I received a gifted ARC of WHITE LINE FEVER by K.C. Jones from Tor Nightfire and a gifted audiobook from Macmillan Audio.

WHITE LINE FEVER begins with a young man filming his misadventure on a stretch of road known as The Devil’s Driveway, a two-lane portion of County Road 951. It starts as an internet stunt, but takes a quick and disturbing deadly turn.

The rest of the book follows Livia and a group of friends. In the wake of Livia’s breakup, they decide a weekend getaway is in order. When a runin with a creepy truck driver leaves them rattled, they decide to take a detour down the Driveway. The trip soon turns confusing and horrific as the timelines of past and present waver and each is unsure if they will make it out alive.

I started this book on my way to vacation and this was both good and bad. When I left from my house at 5am, I was dismayed to learn that all of the roads heading the direction I needed to go were closed for construction on the rail lines. Listening to a book about a man being terrorized while driving down a strange road probably wasn’t the best when my tired brain was trying to reroute myself. Thankfully, I found my way to a fantastic vacation and the book kept my attention hooked even as I was very tired throughout my travels!

This book is a bit of a fever dream (as the title may let you know) and I enjoyed the way it played with the past. I love stories about friendship and this one centers four very close friends in precarious situations, with the past timeline showing how they’ve been close all the way from childhood through some very trying circumstances. The way the past influences the present horrors was really well done.

This is a slower burn book than the previous novel I read by K.C. Jones, but I think the character development and the larger cast did benefit from that. As I got more tired, I did find myself relying on the audio even more to finish, but I overall enjoyed this book!

Thank you to NetGalley, KC Jones, and MacMillion Audio for the audiobook. A great narration by Kate Handford. This was a wild, mind-bending tale that kept me questioning everything! The supernatural forces and deep-rooted ties from the past had an eerie grip on both the road and its travelers, leaving me completely captivated. A thrilling and unforgettable story and captivating to listen to!

Wow, this was something... It's definitely different than my normal read which is kind of what I was going for but at times I wondered why I was still listening to it. It's very creepy and gruesome at parts. Definitely more horror than thriller. But it was still entertaining enough that I found myself continuing. Some of it was just so far fetched that I had to just kind of chuckle and be along for the WILD ride. It's definitely not a very believable book but it had kept me hooked enough that I didn't dnf it tho I definitely had times where I debated it. I was also creeped out quite a bit I felt like I needed some conclusions! Overall, if you like more horror, creepy, totally wild and unavailable stories this is an entertaining one. The audio was well done.

looking back, i probably should have dnfd since books usually take me a day to read and this took forever. so much happened, yet absolutely nothing happened. one of the most disjointed books I've ever read.

I am having a difficult time immersing myself into the story. I’m about half way through and it just seems very juvenile how the “friends” treat one another….

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC audiobook.
It was good. It kept me listening but it was not scary at all. Eerie maybe both no horror.
The narration was really good.

Thank you Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio for my free ARC of White Line Fever by KC Jones — available Mar 18!

» READ IF YOU «
🚗 are craving a little road trip horror story
🥱 don't mind if the book is a little too long
👥 can handle when none of the characters are particularly likable

» SYNOPSIS «
Four friends set off on a road trip, trying to cure a broken heart and escape their daily lives. Taking a shortcut along the obscure Route 951, they have a few ghostly experiences that blur the lines between reality and hallucination. The road seems to be taunting them, even?—resurfacing old hurts and causing strife for the sake of it. Can they survive this with their friendship, not to mention their lives, intact?

» REVIEW «
A haunted road trip? Featuring psychological horror and messed up friendships? Oh man, I was so in at the start of this story. Sadly, the execution of all this juicy premise left a lot to be desired, for me at least. MAN these characters—I swear there were only three friends at any given time, despite being repeatedly reminded that there were four, because they were woefully flat and underdeveloped, And normally this is okay, for thriller and horror, for me? But the focus was supposed to be on their strong bond being broken, so I just needed to care and I didn't.

I also think this was about 200 pages too long for my taste. I would maybe have loved it as a novella! The "mean dad" component...ugh. Just, many of the directions this story took were not for me. At the end of it, I felt more perplexed and annoyed than terrified. But! Maybe you'll have a better go of it...

⭐️⭐️💫

DNF at 30%.

K.C. Jones’ debut Black Tide was a standout for me last year earning a 5 star rating, so I was super excited to read White Line Fever. I tried reading the print ARC, then listening to the audiobook, but neither engaged me…like at all. Maybe it’s me, but I could NOT get into this one. I’m not even sure how the same author wrote both of these books. One was super slow and the other had me on the edge of my seat from the first paragraph. Very disappointing!

Expected publication date: 3/18/25

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and MacMillan Audio for the ARC of White Line Fever in exchange for an honest review.

While emotional and tense, this story relies heavily on its horror genre without really delivering on the scares you’re looking for. It was easy to predict most of the frights and the redemption arc was obvious. I did like the character building and the way the MC was able to conquer her demons, I just wanted more from the story to grab my amygdala.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy. These opinions are my own.

This line in the book description accurately describes the book “…friendship, trauma, and learning how to take the wheel of your own life.”
I wanted to love the book but I only liked it. The book dragged and felt like it was stuck in a repetitive cycle.

Thank you to NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for letting me read this ARC.

This book comes out March 18th, 2025

This book is an adrenaline fueled horror, spine chilling, terrifying. It’s a white knuckled road trip through literal hell known as “The Devils Driveway”. This book was seriously so scary, but I loved every second of listening to it. I was absolutely hooked from the start of the MC traveling on Country Road 951, what used to be another way to the other side of the mountain that was closed due to so many accidents and deaths happening on it. The MC open the gate not closing it behind them and that’s when the girls on their girls weekend took that road while trying to get away from a tow truck that was haunting them. I have never read or listened to another book like this. I was a bit nervous at first because I scare so easily but this had me on the edge of my chair the whole time. KC Jones had me especially with being haunted by your own past in the middle of a closed abandon highway, I would be absolutely terrified if this happened to me. I think that the narrator did an excellent job of really brining the story truly to life. If you are looking for a horror that is thought provoking this is the read for you.

If you like to read:
* Horror
* Adrenaline Fueled
* Spine Chilling
* Mystery
* Girls trip from Hell


Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio as well as KC Jones
I voluntarily wrote this review and all words are my own.

Overall, White Line Fever is an engaging read for fans of cerebral, reality-warping horror, but it may not fully satisfy those looking for a more tightly structured narrative.

2.5/3*

Despite being drawn in by the blurb and expecting a wild thriller with some paranormal elements, this book was not for me and I could barely finish it.

I felt nothing for any of the characters, not that they didn’t each have an interesting back story.

It was just buried in too much slow burning rubble to care.

I came so close to DNFing this multiple times while not actually wanting to because it’s an ARC.

The quality of the audio was fine.

With thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advance listening copy.

The Devils Driveway indeed! A girls trip gone wrong, and a highway hell bent on making sure they don’t leave it alive.

This is a heck of a thriller that follows a group of women that are going on a getaway to escape major stressors of their lives, and a detour that they probably shouldn’t have taken. The pacing of this story was a bit on the slower side at first but hit the gas petal for the last half and it was a wild ride that required your seatbelt to be fastened tightly. The characters are well developed, especially with the little tidbits that are doled out from the childhood timeline. I wish that the dual timelines would have been eliminated in the last 1/3 of the book, it just disrupted the tension of the present when things really started to get interesting.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read with some good scary bad guys! Definetly recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the free audiobook in exchange for my honest review. Kate Handford did a super job narrating this story and making it come to life.

County Road 951 is a 15 mile stretch of roadway that is filled with ghosts and horror stories from accidents past. Its known as the Devil's Driveway. A group of girls make the mistake of taking County Road 951 as a detour around traffic and aggressive drivers when bizarrely strange things begin to happen. Will they make it out alive?

The setting is very atmospheric and the creep factor is high. But the pacing to me was slower than I like. I found myself skimming to get through the middle which dragged on for me. The characters are likable but there just was not much happening aside from the supernatural events.
While the book did not hit my psychological suspense buttons, I think fans of the supernatural/horror genre should definitely read it.

Kate Hanford did an excellent job narrating but this was overall a miss for me. I LOVED KC Jones’ debut Black Tide, so I’m a bit bummed I didn’t love this as much. If you enjoy roadtrips gone wrong, paranormal horror, and overcoming childhood trauma then this is absolutely still worth checking out.

This was a dull, but sort-of interesting read, written in first-person POV, with alternating timelines. It explores childhood trauma and some paranormal / occult themes, with an air of ‘Final Destination’ all the while.


Cheating.
Girls’ trip.
Child abuse.
Paranormal activity.
Trippy sequences.
Hallucinations.
Bickering.
Domestic abuse.


Overall:
While it was rather slow-paced, something about it was interesting enough that I kept on.It did feature for the most part, likable leads. It’s trippy, and reads much like a fever dream or a bad trip—not really my idea of a good time and IMO, not exactly brilliantly executed, but not bad per se. It’s okay.


3 stars.


🎧 Audio:
Fantastic production, excellent narrator, professional overall quality. 5 stars.

I was approved by NetGalley for an ARC of “White Line Fever”.

I went in blind and I didn’t know what to expect. Although it was a bit of a slow burn, the creepiness vibes had me hooked. This book was a wild ride! Scary, suspenseful and kept me on the edge of my seat. I felt like I was in the car with the characters and I could feel their terror.
If you like a good scare, pick this one up today!

I loved the narrator here, and that's the only reason I made it as far as I did. It just felt so boring and a bit disjointed. I wanted way less of a slow burn and a lot more of what came in the prologue.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC. I was excited to read this book, and the first few chapters started well, with well written and suspenseful writing. Feeling set up for a great read, the book became slow, but picked back up and was fun to listen to. The narrator was enthralling, and told the story well and with wonderful intonation. Overall, the book was an enjoyable read.