Really fast paced , good book! Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this in exchange for an honest review!!!

This was such a fun, fast-paced read. I loved the idea behind the story and flew through it in just a couple sittings. It’s definitely a popcorn thriller, the kind you can devour in one go without overthinking it.

While the concept really pulled me in, I did feel like something was missing. I wanted just a bit more depth or shock to really make it stand out. That said, the suspense kept me turning the pages and I was hooked enough to keep guessing until the end.

If you’re in the mood for a quick, bingeable thriller with a solid premise, this one is worth picking up.

Breakneck Bay was dark, unsettling and violent in all the right ways. I would go so far as to call this the perfect summer thriller, and the 70's/80's throwback just enhances the vintage dark serial killer ambience. Curl up on the beach, pool deck or in your air conditioned bedroom and read this for a great thrill.

An excellent thriller with dark and disturbing components, this one is definitely addictive and fast paced so prepare to read in one sitting 😆

I loved the setting of this one! A throw back into the 1980s where serial killers are at their prime and the public are in a panic. Enter the creepy location surrounding missing / dead persons, a water park! I love that.. I love murder mystery set at theme parks and a water park just seems to up the anti that extra notch, something about the water component just makes it extra creepy and threatening 🤷🏼‍♀️😂

I definitely enjoyed the read and would recommend :)

Thank you to Faith Gardner and Mirror House Press for the gifted copy!

Publishes - July 24th

Summerween is here and this book has kicked it off for me in the creepiest, most psychologically thrilling of ways. This was actually my first book by Faith Gardner, but it absolutely will not be my last.

Newly married, Kit moves to the “boonies” with her husband to work at the Breakneck Bay water park. When a girl goes missing and her husband’s office is vandalized with blood, Kit starts to wonder just how much she knows her husband.

This had everything I could ask for in a thriller. An 80’s, nostalgic setting. A theme park. Serial killers. Betrayal. Multiple Timelines.

Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley & Faith Gardner for an ARC of this book! ✨

Breakneck Bay, or as locals call it ‘Break-your-neck Bay, is a wild & dangerous waterpark. Years ago, a teenage employee died on the property…. and now another teen employee disappears without a trace. Since all the other employees are staying tight-lipped, Kit takes it upon herself to investigate Gloria’s disappearance.

This is not super fast-paced with a plot twist that comes out of nowhere—this is more like a consistent, well-paced, interesting thriller with breadcrumbs along the way to help you & the main character, Kit, see the whole picture.

I love the flyers, police reports, & news articles that are included in the book! Elements like that make the story more lively & fun to read.

I enjoyed this book and I actually would love to read more books by this author.

I feel like this book was nothing new. In fact, I had read a similar book a few weeks before reading this one. I felt that this book was quite convoluted and just dragged without needing to. It just wasn’t for me.

⭐⭐⭐Arc Review⭐⭐⭐
Breakneck Bay by Faith Gardner
Release date: 24th July 2025

What would you do if the water park you and your husband worked at turned into a crime scene? Well Kit is about to find out. Breakneck Bay is already on a bad streak when a bloody crime scene is discovered.

I enjoyed the writing style of this book so it made getting into it a lot easier. I really like the dual POV every few chapters, Building the 'who is the killer' moments. Overall the main characters where likeable with a good background to keep you interested.

The author managed to integrate enough characters in the storyline, that at times I thought to myself ' yes it's them, they are guilty ' they infact where not. That's something I love in a good thriller, when the author manages to trick me into believing it was someone else entirely.

Thriller books are one of my favorites, but I am a sucker for a theme park based book, so this being a water park made me click apply for ARC so quickly. I think my only flaw was I hoped it would be based more in the water park itself, with maybe more of the murders happening there.

Overall I would recommend this to people who enjoy a thriller with some good story progression. I read this over 3 days so definitely one that can be binged if your a fast reader

Thank you as always to the author for the opportunity to be a Arc reader. Netgalley and Mirror house press for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a honest review
Overall I gave this a 4 star rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐

I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. I read the author's previous book, The Mirror Girls and really enjoyed it so I was excited to read this one, a mystery/thriller set at a water park, what could go wrong, right? We follow Kit and her husband Mitch who work at the park and a young female employee goes missing, Whispers around the park are that Kit's husband and the girl were "close" but she does not believe this until things start happening. Her troubled brother shows up and things take a turn for the worse as Kit tries to find out what happened to Gloria while trying to figure out what is going on with her husband. Told between her perspective and the killer's during different decades, it was an interesting read and I can't wait to see what the author comes up with next.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.75 stars)

Thank you to the author for the ARC of Breakneck Bay! I really enjoyed this fast-paced, twisty thriller. The small-town setting mixed with secrets and suspense kept me turning the pages. Faith Gardner does a great job creating tension and building atmosphere, and I appreciated how the story kept me guessing.

While there were a few moments that felt slightly predictable, the pacing and emotional depth made up for it. I can definitely see this being a hit for fans of domestic thrillers and psychological suspense.

I’ll absolutely be reading more of Faith’s books—The Mirror House Girls was phenomenal, and Breakneck Bay has solidified her place on my must-read list!

Unfortunately this was not for me. I didn’t like the setting and felt there was a lot of unnecessary waffle detracting from the story. I’m not leaving a review for this one as I feel it would be unfair, I normally enjoy Faith Gardner but this one just missed the mark for me.

This novel definitely moved at a breakneck pace. There was a missing girl, a possible serial killer and a mysterious caller leaving ominous messages.

Kit and her husband Mitch work at Breakneck Bay, a waterpark that I would highly recommend avoiding. It is basically run by the teenagers who work there. There are very little safety measures minus ride at your own risk which leads to every type of injury imaginable that apparently only iodine and Band-Aids can fix. It reminded me of a waterpark where multiple Band-Aids might be floating past you on the lazy river, which I only know of in theory because that is one reason why I do not go to water parks… among other things. Waterpark phobias aside lets get back to the review…..Mitch arrives to work and realizes he can’t get into his office. He’s been locked out. Eventually the lock is picked and what he finds appears to look very much so like a murder scene. Mitch is suspect number one. In the midst of all of this a park employee has gone missing, could they be connected?

The pacing of the book does not let up and all the pieces came to a satisfying conclusion. However, it lacked the grit and depth that I was hoping for in this type of thriller. In my opinion, this read more of a popcorn thriller, and I think with the right expectation it will be highly enjoyable for most readers.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was lucky enough to get the ARC for this book. After reading two books by this author it’s safe to say I am loving her books. I really enjoyed reading this book, it had me hooked from the very first few chapters and throughout. I really enjoyed the little media snippets throughout which helped me fly through the chapters.

Breakneck Bay by Faith Gardner
I really enjoyed how this book was set in the 80’s. Being a child of that era and especially remembering going to the waterpark near our home then. (Makes me wonder more about the now defunct park now!)
Kit and Mitch are newlyweds. Kit decides to follow Mitch from California to his ‘summer’ job at Breakneck Bay, a wild & notorious water park he manages each summer. This is a totally different lifestyle than she’s used to and her eyes begin to question lots of things. Especially when one of the teenaged workers disappears and a few days later a bloody mess is found in Mitch’s office. Mitch is equally surprised and doesn’t understand what’s going on. Things don’t add up and Kit, his biggest supporter starts to question if she really knows the man she married.
I kept thinking the ending was gonna twist back around some way and end differently than what I was thinking but it didn’t. Still a very good read! Faith Gardner is beginning to become a new fave author. I especially appreciate her touch of wit and humor.

Thank you NetGalley for early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first book by this author and I was very surprised how much I enjoyed her writing style. I loved the turns this book took and although I saw most of them, I still enjoyed the execution. I wish there was more elements of the waterpark involved so that is why it was bumped down to a 4star for me.

A radical read!

Get ready to be transported to the 1980s in this action packed, wet and wild theme park thriller that will have you questioning absolutely everything and absolutely everyone.

Faith Gardner is already one of my favourite authors, having read all of her previous thrillers, so I was super excited to read Breakneck Bay. It did not disappoint!

Faith does an amazing job of sending us back to the 80s, from the language, clothing, music and the behaviours (hello, smoking in a hospital!). This book made me want to whip out a neon shirt and blast Prince on the boombox!

5 stars from me!

"I water you. You water me. We grow together." (Brendon Nembhard)

There's a definite water theme happenin' here. But in this case, all that watering promotes the growth of something dark and foreboding......like a serial killer with long gripping tentacles that will eventually find you. He's just programmed that way.

It's June of 1982 and the waterparks of America are open for business. Take Breakneck Bay that should have been closed down years ago for safety reasons.....but it's still up and running and so are the questionable people who work there.

Katherine "Kit" Blue and her husband, Mitch, are the main employees. Kit just moved permanently from L.A. to be with Mitch who manages the facility. Kit is now in charge of the First Aid section. Kit has no experience in the medical field except for knowing how to peel back a band-aid. It's hardly a lifetime profession, but she's crazy in love with Mitch.

In walks Rhonda, her seventeen year old assistant, who's wrapped up in tales of local lore of serial killers like the Green River Killer. Rhonda can creep you out in a nano second. But her stories soon begin to keep Kit on edge.

And then Faith Gardner works her magic with panoramic views into the life of "Hawk", a full-fledged serial killer with a blackbelt in heinous activities. Gardner keeps tipping the scales until we know that evil has found a place skirting around the backdrop of that waterpark. And Kit will know up front and personal. Three letters......RUN!

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Mirror House Press and to the talented Faith Gardner for the opportunity.

Starting out this review by saying I love Faith’s dark lil mind and the stories that come out of it. This book was such a great summer thriller to read! I loved the inclusion of the water park in the setting. The reputation of the park and the owner made the atmosphere even more dark and sketchy.

I’m usually iffy about thrillers set around theme parks (wasn’t a fan of Wonderland or FantasticLand) but this one actually worked for me! It was fast paced and filled with thrills and suspense. I figured out how the story would play out early on but I still loved watching it all unravel. If you love dark and twisty psychological thrillers, this book would be perfect for your summer TBR!

Thank you NetGalley and Faith Gardner for the early read of Breakneck Bay! I am a big fan of Faith Gardner’s thrillers, and as usual this one was a quick, enjoyable read.

Thank you @netgalley for the ability to be an ARC reader. From the author of Mirrorhouse girls, comes another suspenseful thriller. The book is named breakneck bay after the waterpark the employees work at. The author sets the scenes as the book unfolds with what appears to be a very grizzly murder. The main character, Kit, is thrust into the middle of a nightmare where she finds her husband also in the middle of a nightmare. He ends up shot and she ends up trying to solve his “murder” because everyone else in town is so terribly incompetent that a teenager and a grieving wife seem to be able to dig up more dirt than the one cop in town.

Now you maybe wondering why I gave it four stars if I’m writing so negatively about the book…the book kept me in suspense. I could not put it down. I was hooked from the very first few pages. It is like the author hypnotized me, this also happened with mirrorhouse girls. Faith Gardner, you write some suspenseful books that I enjoy reading!! Thank you again for allowing me to be an Arc reader!