This gave me all the slasher and cult vibes I was hoping for. Creepy, fast-paced, and super entertaining. Darcy always keeps me hooked, and this one didn’t let me down.

4.25 stars. How Bad Things Can Get is a fantastic wild take on the deserted island trope with a unique twist. Ruth joins her boyfriend Zack and his friends after they win a lottery to compete on a deserted island with other lottery winners and social media influencers - all being hosted by Eaton, a millionaire influencer. During her first competition Ruth becomes very concerned with the danger involved. Each game becomes increasingly sinister and more dangerous.. they are not just competing for money, but their lives. Ruth’s own survival depends on her greatest fear.. facing the horrors of her past.. a lone cult survivor. Y’all wow.. this is so dark, so intense, but then I wouldn’t expect anything less from Coates! A fun addition to your fall reading list. Pub. 8/26/25

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced copy of How Bad Things Can Get by Darcy Coates.

I really liked the premise of this book, and the setup had me intrigued right away. Unfortunately, I found it hard to stay engaged as the story went on. The pacing felt slow, and I struggled to keep my focus on the narrative. While I appreciated the idea behind the book, it just didn’t deliver the suspense or tension I was hoping for.

That being said, I know Darcy Coates has a strong following, and I’d still be open to trying more of her work in the future. This one just wasn’t the right fit for me.

This scared the crap out of me. When I was reading in bed I heard a noise outside my room and was immediately one alert (it was the icemaker on the fridge) but that did not stop me from poking my husband and making him confirm it. It also gave me weird nightmares, but I don't mind that part.

Imagine if you will that a Mr Beast type influencer invited a bunch of people to hang out and play games to win money on a very isolated island but the event gets secretly infiltrated by members of a revived suicide cult with the intention of finishing the work of the original sect decades before. And imagine if you will that the only remaining survivor of the original cult is also on the island.

The second Ruth gets to the island with her boyfriend and his friends, the vibes are all bad to her. From employees being too smiley to people going missing but the guest count remaining accurate...it all just builds and builds and you have no idea what's coming you just know it's going to be bad.

And it is SO BAD.

So bloody, graphic, disturbing, and bizarre. I was genuinely unnerved and a little bit grossed out, but it was also so wild that part of me didn't even feel like it was real while reading it. Ultimately a mix of tragic and triumphant, the ending of this was a punch in the face.

I was truly reading the last 20ish% with my jaw dropped.

What can I say! This book was incredible, definitely would give it 6 starts if I could! 'How Bad Things Can Get' by Darcy Coates is a suspense/horror/thriller masterpiece which was so difficult to put down. I loved the concept of the book, I've read a few similar but there was something fresh and unique about this story and the build up of the plot was done extremely well in my opinion. It was scary how close to reality some ideas in the book were, and how without connection to the outside world things can go awry very quickly. The character perspectives in the novel were excellent, and it build up the suspense by seeing different sides from various festival goers. I have already recommended this book to a few of my friends! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Darcy Coates, NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC copy that kept me on the edge of my seat! Publication date is 26th August 2025

Characters: 4.25⭐️
Setting: 4.50⭐️
Plot: 4.25⭐️
Themes: 4.00⭐️
Personal enjoyment: 5.00⭐️
Emotional Impact: 4.25⭐️
Overall rating: 4.50⭐️

When Ruth wins tickets to join an online influencer and several hundred of his most loyal fans, she thought it would be a nice break and distraction from the 20th anniversary of the suicide cult she escaped at a young age called Partition. When Ruth arrives with her boyfriend and friends, she feels uneasy. The charismatic approach of Eton, the influencer, reminds her of the cult leader, and soon she realizes there might be something darker tied to Prosperity Island.

Imagine Mr. Beast invited all these people to the island to win cash prizes, and that is what you get with the underlying premise of this book. There are cults, cannibals and games with a darker element underneath. Ruth is a great character as she is trying to navigate life as an adult and try to forget everything that happened while she was in the cult who believed her dreams were "visions" of the future. She starts noticing things that are similar to the island and what she experienced. Darcy Coates writing is superb, and I was SHOCKED at the twist towards the end.

Overall, this was another great Darcy Coates book that was fast paced and intriguing.

Would I recommend this book? Yes!

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

As a big fan of Darcy Coates, this definitely didn’t disappoint. More of a thriller/mystery than her normal horror…it was still a well done story with some interesting if not so likable characters. I will read whatever she chooses to put out in the world.

We’re whisked away on a five-day getaway to the isolated Prosperity Island, organised by influencer, Eton, for all his loyal fans. Unlimited drinks, games, and endless fun, sounds perfect right? Wrong.

After a disaster during the first game, the holiday goers come to learn that the island has a dark history and was once home to a cult. How bad things can get? Very.

This was my first Darcy Coates book and I’m now on a mission to acquire and read all her other books. This was everything I needed – concerning amounts of gore, rumours of a cannibalistic witch (it’s giving Blair Witch), a cursed island, and incredibly fast-pacing. What more could you want?

Coates does a remarkable job at world building and capturing the different character POVs, I was flying through the nail-biting pages and stayed up way past my bedtime as I had this incessant need to know how it would all pan out. Yes, the FMC, Ruth, was a total wet wipe but she went through so much and I couldn’t help but root for her, so this was overlooked. I would go into my opinions of the other characters, but I really feel like you need to go into this one blind in order to thoroughly enjoy it.

This isn’t just a gore-fuelled horror (as enjoyable as this was), but the multi-layered narrative delves into loyalty, friendship, and survival which is the heart of this novel.

Overall, How Bad Things Can Get is harrowing, gripping, yet brilliantly fresh and one I just couldn’t put down.

How bad things can get? You will have to find out.
Things got pretty bad on Prosperity Island. This was a good read, well written and easy to follow. However, there were some times that the pace slowed down. Nevertheless, it is still a good book and very entertaining.

Bem, a ilha Prosperity não deve ser o vosso destino de férias preferencial 😅
Neste livro de Darcy Coates, Ruth vai participar num jogo que se passa nesta ilha onde se passou uma história e tal.
Um livro bem escrito e de leitura fácil, esta é uma historia que varia de paço, acabando por ser mais lenta por vezes. No entanto, é, ainda, uma boa leitura.

Obrigado ao netgalley

Darcy Coates’ How Bad Things Can Get is a good book to escape into for a few hours.

It was supposed to be the party of the century: miles of idyllic white sand beaches, lush jungle foliage…and a dark legend nobody dreamed might be all too true.

When an online influencer and several hundred of his most loyal fans land on Prosperity Island, the plan is simple: five days of elaborate games, drinking, and suntanned fun. Among the attendees is a reluctant Ruth who has been dragged along by her boyfriend and his friends. Ruth, who is the only survivor of an infamous cult, just wants to keep her head down and not draw attention. She has spent decades outrunning her blood-soaked childhood, and her identity is a closely held secret. However, when guests start disappearing and the true history of the island is revealed, it is clear that something more sinister is afoot and that Ruth has a major role in it.

This is a wild ride of a story that quickly draws you in and keeps you interested all the way to the blood-soaked finale. The pace is hectic and there are enough twists and turns to keep even the most jaded thriller fan on edge. Ruth is a very engaging narrator, and the characters are efficiently sketched and interesting. Some appear to be caricatures at the beginning, but Darcy does a good job of developing and changing them in surprising ways.

The finale is not for the faint hearted, with people being killed by a variety of weapons in often gruesome ways. The body count is very high and there is more than a touch of poignancy.

Overall, I really enjoyed How Bad Things Can Get. Some suspension of disbelief is needed, but it is well worth it

Wow. Wow. The amount of explicit gore in this story is astounding. This is my first Darcy Coates novel, and it may be my last, because I don’t know that I care to subject myself to scenes of extremely graphic violence over and over again. Also, Coates has other books that deal with the paranormal, and that’s one subject I don’t touch, ever.

Ruth is infamous as a cult survivor, but her true identity is in sealed court records, and she has managed to start a new life in the two decades since she was discovered at age seven amongst a sea of dead bodies. She still has nightmares of her childhood, but Ruth has been seeing Zach for months, and they really seem to have a connection. Zach is able to win four tickets to an all-inclusive multi-day vacation on a private island with a Mr. Beast-like influencer, along with 500+ guests, and he invites Ruth and his two closest friends, Hayleigh and Carson. Once everyone disembarks, Eton (not the British boys’ school, but the actual name of the influencer 😄) immediately starts the games. Something isn’t right, though. One wonders if the safety of the guests is a priority. Guests start going missing. Is it all part of some elaborate prank…or is it something more sinister? Was that actually real blood? That’s a mannequin, right?

Coates sure knows how to draw you in—I’ll give her that. Her penchant for multiple, brief viewpoints of random partygoers certainly ratcheted up the tension. The pacing is good, and the plot is well-written.

However, as I mentioned before, there’s so much horrific content in here that it’s a one and done for me. I don’t need such graphic descriptions rattling around in my head. It’s almost midnight, and somehow I’ve got to get to sleep tonight. Yeesh.

I’ve decided on a 3.75, rounded up, because Coates clearly is a skilled author, and I’m sure slasher or splatterpunk fans will enjoy this. It’s just a bit much for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for gifting me an eARC. All opinions are mine.

A celebrity influencer + 100 of their biggest fans + a creepy deserted island….. what could possibly go wrong???
Everything!!! Everything can/will go wrong!


I don’t know where I’m landing with this one if I’m being completely honest… there were things I liked but the book as a whole just kinda fell flat for me…
I’m a major Darcy Coates fan! I’m currently working my way through her entire catalogue so when I got the approval for her newest book I literally did a happy dance!

I loved the plot of this book, it was super fresh and I haven’t read another book like it. The setting was amazing and in true DC fashion she built this world so vividly that I felt like I had stepped on to the island myself! The characters were good and the twists with those characters completely took me by surprise!!
You are probably asking, well why Kim did you not give this book 5 stars… and honestly… I don’t know… lol something about the book just didn’t do it for me… I felt like the book was a little too long, I feel like if we had taken out 100 to 150 pages then the plot would have been more suspenseful and thicker… where as I felt like the plot got thin in places because of all the fluff…
eeessshhh I don’t know lol I don’t pretend to be a book guru lol I read for the vibes alone and this one was good!!!
It just wasn’t great…
Will I still read her books? YES!!
Am I still a major DC fan?!?! YAAASSS!!!
The woman is a genius and just because this one wasn’t for me doesn’t mean that it won’t be an amazing read for you!!!

I honestly just couldn’t get into this one. While there were definitely some creepy and unsettling moments, the story just never fully grabbed me. I found my attention drifting and had a hard time staying invested in what was happening. It wasn’t a bad book—it just didn’t click with me the way I was hoping.

I had the pleasure of being an advanced reader from @netgalley. I am giving this 5 stars because out of the three other horror books I’ve read, this one was the best.

The story takes place on an island and hosted by some uber rich tech/influencer who developed the island to host “games” for prize money. The island itself has a history that the influence (Eton) leans into for his own games. He tells the story of a cannibal witch that scares people from the island as part of his entertainment package.

As the games go on, weird things start to happen. Some of the games are very dangerous (think squid game style). Multiple people get hurt. During one point of the story someone runs by with 5 spears sticking out of her. (That doesn’t ever get clarified tho)

One of the big secrets is that the main character was part of a cult called Petition and she was the only one to survive. She’s at the 20 year anniversary and very quickly noticing the events are now turning into a Petition event. So it’s the famous cult back? What does the cult do in the end? What happens to Ruth?

Thank you again, @netgalley and @darcycoates

Just finished this one & it was my first book by this author. The cult aspect was really interesting to me & there were parts that I was surprised about during reading. It took some twists I didn't expect & I enjoyed the read overall.

Pre-Read Notes:

I've meant to read a book by Darcy Coates for some time; I have several of hers on my Goodreads TBR. I've always meant to try something by her, as I love a really good thriller and Ice heard her writing is sharp . I love the setting of this one, and the excitement definitely starts right away and holds strong. Pretty good so far!

Book Scavanger Hunt!
• 3 gunshot wounds
• a character who's a liar
• a cliff cave
• scariest island history
• a skull
• a megalomaniac
• a trophy

"Laws only matter if there’s someone to enforce them. This was Eton’s island. Eton’s game. Eton’s rules." p35

Final Review

(thoughts & recs) I really liked certain aspects of this one, especially the setup for the story and the setting. Together, these made a scary, tense story with many possible outcomes.

That's also the story's primary weakness. There are too many narrative threads and the plot sort of flails as a result. I wish Coates had stuck with an antagonist throughout the book, but she takes aim at a lot of bad guys.

Despite these few quibbles, I enjoyed this one. It's chaotic but also gripping and a lot of bloody fun.

I recommend HOW BAD THINGS CAN GET to fans of survival thrillers, supernatural horror, and unhinged cult action, all rolled into one tasty burrito. Fans of Noelle Ihli and Jeneva Rose will enjoy this one.

My Favorite Things:

✔️ The setting in this book sort of makes it for me. Coates has created a nuanced and scary place. Scary in the past, scary ten hours earlier, scary this moment. I think setting as character is hard to pull of, But Coates gave the setting a *human face* making it easier to connect to what's scary. It's smart writing.

✔️ I like books that are exciting and compelling without having an untenable pace. I like keeping up with a story rather than feeling like the author is dragging me through it!

✔️ There are a *lot* of characters and the plot sort of plays dead, but the action is mayhem. It's kind of working for me!

✔️ "Ruth closed her eyes, feeling anger, grief, and emotions she couldn’t even name. Despite everything that had happened. She still wanted to live." p302 More than anything, this is a book about survival-- and those who can and can't do it.

Notes:

content notes: blood, gore, viscera, cannibalism, evil witch, cults, corpses, falling, heights, drowning, violence against children

Thank you to the author Darcy Coates, Poisoned Pen Press, and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of WE DON'T TALK ABOUT CAROL. All views are mine.
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Sun, sand, and straight-up terror. Prosperity Island promises a paradise party, but when Ruth—the only survivor of a blood-soaked cult—shows up, things get way darker than a suntan.

Coates nails the mix of tropical fun and creeping dread. I could feel the humidity, hear the waves, and smell the faint hint of danger with every page. Ruth’s voice is sharp, witty, and perfectly snarky—making you root for her while thinking, “please don’t die!”

A few twists were a little predictable, and some characters could use more depth, but the tension, humor, and chaos more than made up for it. If you want a cocktail-on-the-beach vibe… right before a cult-inspired nightmare hits, this is your read. Four stars—sunburned, scared, and loving it.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for the advance copy via NetGalley for my honest, voluntary review. #HowBadThingsCanGet #NetGalley

Darcy Coates really said, “Let’s throw a bunch of influencers on a deserted island and see who bleeds first.” And honestly? I was here for it. Prosperity Island starts out as paradise — cocktails, sunshine, and social media clout — but Coates twists it into something sharp, gory, and dripping with cult creepiness. If you’re the kind of reader who likes your horror with teeth, claws, and more blood than a bad slasher flick, this book delivers. The cult storyline in particular? Deliciously unsettling.

Now, let’s be real: you’re not reading this for warm fuzzy character arcs or a cast you want to grab brunch with. Some of them are flatter than a week-old soda, but who cares? You’re here for the chaos, the gore, and the guilty-pleasure thrill of watching a party-of-the-century devolve into an absolute bloodbath. It’s slow to heat up, but when the claws come out, it’s pure carnage — and I couldn’t look away. Bottom line: if you want a tense, gory, island-vacation-gone-to-hell read, pack this in your beach bag. Just, you know, maybe skip the influencer retreats.

A highly anticipated island party/retreat (hosted and funded by an influencer, of course) goes horribly wrong when guests start having unusual encounters and people start disappearing with no explanation. The island has a strange, tragic history, but so do some of this event's guests - could it be that these histories are connected to the increasingly unnerving occurrences on the island?

***

It took me a second to get into, but once I was a couple chapters in I flewwwww through this book. This is my first Darcy Coates and it definitely will not be my last!

I find cult horror to be super creepy and interesting as it feels terrifyingly realistic compared to several other horror subgenres. Some aspects of How Bad Things Can Get definitely still have a sort of outlandish feel but for the most part it feels pretty grounded in reality, which makes it even scarier, honestly.

Ruth is a great character and I was rooting for her and her Final Girl energy all the way! The twists and turns both in character and plot development provided by Coates made the whole thing so unputdownable.

I had great fun with this creepy, fast-paced book and I look forward to diving into more of this horror author's work.

How Bad Things Can Get comes out August 26, 2025 for anyone interested!

Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing and e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!

This book follows a woman who is a lone survivor of a cult. She is hiding it from everyone except for her boyfriend. When they win the chance to be on an exclusive island run by an influencer, they jump at the chance. However, once they get to the island things quickly go bad and it is a fight for survival.

I enjoyed this book! It was a total slasher blood bath (so beware if you're not into that.) There were some gory parts but it was almost so exaggerated that it wasn't too gross to read. It is like one of those slasher movies that is ridiculous but fun to watch.

This book was a very quick read and it kept my attention. I really liked Ruth and Logan and how their POVs were told. I was rooting for both of them. I also enjoyed the other POVs mixed in.

I will say that this book was a bit unrealistic and exaggerated. I liked that in this book but some might not.

Overall, it was a quick read that read like a slasher and I would recommend!