This is my first book by this author and it definitely won’t be my last. The cover alone had me interested in this book and from the first chapter alone I was hooked. This book was gory, descriptive, and weird in the best way. The short chapters had me flying through it and probably why I finished it in two days. I could’ve done with less lifting/gym bro jargon, it felt a bit much and I was bored with those parts. I did love the duel timelines though and seeing how everything came together at the end. The ending was also a “good for her” moment and I loved it.

Overall, I highly recommend this gory, weird horror book and definitely think it will be perfect for fall!

"The Mean Ones" by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne is a haunting, fast-paced psychological thriller that grips readers from the first page and doesn’t let go.

The story follows Sadie, a physical therapy assistant battling severe PTSD rooted in a traumatic childhood event—surviving a horrific cult killing at a summer camp when she was just twelve.

Years later, when a seemingly innocent weekend getaway in the forests of Colorado takes a dark turn, Sadie finds herself confronting chilling echoes of her past. Schlote-Bonne masterfully weaves themes of survival, trauma, and empowerment as Sadie fights not only for her life but for her identity and strength.

The novel’s atmospheric tension and emotionally resonant character arc make it both a thrilling and deeply moving read. Sadie’s journey toward reclaiming her power and embracing her inner goddess is as inspiring as it is terrifying, solidifying "The Mean Ones" as a standout in contemporary horror fiction!

Honestly, the only negative thing I can say about this book is the pop culture references did not work for me. So many Lord of the Rings references. Otherwise it was a tightly written and fast paced gripping story with a dual time line that actually works. All the characters had such nuanced personalities and development it was easy to remember who was who.
Each chapter ends with a little cliff hanger that made me unable to put this unforgettable book down. I loved the power lifting female MC of this fun time summer camp slasher. It gave off some serious Yellowjackets vibes. Is there something supernatural going on or is it just PTSD? Read if you are in the mood for a book filled with horror, gore, murder, shitty boyfriends, relatable female rage, toxic friends, and the horrors of getting your body image destroyed by pre-teen girls. And that yas queen ending! Good for her! I absolutely loved this fantastic book and I am already telling all of my friends to get their pre-orders in.
Thank you Creature Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC.

Loved the horror-slasher vibes of this one!
Sadie has a terrible past no one knows about but know she's being confronted with it and cannot escape the horror. I am totally down for that idea, I just love horror movies/novels with those gory, dark and twisted vibes and this book did not disappoint. I was hooked from the first pages and I loved the writing style. I was flying through the pages, the pacing was very fast which fit the story perfectly. I must admit that I didn't really love the chapters of Sadie's past. They were the only parts that kept me a little little bit bored at first. In the end they were captivating as well, but in the first half I kind of had a hard time with them. But nonetheless, I totally enjoyed this book and recommend it to any fan of slasher horror movies/novels.

Perfect for fans of Final Girl Support Group and Yellowjackets, The Mean Ones is a great addition to the horror genre.

Blurb:
You can change your name and your body, but you can’t out run your past. Sadie will never escape the summer camp massacre where her friends were killed. Haunted by guilt and visions of the dead, she’s found stability in two things: her boyfriend, Lucas and weightlifting. But when they're invited to a remote cabin for a weekend getaway, that fragile peace is threatened. To protect her secrets, Sadie must return to the woods—and face what still waits there

Review:
The horror aspects were both gruesome and compelling. The setting was perfect for what the author was trying to convey, especially for the earlier timeline. The author did a great job portraying bratty teenage girls in such a way that you could personally relate to Sabrina’s anger and betrayal. The jumps between timelines were clear and concise. I really enjoyed this book and think it's a great contribution to female horror literature.

I really wanted to like this book. I got through 20% of the book and could not finish it. I could not get past the FMC not having a backbone to tell her boyfriend to get lost. I am not sure if the authors intent was to make his as insufferable as possible. It just did not come across well. I really tried to push through because the it sounded so interesting and not like most books I pick up. I started to enjoy horror books, but this one was a miss for me.

This book had me guessing and second guessing. It’s a beautiful tale of feminine rage and I loved every second of it. The imagery that Tatiana gives in this book makes it vivid, beautiful, and haunting all at once.
The suspense to find out all the details of sabrina’s backstory and the haunting scenes she experiences frequently had my skin crawling in the best ways.
I loved it all!
Thank you to Tatiana, NetGalley, and the publishing team for the digital advanced reader copy of this book! All opinions are my own.

The Mean Ones by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne is a sharp, darkly humorous thriller that dives into the toxic undercurrents of friendship, power, and revenge. With a voice that’s biting and bold, the story hooks you quickly and doesn’t shy away from the messiness of its characters. It’s unsettling in all the right ways.

The cast is full of sharp edges—flawed, fascinating, and impossible to look away from. Schlote-Bonne captures the tension of social dynamics with precision, layering psychological depth beneath the snark and drama. While a few plot turns stretch believability, the emotional truth behind the characters keeps the narrative grounded.

The ending hits with impact, offering a satisfying twist that feels well-earned. The Mean Ones is a slick, clever read—equal parts thriller and character study. A solid 4-star story for fans of dark fiction with bite and brains.

Schlote-Bonne consistently delivers incredibly fast paced whirlwind stories. Parallel to her YA debut, Such Lovely Skin, she starts at a sprint, and there's no turning back. She has a distinct way of pulling her reader in and dragging them by their hair to the end- which was INSANE??? Chomping at the bit for her next read. Looking forward to carrying this title in my store!

I almost feel guilty about how much I love this book, and especially that *chef's kiss* ending. This book is for traumatised, former people pleasers who have had enough. This is for people who love demonic and cultish horror set in forests. This is for the slasher lovers but want social commentary in their thrillers.

Would you like a book that you will want to read in one sitting because the pacing is absolute perfection? Would you want this for Halloween this year? This is it. 30th September 2025. Pen. It. Down.

Thank you to the author, Creature Publishing (they are very passionate about feminist horror✨✨✨), and NetGalley for this eARC. I leave this review voluntarily.

The Mean Ones as absolutely freaking fantastic. Vividly gory and gruesome and toxic in the best way.

Another killer novel from Tatiana Schlote-Bonne! Once again, I couldn’t put this book down. The alternating timelines came together so perfectly. Love the nuance in the characters - subverting the way people “should” act under certain circumstances. The ending too! Perf. I’ll never go to summer camp again!

The Mean Ones by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne is the slasher camp book I didn’t realise I needed until now. The story follows Sadie, who hears dead animals talk and a strange male voice in her head. These symptoms are blamed on PTSD from a traumatic event seventeen years ago, but things quickly spiral when she and her boyfriend Lucas go on a couples trip to a cabin in the woods.

I loved the dual timelines, which gave valuable insight into Sadie’s childhood trauma and helped me understand her mental health struggles. The book is dark, full of mystery, horror, gore, and murder. It’s a fast-paced read with a mix of likeable and less likeable characters.

The themes of toxic friendships and trauma are handled well, and the female main character’s perspective felt authentic. The pop culture references and camp setting added a fun layer to the chilling atmosphere. Overall, this was a gripping and intense read that kept me hooked.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

A brilliantly chilling YA book I just couldn’t put down! I absolutely loved this one and was left wanting more like this!

Loved loved loved this book! Anything involving cults immediately has my attention and this one delivered! Fast paced, creepy, and had me invested from chapter one.

“There were mean girls and nice girls, and one couldn’t exist without the other”

So we are following Sadie as she is trying to navigate her adult life after suffering extreme trauma due to witnessing her two friends being murdered at summer camp. But the bodies were never found and no one believes Sadie’s very bizarre story.
Seventeen years later Sadie is still running from her past and hiding her true identity from those she loves, but after being forced back into the forest on a weekend trip with friends, her lies start to unravel and the past comes back to haunt her.

I rated this book 4.5 stars and found it a really enjoyable read. The chapters are short and snappy, there’s a dual timeline of the present day and past so both parts of the story are developing together and I found this engaging and well paced. This book is a mix of folklore, cult and camp slasher that deals with pre-teen friendships, layered trauma, suppressed rage that bubbles over, PTSD and toxic relationships and it does all this so so well. It takes you on a journey and just when you think you know where it’s going, it jolts you off into another direction and takes you to such a satisfying destination.

The Mean Ones by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne is a masterfully crafted horror novella that blends psychological dread, buried trauma, and an unsettling dose of preteen girl cruelty into one unforgettable reading experience. With a dual timeline structure (one set in the narrator’s fractured, cult entangled childhood and the other in her tense, present day unraveling) this story grips from the first page and never lets go.

What elevates this novella beyond typical horror is how sharply it captures the raw, often vicious dynamics of young girlhood. The frenemy relationships, the performative kindness, the passive aggressive barbs, the betrayals cloaked in friendship, are portrayed with razor precision. It’s a deeply uncomfortable portrayal but entirely relatable aspect of the story that adds an extra layer of psychological complexity and emotional sting.

Schlote-Bonne’s writing is taut and immersive, with character work that’s intimate and authentic. Just when you think you’ve settled into the narrative’s rhythm, the plot delivers a twist you won’t see coming, forcing a reexamination of everything you thought might be happening.

This novella is everything I crave in horror: layered trauma, female dynamics that cut like glass, and a slow build dread that explodes into something much bigger than expected. The Mean Ones proves that horror doesn’t need to be long to be unforgettable, it just needs to be honest, sharp, and a little mean. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Tatiana Schlote-Bonne, and Creature Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

I had so much fun with this one. The imagery of the woman on one leg, the creepy hair dolls, and Ralac were all so good. They're stuck in my head, giving me the exact disturbing and unsettled feelings that I want from a horror novel. This is my first book of Tatiana Schlote-Bonne's, but I'll be keeping my eye out for more. I enjoyed the character of Sabrina and loved her descent from start to finish in both timelines. I'm usually not a fan of big supernatural aspects, but this one was well executed and it all made sense throughout the story.

I didn't exactly hate certain characters enough to cheer for their untimely demise, no matter how awful they were. (Olivia in the bowling alley was the part that made me angry the most, so more of those brutal moments with the other characters would have had me cheering a little more.) However, I think with the way Sabrina's character was written, all of her choices made perfect sense.

The ending felt a little rushed with all the pieces falling together and the climax wedged in, too. I wish there'd been more conflict/action in those final few chapters. Loved the ending/epilogue. I predicted a lot of what happened, but that didn't make the story any less fun or exciting to me. Extra shout out for half of this being set in Alabama (I grew up there). Also, I conveniently read this over Memorial Day weekend. Who knew it would turn out to be a holiday read??

This book was creepy and interesting, it sort of gave me Stranger Things vibes but more adult and with the devil as opposed to Demigorgon!

I loved the past and present timeline because it helps progress the story in a non boring way. I also appreciated that the author is descriptive and I could literally see what I was reading - sometimes not for the best lol - but I like that! That’s what I like! When I’m reading thrillers or horror I want to be a bit squeamish!

As much as I loved Damon, like god damn… I found the ending a little anticlimactic, and that’s what made it 4 instead of 5 stars.

Thank you for the opportunity to have an advanced copy to review! I really enjoyed The Mean Ones. It was creepy and held my attention. The writing was clean and paced well. I liked the psychological aspects woven throughout. And the scenes in the woods were scary!! I was left guessing until the end. Very well done. I’ll definitely recommend!