Name: The Counselors
Author: Jessica Goodman

Published: 2023-05-30

**An INSTANT Indie Bestseller!** “A nervy, intense, and expertly crafted thriller that kept me hooked page after page. Dark secrets? Summer camp setting? Complex teen girls? Murder? Count me in. A simply stunning book.” —Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces, You’d Be Home Now, and The Agathas From New York Times bestselling author Jessica Goodman comes a twisty new thriller about three best friends, one elite summer camp, and the dark secrets that lead to a body in the lake. Camp Alpine Lake is the only place where Goldie Easton feels safe. She’s always had a special connection to the place, even before she was old enough to attend. The camp is the lifeline of Roxwood, the small town she lives in. Alpine Lake provides jobs, money and prestige to the region. Few Roxwood locals, though, get to reap the rewards of living so close to the glam summer that camp, with its five-figure tuition and rich kids who have been dumped there for eight weeks by their powerful parents. Goldie’s one of them. Even with her “townie” background, Goldie has never felt more at home at camp and now she’s back as a counselor, desperate for summer to start and her best friends, Ava and Imogen, to arrive. Because Goldie has a terrible dark secret she’s been keeping and she is more in need of the comfort than ever. But Goldie’s not the only person at camp who has been lying. When a teen turns up dead in the lake late one night, she knows that the death couldn’t have been an accident. She also knows that Ava was at the lake that same night. What did Ava see and what does she know? Why hasn’t she said anything to Goldie about the death? Worse—what did Ava do? But asking questions offers no answers, only broken bonds of lifelong friendship, with hidden danger and betrayals deeper than Goldie ever imagined.

A Summer Camp Thriller with a Rushed Finale

Pack your bags, mystery lovers, because Jessica Goodman’s “The Counselors” is about to take you on a wild ride to the most suspenseful summer camp since Jason Voorhees decided to make Camp Crystal Lake his vacation spot!

From the get-go, Goodman hooks us with a premise juicier than the mess hall’s mystery meat. We’ve got Goldie, our townie-turned-counselor, harboring a secret darker than the woods at midnight. Add in her besties, Ava and Imogen, a dead teenager in the lake, and enough tension to snap a zip line, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for a page-turning thriller.

Goodman’s writing is as crisp and refreshing as a dip in Alpine Lake on a hot summer day. She paints Camp Alpine Lake so vividly, you can practically smell the bug spray and hear the distant sounds of kids arguing over who gets the top bunk. The atmosphere is thicker than the mosquitos, keeping you on edge as you try to unravel the mystery alongside Goldie.

The character dynamics are more complex than the friendship bracelets these campers are probably weaving. Goldie, Ava, and Imogen’s relationship is a tangled web of secrets, lies, and summer memories, making you question everything you thought you knew about BFFs.

But here’s where things get a little… well, wobbly, like a canoe with too many campers. Just as we’re paddling full speed ahead towards the big reveal, it feels like Goodman suddenly heard the lunch bell and decided to wrap things up quicker than a kid packing on the last day of camp.

The ending comes at you faster than a sugar rush after too many s’mores, leaving you with a bit of narrative whiplash. The killer’s confession feels about as satisfying as finding out the camp dance got rained out. And don’t even get me started on the loose ends – there are enough of them to weave a whole new friendship bracelet!

Despite the rushed finale, “The Counselors” is still a thrilling read that’ll keep you up past lights out. It’s like that slightly undercooked marshmallow – not perfect, but still pretty darn good and leaves you wanting more.

So, grab your flashlight, huddle under the covers, and dive into this summer camp mystery. Just be prepared for a conclusion that might leave you feeling like you missed the last bus home. But hey, at least the journey was a wild ride!

Buy on Amazon.