Heads Will Roll by Josh Winning was such a fun slasher camp horror story.
A creepy slow burn that had me flipping the pages till the very end.
This book was right up my alley, had my stomach in knots, and I was reading it as fast as I could.

Thank You NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Joshua Winning takes a stab at the slasher genre and succeeds in absolutely killing it. Was that a good metaphor? I'm really quite proud of that one. Heads Will Roll pays homage to the nostalgic ‘80s/‘90s genre whilst retaining its uniqueness, taking a classic story horror fans will recognise and breathing fresh life into it. Winning has executed a thoughtful and fun meditation on LGBTQ+ rights, social media and cancel culture, melding together a well-trodden trope of a summer camp gone wrong, with a healthy side dose of moral and societal commentary all whilst keeping the tone light and witty. Think Scream meets American Pie Presents.

After a thoughtless tweet that went viral (for all the wrong reasons), sitcom star Willow finds herself the victim of cancel culture and a slew of online vitriol. Because of the unrelenting hate, she heads Camp Castaway, a retreat for the ostracized promising a digital detox, and what do the kids say these days? A chance to get out and touch grass?

This is the perfect ratio of slasher-y gory goodness, peppered with horror Easter eggs both movie and book fans will delight in (any Jade Daniels fans?). It’s clear we are in safe hands with an author who knows his way around culture references we hold dear to our Halloween hearts. With punchy fast-paced prose and dark humour laced throughout, this is an addictive read and the pages fly by.

The varied cast are relatable and authentic, and I was instantly invested in the likeable ensemble. There is a focus on looking inwards and the character development is fantastic. Winning is victorious in building palpable tension when Willow arrives to the camp, suspending readers in a vortex of unease as Willow tries to navigate her strange new surroundings

This wouldn't be a slasher without some cheese, am I right? Some predictable tropes such as isolated settings, bad phone signals, urban legends and of course, creeping lurking figures in the woods will appeal to fans of the genre. Although familiar, it didn't deter from my enjoyment. Akin to a roller coaster, there are many twists and turns and the reader is left on the edge of their seat wondering whose head will roll next.

At the beating heart of this book is a reflection on cancel culture and how quickly society can demonize others for a simple mistake, and sometimes not for any mistake at all. Instead of tackling the subject, Winning simply caresses it. I'll admit, sometimes the moral lessons can feel heavy-handed in horror, but in this instance this technique works perfectly. It allows the darker message running throughout to linger in the back of my mind long after I finished reading. Choosing to focus more on the carnage and head-rolling allowed me to indulge in the nostalgia and fun of the story. Are some parts predictable? Yes, but this is a slasher, and what would Randy Meeks do? Observe the rules! Heads Will Roll is a triumph in revisiting the slasher trope in a modern setting that will leave fans more than satisfied.

4.5 rounded up!

When sitcom star, Willow, tweets something that gets her canceled (and leads to her fiance leaving her), her agent sends her on a trip to Camp Castaway, a camp that bans electronics and allows you to look within. When another camper vanishes and doll heads start popping up, Willow will begin to wonder if this camp is really any safer than the real world.

HEADS WILL ROLL by Josh Winning was such a fun camp slasher!

I absolutely devoured this book - the shorter chapters made it so easy to keep saying “just one more chapter” and the variety of characters really brought out the side-eye in me.

The camp setting in Upstate New York made for such a wild ride and the addition of some really creepy elements brought the story to life.

I think slasher fans will love this one and I can’t wait to dive into Winning’s backlist!

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Putnam for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Publication Date: July 30

I wanted to like this more than I did but unfortunately it didn’t land for me. I think the premise was awesome but I felt that the POVs were switched too often which made the story be jumbled. The story was going for a traditional summer camp slasher and in some of the action sequences it definitely got there but in most aspects it didn’t give clear or well planned answers.

Thanks a was a fun take on the slasher genre.

Totally popcorn horror: cancelled celebrities at a summer camp retreat where people start dying randomly!

The twist was a little unbelievable imo, but still fun and is recommend as a camp read for sure

Ok, can we first just pause to appreciate this cover?! 😍 I am obsessed. This one is like watching your favorite slasher film! It was so entertaining, with gore, a little romance, messy characters hiding from their pasts.. it was camp horror at its finest! Plus a killer at a summer camp? Sign me up! I think a lot of thriller and horror lovers will enjoy this one!

THIS! THIS IS SLASHER CAMP HORROR!

This story was such a good critic on cancel culture, while also being creepy horror book that brought all the charm of a 80s slasher. The characters are likeable, the multiple POV is great, the reference to booktok was decent, and I couldn't put the book down once I got 20% in. I love everything about it, especially the queer romance. We need more like this.

I’m sure getting cancelled is a real life nightmare for a lot of celebrities and this is about a camp full of them. I liked the diverse characters that all seem nice enough at first. This book is a reminder that people are multifaceted and we don’t actually know celebrities despite what they post. It did read more like YA in some parts but not necessarily in a bad way. The pop culture references will either make you love it or hate it. It was easy to read and easy to follow. I personally love slashers so this was a fun book!

I LOVE a good summer camp slasher! This was a unique take on the genre with a fun vibe. The story centers on "Willow," a cancelled TV star who wants to escape the life she blew up with a single tweet. She thinks she's found the perfect escape at Camp Castaway, a retreat for adults to get away from their problems. But the threats she's been receiving seem to have followed her to camp, and soon campers start to go missing one by one.
I liked Willow and I thought the pace of this story was just right. It was exciting and creepy enough to make me want to keep reading. I did find the reveals in the final third of the book to be a little messy. It felt like it was caught between a throwback urban legend boogeyman and a modern day villain that's meant to symbolize a deeper theme. The theme of this book was very clear, and it was referenced a little too much for me. It felt a little repetitive. But overall, if you're a fan of classic slashers like I am, you'll have fun reading this.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC copy for this book in exchange for an honest review.

Heads Will Roll by Josh Winning

If you love a good slasher movie, then you’ll absolutely enjoy this book! The author wishes to give a thrill, a chill, and a few chuckles - solid delivery.

Willow is a rising sitcom star who falls victim to cancel culture after thoughtlessly tweeting something that was immediately misunderstood in the LGBTQ community. She opts to take a break from everything at Camp Castaway where they take your cell phone from you on arrival in an effort to help you detox from the digital world.

This novel pays tribute to several horror movies and other authors of horror fiction. The cast was diverse and easy to differentiate between. The gore was chef’s kiss. The cover is perfect.


5 / 5



Read 06.19.2024
Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy/early read opportunity!!

One tweet later and Willow is officially cancelled. From friends and fiancés, she is abandoned and her popular tv show canceled. So she’s on her last hope- an adult summer camp that takes you away from your technology and promises you a new day. Where the horror part comes in, is spooky ghost stories around the campfire in the form of knock-knock Nancy

A commentary on cancel culture, our female protoganist feels flat and male written. I mean, was anyone really wanting the Courtney Cox haircut and bangs from Scream 3? I hope that line gets edited out because I don’t want to keep picturing the main character with the Courtney Cox bangs. Before picking up this book, I would recommend being someone who is on social media and follows the idea of cancel culture, that is 100% the target market.

I like the idea of this, although I wasn’t all in on the social media and cancel culture execution. I think I would have liked it a little bit more to keep it simple. About the first 2/3 of the book almost did exactly the opposite of what I wanted it to do; I wanted a throwback to horror at a camp, nostalgic and ghost stories around the fire. Instead, the development felt more focused on the social media life and cancel culture. Including an unnecessary tutorial on what cancel culture is. If only the story and development had focused more on the jump scares and slow builds, I think it would have been more successful on the horror side.

Once the horror takes over in the final act, it’s a lot of fun. The back third of this book really saved it for me and I couldn’t put the ending down.

Ah, summer camp. The perfect place for horror. Camp Castaway is an adult camp that helps people who need a digital detox. 2 weeks without phones or internet. When sitcom-star Willow is found facedown in her pool after a "tweet" gone wrong, her agent ships her off to Camp Castaway. Willow doesn't think it will be so bad. Her favorite actress is there and she feels interest from the cute girl manning the grill. But a local legend seems to have gone awry and the camp's sordid past comes back to haunt the campers. Will they all end up being cancelled for good?

*Special thanks to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for this e-arc.*

**3.5-stars**

Heads Will Roll; phenomenal title and equally phenomenal cover. Sadly, the story inside didn't quite blow my hair back, but for the most part, I had a good time with it.

This involves a group of characters who have gone to stay at Camp Castaway. Basically, it's a Summer Camp for adults who desperately need to separate themselves from social media for one reason or another. Our main character, who goes by Willow, is an actress who has recently been canceled due to an poorly-worded tweet. Something, at the time, she felt was funny, turned out not to be received in the nature she intended. Thusly, she lost her job, her fiance, and any semblance of her regular life.

As she checks into Camp Castaway, she can't wait to be separated from her phone, to go by an assumed name and to be able to forget about everything going on 'out there'. The beginning of the book is mostly meeting all the camp residents and finding out a bit about why each of them is there. We also get a bit of history behind the camp and the family who has run it for years.

We also get a few scenes interspersed here or there that show us in no uncertain terms that there is an unhinged killer on the loose, and they happen to be stalking and eliminating the residents of Camp Castaway.

This was a bit of a mixed bag for me. The first 25%, I was invested. I was interested in the concept of this camp and I liked getting there and meeting some of the other campers. I also enjoyed the very first scenes where we were exposed to the menace stalking the camp. I wanted more of that. Instead we sort of veered into the personal drama sector for way too long for my tastes.

Some may call this a slow burn, and I guess I can see that. I love a slow burn though, but IMO, you have to keep it progressing at a steady clip; keep adding, keep building. To me, this didn't really feel like it was doing that. I want that fire to grow. If I'm adding kindling to it through an entire story it should build some nice big flames by the end. This was like a pile of wood assembled at the beginning, with a tiny flame, that around 80% had gasoline and a lit match thrown on it.

I was bored after the first 25% until around the 80% mark. That should be impossible with an ax-murderer on the loose, but here we are. Luckily, it did really come alive for me in the last 20%. It fact, that last 20% was so good, I bumped it up a full star. I just wish it could have been that consistently off-the-walls the whole way through.

Just because this didn't necessarily work for me the entire way through, doesn't mean it won't work for you. I would urge anyone with interest to give it a go. I've read quite a few other reviews at this point, and many, many Readers are really enjoying it. And like I said, even for me, that last little bit almost made the slog through the middle worth every minute.

Thank you to the publisher, G.P. Putnam's Sons, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I enjoyed this more than the other novel that I've read from this author, so we're definitely on an upward trajectory!

3.5 stars

Once again, people are getting murdered at a summer camp, and once again, I am here for it. Willow is the star of a Netflix show that just got canceled when she did, for a tweet that went viral for all the wrong reasons. Now to escape the spotlight, she's come to Camp Castaway, a woodsy wellness retreat for adults and mandatory cell phone detox rolled into one. Her fellow campers seem nice, even if it's clear they all have heavy reasons for coming here. But when campers start going missing, Willow starts to wonder if the local legend told around the fire is true, and there's an axe murderer haunting these woods.

I loved the last act of this, it was peak 80s/90s slasher chase scenes and reveals. I normally love mixed media in a book, too, and there were some bits here I liked, but overall I didn't think that all the inclusions were needed, and I would have liked more that hinted at the different campers' pasts instead of just Willow's. I also love a summer camp setting so much, I'd have liked to see more immersive description for the setting, but overall this was a good quick read and a fun time. I also really enjoyed the references to horror books and movies throughout, those were a lot of fun to hunt for. Thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I wish I could have read this on my kindle instead of my phone since I didn’t have the option to read it on kindle. But it was good none the less. I really really enjoyed it. No complaints from me about the story. Thank you Netgalley.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this ARC!

This was a creepy slasher that I couldn’t put down. I loved the queer representation in Heads Will Roll, as well as the talk of social media and today’s “cancel culture”. There were quite a few book and pop culture references that I also loved and gave me some laughs.

I think this was a solid horror story and a bloody good book for summer!

Such a clever concept with people who are cancelled having a place to go to “recover” if you will. Loved the 80’s slasher vibes. Can’t wait to read more!

Heads Will Roll is the perfect summer horror book to take with you on your next outdoor adventure!

I have to say this is my first Josh Winning book and I was pleasantly surprised. I'm a sucker for summertime horror and this book did not disappoint! Willow, a former sitcom star, decides to visit Camp Castaway after being "canceled" from a tweet that brings her life to a halt. Two weeks in the woods with no phone, and no contact with the outside world? This is exactly what Willow needs. To make it even better, Willow's favorite actor Juniper is there, as well as a potential romance in Dani the cute writer.

However, the camp is not as it seems and Willow quickly finds out she will have to keep her eyes peeled and stay level-headed before someone (or something *wink*) separates it from her body.

What a great book! Full of action, horror nostalgia, queer representation, and more twist and turns than an old dirt road, this book is exactly what you need for your summer horror reading. This is perfect for your next campfire or hiking adventure. Or dare I say you sign up for a summer camp and use this book as a pairing? It will keep you up at night jumping at those shadows!

4/5 stars, would highly recommend! This review is on my Goodreads, Instagram, as well as episode 27 of my podcast The Books and the Bees (episode released 7/23/2024)

3.5 this was a fun read! Introducing Camp Castaway where people who have been infamously canceled go to clear their heads and check out of reality. But disaster strikes when campers begin to disappear. Fun and creepy

Thank you NetGalley & PENGUIN GROUP Putnam | G.P. Putnam's Sons for approving this ARC.
5++ heads rolling

This was quite a ride. Never a single dull moment during the entire book and it reads like you're in a movie. Josh did amazing with the character development and the place settings. I grew close to many of these characters and this book will have you on the edge of your seats wondering if your favorite character's head will roll. The twists were like riding the Vortex at King's Island. You won't see it coming.

This is a summer camp getaway for adults escaping their problems to find themselves. FMC gets cancelled for a post she made online which makes her life come tumbling downhill. Fiancé doesn't want her, she loses about everything. She has a savings that she decides to use towards going to Camp Castaway. Upon arrival you are to discard your cellphone into a locker which is locked and the keys stored in a safe box. You choose a camp name to go by instead of your real name. The FMC chooses her sitcom character name Willow. Tye the groundskeeper, Apollo the Arnold Schwarzenegger look-alike, Willow's favorite actress Juniper Brown who uses her real name, Kurt the sweet musician, Misty the sassy old lady of the bunch, Buck & Kat who are besties and love to smoke together, and finally Dani who claims to only be there to write. We also have Bebe the Camp Mom and her sister Sadie, and Chef Jeff.

If you love slasher movies, you'll love this book