetGalley.

If you’re looking for a creepy clown novel, this is not it. If you’re looking for a creepy amusement park novel, this is kind of it. If you’re looking for a small town detective murder mystery with a side of creepy amusement park and a tiny sprinkle of creepy clown, this is it.

The audio narration was excellent. I always understood where we were, who was speaking, and which character’s perspective we were seeing. Each voice was distinct and clear. I was kept intrigued and wanted to put my earbuds back in to listen more anytime I had to take them out.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you @netgalley & @jenniferhillierbooks for my audiobook of Wonderland! This was my first read of hers and I cannot wait to read her other books!

Wonderland is the hype of the town and where every teenager wants to work during the summer. What they don't know is about all of the secrets it has held over the years.

When a new deputy police chief arrives, she realizes that there have been a lot of missing boy cases over the years still unsolved. As she digs deeper & her daughter gets a job there, she soon realizes that Wonderland may be the reason for the disappearances!

Wow!!! All the stars for this one! A real rollercoaster of a novel… pardon the pun! This one had all the feels from and a dead body in the midway to other missing young boys along with a new town deputy sheriff are just the beginning. A captivating storyline about an amusement park with some creepy secrets. Lots of twists & turns kept me on the edge of my seat! Bold well written characters with twisted secrets were also a plus! I opted for the audiobook which was a remake of the original 2015 & it was AMAZING! Loved the narrators! Had a hard time putting this one down. Highly recommended for thriller readers out there! Jennifer Hillier has done it again!!!! Bravo!
Thank you #NetGalley for this ARC. My review is strictly voluntary.

I was so excited for a new Jennifer Hillier book to enjoy! I love all her past novels that I’ve read. This…didn’t quite read like a Jennifer Hillier thriller for me though.

It’s a crime novel revolving around some deaths and missing person issues at a creepy theme park…it has some great scary aspects…but didn’t have the normal wit and edge that I enjoy with her books.

The narrator for the audio did a great job. I was engaged with her style of voicing the various characters and would recommend this route if you decide to read this book.

Although this wasn’t my favorite of this author’s books, I will definitely continue to read and seek out books by her in the future. It may work better for others, it just fell a bit flat for me.

Wonderland by Jennifer Hillier is gritty and truly horrific. I’m an avid reader of disturbing thrillers and this one is packed full of unredeemable characters. I’m saying this upfront because I know some people are already thinking “interesting, go on” and others are more “hard pass.”

For the “go on” crew, you probably already know that Hillier pushes it with her characters and her crimes. I used to think Jar of Hearts was the most graphic and disturbing, so this one being worse kinda snuck up on me. The story takes place at Wonderland theme park when an unidentifiable unalive body is found, sparking a chain of events and a detective investigation that reveals increasingly horrific things. There is one scene in particular where I just couldn’t… **shudder**

This was a tough read that I couldn’t put down. She’s an auto-read author for a reason, her stories pull me in and don’t let me go. Be prepared for an unapologetic and twisted read.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for sharing an advanced listening copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts. I appreciate you! The print edition of this book was originally published in 2015 and the audio edition will be available in April 2023 – I highly recommend audio, the narration from Eunice Wong was on point. I had to check to see if there were multiple narrators because she differentiated the characters so well.

Content warnings: Death, adult/Minor relationship, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Confinement, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Self-harm

Jennifer Hillier pulled me again with another dark and creepy thriller. I instantly got hooked on the premise involving a creepy amusement park and people disappearing. Wonderland was originally first published in 2015. Eight years later, I was invited to listen to the book as an audiobook.

Vanessa and her two children moved to Seaside, Washington because Vanessa got hired as the new deputy chief of police. Her start started with a bang when the town’s popular amusement park, Wonderland, may be connected to an unidentifiable homeless man who was murdered and a missing teenage employee. Wonderland is a well known amusement park in Seaside where many people enjoy their summer. The park is magical by day, but at night things go eerie, and people go missing.

The story's ambiance was perfect—nothing like an eerie amusement park setting filled with nighttime secrets. I loved how Wonderland is depicted as a wholesome and fun summertime experience that plenty of tourists go to, but also, nothing appears as it seems. It was easy to picture both sides, and I loved the eerie feel of the Clown Room scene at night.

This book also got me so hooked that I thought I knew who the murderer was early on. I started to fixate on that assumption so much that I missed all of the hints of who was the actual murderer. I feel like that is the best part about a book when an author steers you in the wrong direction because when the moment you find yourself figuring everything out, the surprise is more shocking. Hillier did a great job doing that during the entire book.

The audiobook was great to listen to. The narrator, Eunice Wong, did a great job enchanting the atmospheric feel of the story.

Thank you to NetGallery and to Macmillan Audio for giving me a copy of the audiobook.

A creepy amusement park. Missing teenage boys. New Chief Detective Vanessa Castro has her hands full with her rebellious teenage daughter and a one night stand that becomes a questionable person in her investigation.
I couldn’t stop listening to this fast paced thriller.
Thank you to Drew Kilman at Macmillan Audio for sending me an advance widget of the audio book.
Also thank you NetGalley.

Summary: Deputy Police Chief Vanessa Castro is having a rough first day on the job when a body is discovered at the local amusement park. As each of the clues lead them down the paths to additional unsolved cases, she begins to suspect the rumors surrounding the park might be true.

Thoughts: While I love Jennifer Hillier and her dark and twisty psychological thrillers, this one was a bit of a miss for me.

Let’s start with what I loved. Hillier is amazing at setting the mood and tone of a book, and she did that tenfold here. From page one, you can clearly envision this eerie and very creepy theme park, including the “wonder wheel.” She successfully creates this really dark, gritty, and cold atmosphere perfect for this type of story. I also loved the nuance of our MC, Vanessa, and how she was a very flawed, messy character, not just your typical heroine.

Told from one perspective (an omniscient third person narrator), the large cast of characters mixed with this style of narration made it harder for me to connect to the characters. I felt I wasn’t invested in the story or the outcome which is obviously problematic in a thriller. If this is one you’ve been wanting to read, I would still give it a try as I’ve seen some great reviews out there for it.

I listened to this on audio and will say that the narrator did a fantastic job narrating such a large and diverse set of characters. My recommendation would be to listen to this one on audio to further immerse yourself in the creepy atmosphere.

Read if you like:
•amusement park setting
•serial killer plot lines
•third person narration
•large cast of characters
•moody and atmospheric reads

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for my gifted audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

I thought this was a new Jennifer Hillier book but I guess this was published on 2015 and this was the only time they had an audiobook for this one. It was an easy read/listen. I think most of her books are very easy-read-thrillers. The plot was not as intricate as any action packed novels but nonetheless, gave me a "what the hell is going on?" type of feeling.
I enjoyed it and the narrator did an amazing job.

What a ride this story was!

A free climber goes missing at an amusement park….a body is found.

A deputy chief relocates her family to amusement park town in the Pacific Northwest and slowly learns that all is not what it seems.

This story twisted and turned so many times it was hard to predict what would happen next, who our red herrings were, and to fully divide good from evil.

Masterfully crafted. Very good.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #MacmillanAudio for allowing me an ARC of this title to review in exchange for my honest opinion.

I found this to be subpar. A little underwhelming for a Hillier. This will be the third I've read from her and this being the furthest within her backlist, I wasn't super impressed. I'll most likely pick up her books once more but this was just 3 stars.

Hillier’s books have become a reliable go-to for me. They’re fast-paced and easy to read without a lot of “confessions” and monologues.

This is my least favorite of the titles I’ve read, but at the same time, I kept reading it and had trouble putting it down. the narrator really helped. I’m a little sad the deputy isn’t getting her own series. I had a little trouble believing Bianca had such sway over every man in town. The sex can’t be that good lol

Another note:

I’ve read a couple of books that take place in an amusement park and was worried that would would make this book feel too stale but this story was fresh feeling despite that. I loved tbt the identity reveal at the end.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing an advanced copy of this audiobook for review! I have never read Wonderland but when I received the option to listen to the audio, I jumped on it.

I really enjoyed this book. It didn't have as much of the creepy atmosphere as I expected, but was a good thriller all the same. Good character development.

The narrator, Eunice Wong, did a great job. If you're an audiobook fan, look for it on April 11, 2023. Definitely recommend!

Wonderland was my third Jennifer Hillier novel and oh my word!!! She is for sure an auto buy! I love the way she plays with geography. As a PNWer I love her setting of a small coastal town known for its theme park. This one definitely gave off eerie vibes with clown museums and a porcelain doll room called the Dollhouse. For the mystery plot I can never peg the person in question… with this one I had a feeling but kept saying… No… what’s the why?!! Which kept me guessing throughout. Thrillers are very easy entertainment for me and this was one I really enjoyed. I do want to give a listen to Creep and Freak because there is a character tie also I want to finish her backlist! It also seems like I need to pick up Little Secrets now to see what some of the characters are up to!

Thank you publishers for this gifted copy

Another Hillier book I completely devoured. I listened to the new audio and finished it before I even left work for the day! Vanessa is the new deputy chief for the Seaside, Washington police department. Her husbands death and a public scandal forces her to relocate from Seattle with her 2 children. Seaside is an idyllic beach town famous for it's amusement park, Wonderland. On Vanessa's first day on the job a body is found at the bottom of the Ferris Wheel of the park, and another boy is missing. The further Vanessa digs into the town and the amusement park the more missing boys she finds. As she unravels all the dark secrets behind the gates of Wonderland she finds there is more than just creepy dolls in the Clown Museum. This is a super dark and twisty thriller that I would absolutely recommend to anyone that has previously enjoyed her books. The book narrator was great. Thank you to @macmillan.audio and @netgalley for my ALC.

I originally read this a couple of years ago and absolutely loved all the twists and turns so when the publisher sent me an email asking if I’d like a copy of the soon to be released audiobook, I was like yes! And man I am so glad I had a chance to listen to it! It was just as good as I remembered, and having the story brought to life while in a whole new format was fantastic. The narrator did a great job of differentiating the characters and keeping the story engaging and entertaining. This is a must listen for thriller audiobook fans.
Wonderland is a huge amusement park facing some big issues. Attendance isn’t what it was, and now one of its employees has posted a photo of himself shooting the bird while hanging off the Wonder Wheel. When Bianca, the CEO of the park finds out, she loses it. After all, that makes her park look bad. And on a personal level, she’s mad because she’s been sleeping with him despite the fact that he’s only 18.
Vanessa is the new deputy police chief who has left Seattle and her husbands suicide along with some other troubles in her past and hopes to start fresh In Seaside. Then her first week on the job the boy from the Wonder Wheel goes missing and a rotting corpse is found in the park as well. What evil is lurking beneath the amusement park’s happy facade?
Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this advanced copy of the audiobook in exchange for my thoughts.

Jennifer Hillier is definitely working her way up to be one of my favorite authors. Wonderland is a work of art that I have been looking for and many other books and nobody has nailed it the same way that she has.

Wonderland is just that a place full of wonder and awe. Nestled between Seattle and Portland is wonderland a place where families have come for years to play and get away. It’s the center of the town, and it brings in the most profit for the small town of Seaside. When a boy is found in the center of the park with his face mauled off and dead the town is shocked. There seems to be a trend of young teenage workers from Wonderland going missing.

We get to follow multiple points of you in the story we follow a detective we follow the detectives, daughter, we follow chapters from underneath the cloud exhibit you don’t know exactly who’s speaking in those chapters. We follow chapters from the CEO of the park. We really do get a lot of perspectives in this book, and I think it adds to the intrigue being able to see multiple people in this town, and how this crime is affecting them, and how everybody is more tangled together than they want to admit.

Again, like I said before I love this book and I have been in search of a Disney world type book that gives me thriller horror vibes but I’ve been looking for one that I actually enjoy and this is the first one that I feel did everything I wanted it to.

Thank you to netgalley, and the publisher for granting me a copy of the audiobook. It’s personally my favorite way to digest a story, and I love the narrator and thought that she did a very good job of bringing the story to life.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced audiobook copy.

I had read this book a few years back and was excited to see there is finally an audiobook for it. I am a big fan of Jennifer Hiller and this book still stays fresh in my mind after the years of reading it. The audiobook was great!