My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I was provided both an ARC and an ALC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.
This may be triggering for some as it mentions some sensitive topics. Nothing is described in detail on the page but this does deal with troubled teens dealing with some heavy issues. Trigger warnings can be found <a href=https://gouldbooks.com/wtwt >here</a> on the author's website. This does get a bit dark and gory, and I had no idea that these therapy camps were a real thing. My family likes to unplug and go tent camping for a week during the summer, and we come back refreshed. We have amenities at hand and it is fun, we can also leave if it gets unsafe. The way this was portrayed sounds terrible for these kids, especially with what they are all dealing with sounds terrible and not fun at all.
This follows several teens who are sent away to a therapy camp after struggling at home. The main story is told from Devin's perspective. She is about to turn 18, and has been in and out of foster care. Her latest family has sent her to this camp as a way to help her after the latest incident at school. She has a violent streak and tends to get into fights. The camp is supposed to help her and the other campers change their self destructive behaviors. The campers immediately pick up on something strange as they stomp through the woods, especially after their enthusiastic counselors disappear. Not sure if their disappearance is a test or an emergency, the press on to the next checkpoint but they all keep seeing things that shouldn't be there. Things really start to get weird from there and the kids have to figure out how to work together and survive their internal monsters and what is lurking in the woods.
I enjoyed this, it was a great story about survival and the demons people face. Sometimes those demons are people and sometimes they are addiction or trauma. I thought the author did a good job portraying each of the teen's personalities and their individual struggles. I also really enjoyed how the relationships developed between all of the kids. Things start out rocked between some of them, but we get a found family vibe by the end, which I really liked. I would have liked more information on the mimics, but as far as a more speculative fiction book goes I think Gould did a good job with the explanation of what their purpose was and how they worked. As a personal preference and as someone who loves sci-fi and fantasy, I like more detailed descriptions of how all that stuff works, but I appreciate that sometimes you don't get all those details in book that is more character focused like this is.
Overall I really liked this. It has a little bit of everything. I really enjoyed the characters and the thriller/horror aspect of the book.
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