Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

“Generation Annihilation” by Tracy Hewitt Meyer is a young adult thriller that delves into the dark and twisted corridors of Blackthorn Peak Lunatic Asylum. The story follows seventeen-year-old Shaun Treadway, who, in a desperate act to protect his mother, kills his abusive stepfather and flees to his family’s isolated cabin in West Virginia. However, the small town of Blackthorn Peak is far from the safe haven he hoped for, and the looming presence of the abandoned asylum beckons with secrets Shaun cannot resist.

Meyer crafts a narrative that is as much about the horrors that lie within the human psyche as it is about the physical terror of the asylum. The protagonist, Shaun, is a complex character whose red hair is as fiery as his spirit, and his journey is one of survival, not just against external threats but also against his own inner demons. The introduction of Cass, a girl with her own set of familial nightmares, adds depth to the plot, as their relationship oscillates between ally and adversary.

The setting of the asylum is a character in itself, with its dilapidated walls and sinister history casting a shadow over the entire story. Meyer’s writing successfully creates an atmosphere of suspense and dread, making the asylum’s corridors come alive with the echoes of the past. The narrative is propelled by an urgency that keeps the reader engaged, wondering what lies around the next corner for Shaun and Cass.

However, the book is not without its flaws. The villains aren't portrayed realistically and sensitive subjects are not as carefully as they should be. It goes of course in areas.

Despite these criticisms, “Generation Annihilation” offers a gripping tale that explores themes of redemption, morality, and the lengths one will go to escape the past. Meyer’s portrayal of the troubled teens is raw and unflinching, providing a stark look at the impact of trauma and the struggle for identity.

I love a lot of stories. I really love haunted, abandoned asylunm stories. This YA novel was right up my alley. Shaun has seen some stuff. As a result, he has done some stuff. So he runs away to a small town and cannot stay away. This is the beginnings of a great story. It may have slightly dragged at times, but it always brought you back to where you needed to be.

This title was pretty good haunting and so thrilling. Overall pretty good. There were some moments it would lose me where it would get slow.

3 Stars!

I was just looking around when I bumped into Generation Annihilation by Tracy Hewitt Meyer. The title of the book immediately caught my attention and the synopsis made it sound interesting. Having no expectations since I was not familiar with the author, I decided to give it a try and hope for an interesting read.



Shaun Treadway knows anger. He is filled with it every day, but he is also familiar with the anger of others. His abusive stepfather is destined to kill his mother one day and Shaun is not going to stand for it. He had tried to kill his stepfather once and failed. When he set the fire after his mother was hospitalized, he knew he would not fail a second time. He took justice into his own hands when no one else would help. No one would dare face his stepfather, a police officer, so Shaun did it himself. He fled to an isolated cabin in West Virginia that belonged to his mother’s family hoping to lay low for a while. But the small town of Blackthorn Keep was not a place that a wayward teen could hide, and the Blackthorn Keep Lunatic Asylum loomed large over the entire town. I almost seemed to be calling to him.



When Shaun meets Cass, whose father works in the asylum, he is immediately drawn to her. She warns him to leave the town but he knows he will not leave without getting to know her better. When he goes to meet her for a date and hears her screaming inside the asylum, he rushes in and is caught up in the terror that lies within. There is something sinister in Blackthorn Keep, something that is looking to change the world, and it starts inside the dark, old asylum. Now that Shaun has entered the building, he may never find his way out again. At least, he may never find a way out while he is still alive.



It is important to first point out that Generation Annihilation is a young adult novel. While there are many aspects of YA in the book, it is a very dark book for that audience and is very similar to an “adult” horror novel with the exception that the main characters are teenagers and the focus of the evil doctor in the asylum is aimed toward teens. This may not work too well for some readers, but I really did not find it to be a distraction from the story at all. It pops up at times in the story, but this is more a horror novel than a young adult horror novel. The concept of the book was an original one that, while I can see its base in other works, has a unique twist that keeps it interesting throughout. The main characters in the story are well developed and easy to relate to, even with the age difference, and there are some truly horrific passages in this novel. The book gets a definite five-star rating for the concept and originality.



While Generation Annihilation had the potential to be a great read, the one thing that held it back for me is that the villains of the story seemed too formulaic and almost even cartoonish if not childish. There was a lack of depth in the doctor and her henchmen that belied the horror of the rest of the story. While I was thrilled and horrified at some of the happenings in the novel, the people that were responsible for them countered that feeling to some extent. The teens that were struggling for their lives were well done, the concept of the forces against them was strong, but the characters that ran the asylum just fell flat. The story bogged down some when the humans behind the asylum came into the tale. In total, though, Generation Annihilation is an interesting story that is well worth the time that it takes to read it, and I am very interested in what Meyer has in store for readers in the future. Generation Annihilation is a good novel that just never quite lives up to the promise of a unique and captivating premise. I have rated this novel 3 stars, but it is really more like 3.5.



I would like to thank BHC Press and NetGalley for this review copy. Generation Annihilation is available now.

Thank you to netgalley and BHC Press for allowing me to read Generation Annihilation by Tracy Hewitt Meyer. This book was so damn good. I didn't want to put it down I ended up reading this is one sitting. Do yourself a favor and get this book....NOOOOW!

Really great book with amazing characters and a great plot. Was easy to get into and it was very engaging. This is a book that I can see a lot of people in YA enjoy.

Oh boy. Where do I start?

Let’s go with the obvious answer and say the beginning.

The beginning is strong. Our protagonist, Shaun, has just committed murder via arson. Shaun does this in a bid to protect his mother, who has been abused by her husband for over a decade; despite severely injuring and almost killing her a few times, he's gotten away with the abuse due to being a cop. After burning the family home down with his sleeping stepfather inside, Shaun flees to his grandfather’s old hunting cabin to lay low.

I liked this beginning! The stakes are high, and Shaun quickly becomes a protagonist I’m rooting for. I especially liked the way Shaun handles his mental health, as he used breathing exercises and other coping skills to handle the stress. The tension in this section was good, too—Shaun’s personal life was a focus and the setting, an almost completely abandoned town, was eerily intriguing. Honestly, the only reason this book reaches two stars for me is because of this decent beginning.

However, once the actual plot of the book began, the book nosedived for me. The pacing and plot are a mess.

Shaun is kidnapped by a doctor, drugged, and kept tied up in a room. Most of the plot is delivered via either people monologuing at Shaun, telling him things that, quite frankly, they have no reason to tell him. The villain is way too willing to explain what she's doing and why for absolutely no reason, and at a certain point, it gets very repetitive. Like, yes, I get it--the bad guy is doing lobotomies because her grandfather did them and she's mad she got bullied in med school.

Eventually, Shaun gets moved to a table where he sits, paralyzed, with three other teens. The plot is then continued to be delivered via conversations around a table, which is marginally better, but still a struggle to get through after a while. Another reviewer (brittanylee0302 on Storygraph) described the plot as being "characters just [sitting] at a table chatting [and] slipp[ing] in [and] out of consciousness." I can't put it into better words, because, yeah. That's pretty much all it is.

There are a few chapters where we POV hop into another character's head (usually into the evil doctor's head or into the girl, Cassidy's, head), but these chapters usually just re-iterate information we already know. Honestly, I don't know why Shaun is the main character, not Cassidy; she's got a way more interesting backstory than him (her father being involved with the study, her having been used to lure people in, and thus being directly involved with the plot). If we'd followed her, we wouldn't be sitting at a table for most of the plot.

Once the kid's table finally decide to escape and there's actually some action, the plot gets a little better, but then takes an unfortunate left into "Very Outdated YA Vibes" zone with the introduction of the other escapees, who have all named themselves after the medications they used to take. I get the attempted vibes, but these characters feel like teens from a very different era of YA than the current one.

Speaking of outdated YA vibes, the whole book reads like something that was written in the early 2000s, and not in a good way, especially considering the villains.

One of the villains, the man in charge of administering medicine and menial labor, falls directly into one of my most disliked tropes:

<spoiler>the big, mentally disabled guy who serves the actual bad guy, and usually has some kind of third-act turnaround. This is an extremely dated trope which is made worse by the fact that it is made explicit (with some on-page assault) that he sexually abuses the teens in his care. The doctor, too, has physical differences that are pointed out a few times.</spoiler>

Meanwhile, while most of our protagonists deal with some form of mental illness, none of them are disabled, and it is heavily hinted at several times that these mental illnesses are entirely misdiagnosed.

For all my issues with YA, the push for better representation and sensitivity isn't one of them. This books reads like one that was written before conversations about representation in YA became what it is today.

I won't get into the ending because, frankly, it's boring and predictable <spoiler>(burning down the asylum? very original)</spoiler> and it hints at a sequel I seriously doubt anyone wants.

The main plot that is revealed is that

<spoiler>there is a grand conspiracy across the USA to funnel troubled teens into what is, essentially, a mad doctor study with two goals: eradicate the current generation and perfect lobotomies in order to prevent teens from being troubled.

Here's the thing: the idea that parents and guardians are willing to, essentially, send their children to a living horror in order to "fix" them isn't impossible. Wilderness camps exist. The issue here, for me, lies in the execution.

The idea of "eradicating" the current generation (dubbed "Generation Annihilation") is almost throw-away; it's stated several times that it's one of the goals of the study, but how that will be accomplished with a grand total of three people on staff is never explored, and frankly, seems like it only exists because it makes for a killer title.

The kids are kept via a drug that makes them extremely thirsty and unable to move; however, they are never fed and rarely provided water. How on earth are all these kids alive? Some of them have been kept in this paralyzed state for months. The second the logistics of this drug are considered, the idea of the drug starts to immediately crumble, which then shakes the whole foundation of the plot itself.</spoiler>

The author is a social worker, and I presume that has something to do with the themes and writing of this book. I'm not the expert on the topic that she is, so I'm not going to make any statements about the real world situation of teens in the system. In terms of <i>Generation Annihilation</i>, however, I felt the handling of mental health, physical difference, disability, and commentary on the system and wilderness programs were not well-executed.

AHH WHAT A RIDE! This thriller was really enjoyable! I am excited to recommend this one to my kids at school! I couldn't put this one down!

I found this book to be a major letdown, considering it was marketed as a psychological thriller, which it definitely was not. It might qualify more as a mystery, but even that is a stretch.

At first, I was drawn in by the idea of an old, eerie asylum and the potential for a dark and gripping story, but the actual content of the book left much to be desired. It felt like the same events and conversations were retold repeatedly, with little progression. The characters seemed stuck in a monotonous loop, which made it a struggle to stay engaged. In all honesty, if this hadn't been an advanced review copy (ARC), I would have put it down multiple times.

I persevered in the hope of a satisfying ending, but that, too, was a disappointment. The supposed "spark" between the characters Shaun and Cass was virtually nonexistent, leaving a significant element of the story unfulfilled. In fact, I even had to check if this was the author's first book because of the overall quality of the storytelling.

I almost gave up on this one a few times – it just wasn’t drawing me in. Finishing it didn’t make it any better. I found Shaun annoying (anyone who keeps asking why instead of just doing what someone asks always annoys me). The premise was interesting but the execution wasn’t really there. The tension that should be there doesn’t build as much as it should and the reasoning for the experiments didn’t really work.

This was a great book! The characters are well written and the story is unique. I would recommend this! Special Thank You to Tracy Hewitt Meyer, BHC Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 Stars ~

Shaun is on the run after lighting his house on fire with his step father inside. Shaun goes to a cabin in an abandoned town but can’t help but be intrigued by an abandoned asylum, or so he thought.

After meeting a girl name Cass, he makes the mistake of running after her right into the asylum and into the mayhem that follows.

I feel like the author was really trying to give mental health representation in this book but it just fell flat.

And I just feel like the whole concept is a little off. You have a ‘doctor’ who is part of a movement to “annihilate” an entire generation, for the betterment of future generations. But if you get rid of a generation how are you going to have a future generation? Unless the adults who brought up the teenage generation are going to have more children, which than makes the whole thing pointless.?

The ending was a bit lack lustre and rushed, but clearly setting up for a sequel.


This was a difficult one for me to rate. Because there were parts of this book that really drove me but at the same time, it took me so long to read because I was just picking up other things and I felt myself very bored and distracted most of the time while reading this.

not to be DRAMATIC but what actually was this. i stuck with this because i so badly was looking for something i could enjoy about this book and i have come up empty handed unfortunately.

i had many problems with this book. firstly, the premise was just a bit messed up tbh. it poses the question, what if we killed all teenagers that have a slight indication of violent or aggressive tendencies? would this lead to a utopia of sorts? you might think this sounds interesting and brings up many further questions about the nature of punishment, nature vs nurture, or is a utopia even possible. unfortunately that’s not what happens. what we get is a bunch of adults who all say “maybe we could do this tho” which feels like a much more sinister and off-putting sentiment to be putting forward and it made me feel very weird.

it all made me wonder what the author was hoping to achieve with this? maybe it was just trying to be a fast-paced thriller that wasn’t meant to be too deep. but even still it would’ve missed the mark on that. it wasn’t particularly fast-paced and the topic matter felt a bit too heavy to be ‘not that deep’.

also, the characters were just so flat. the teens had no more depth beyond the allegedly violent or aggressive things they had done to be recommended for the program in the beginning. one in particular said that when he was 18 he had sex with a 15 year old, and only got in trouble because of someone on a power trip, and then ended up “doomed because of consensual sex”. now i didn’t realise this was a controversial take, but an 18 year old having sex with a 15 year old is an adult having sex with a child and is inappropriate. in australia at least it’s very illegal. now i do agree that he and everyone else in the group should not have been sent to the program, but i didn’t need to downplay having sex with a minor in order to hold that opinion.

there are several other equally twisted examples of inappropriate behaviour that was passed off as not a big deal, but i do not have the energy or space to write about them all. my point is that none of it felt necessary, and only left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

Addictive, intoxicating read this was. Once I started it I couldn't stop reading. The atmosphere was so dark and eerie. The concept of an old insane asylum, just does it for me.

The concept was so original, so well done. I just needed to know the outcome. It was extremely fast paced and will suck you right in. Sometimes the writing in these super atmospheric reads is overbearing, but Meyer's writing is easy, flowy and gripping.

The characters felt real with all their issues and reasons. The way their reactions were depicted felt just right.

I do not want to reveal too much, the ending was a bit of a let down as it did have a lot of openness for me, the pieces were not all tied up, which left me wondering. Apart from that this was a solid read !

If you're looking for a fast paced, dark, eerie, atmospheric YA action packed book pick this one up !

Ohhhh this book, starts with a bang *(no pun intended and it never slows down. From abandoned asylums to cabins in the woods that seem to be one gust of wind away from falling this book is just dark and creepy and I for one want more of it.

The premise of this one sucked me in but the story, well it was original and had me thinking about what was going on, I've never read anything like this one and that's saying a lot.

The only thing that kept this from being a five-star for me was that ending, I'm hoping it was setting up something, but I don't want to give anything away.

If you're looking for dark and creepy with a twist of evil and revenge this is the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and BHC Press for providing a copy of this e-book, I have voluntarily read and reviewed it and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you netgalley for the chance to review. The opinions are my own.
This book gripped me with every page. It was definitely very unique. I loved every minute of it. I can't wait to read the next book.

One of the best books published this year, subtle yet fascinating. Tracy Hewitt Meyer’s straightforward style of writing blended with the depth of the story is remarkable.

Highlights: The depth of character background added color to a seemingly dull narrative, especially regarding the “bad guys.” Uncommon in many books, this is done impressively; after all, we readers love to know the why and who of a story’s antagonists.

Each character is distinct; how each talks and thinks differentiates them noticeably. Mood and setting are clearly defined. The flow of the story is very easy to follow; there are no unnecessary turns or subplots that ruin the reading.

The title is interesting; initially I thought it was one of those war-action-hero kinds of reads, but I have to admit I was surprised as I navigated the material to the end.

The only low point is the ending. In my opinion, for a good book like this, an ambiguous ending was a poor choice. A lot of questions remain unanswered. Maybe this is with a sequel in mind, but I think the author owed us an ending with a bang.

However, I will stick with what I have said: that this is a must-read and must-have young adult book, one of the best this year. Well done!

I love a lot of stories. I really love haunted, abandoned asylunm stories. This YA novel was right up my alley. Shaun has seen some stuff. As a result, he has done some stuff. So he runs away to a small town and cannot stay away. This is the beginnings of a great story. It may have slightly dragged at times, but it always brought you back to where you needed to be.

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for eARC in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately, this missed the mark for me. The synopsis drew me. It took me several chapters to get into the read.

The plot of Generation Annihilation, which centres on a teenage killer who targets his stepfather, is really compelling from the first.
Although the secondary characters might have used more growth, Shaun's character was effectively developed.
The novel's concept was intriguing, but about halfway through the book, the tale started to drag a little bit and look repetitious.
Although simplistic, the conclusion was still good. Overall, it was a grim but entertaining read and a wonderful introduction to the horror mystery subgenre.
Thankyou to Netgalley and BHC Press for the e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review