- Genre: Thriller
- Published by: Minotaur Books
- Publish date: August 25, 2026
- Number of pages: 368 pages
- Author’s website: https://jenniferhillierbooks.com/
- Support local! Buy the book on BookShop!
A serial killer recants his long-ago confession regarding a small-town high school girl―and her then-best friends are forced to confront what really happened that night and what’s happening now.
Seaside is a small coastal town, known originally for the local amusement park. But twenty-five years ago, a serial killer dubbed The Carnival Killer confessed to the murder of a local high school girl. Now, he’s recanted that confession.
Barb, Nicolette, and Lorelei were best friends – then they met “Sam” at Wonderland, the local amusement park. After hanging out with him there, and accompanying him to the drive-in movie, where the twenty-something handsome drifter made out with Lorelei in the backseat. That night was the last time Lorelei was seen alive, her murdered body surfacing a couple of days later in a local cranberry bog.
Barb’s dreams of leaving Seaside and becoming a successful writer never materialized and she is a freelancer for the local newspaper and, secretly, writes anonymously about reality tv stars for a hugely successful gossip web-site called Reality Bitch. Specifically, she writes savagely about a long-running show set in Canada called Trophy Wives.
Nicolette left town shortly after Lorelei’s body surfaced, never to return. Ultimately, she married a very rich man, moved to Toronto and rebranded herself as Cole Lennox, one of the stars of Trophy Wives.
With the amusement park about to reopen, revitalizing the dying town of Seaside, the Carnival Killer recants his confession about killing Lorelei, the dead body of young woman washes ashore, and the truth about what happened that night twenty-five years ago – and what is happening now – threatens not only the carefully constructed lives of Barb and Nicolette, but the very fabric of Seaside itself.
Rating: 4/5
This was my second book by Jennifer Hillier and I’m so excited to know she has a huge backlog because her thrillers suck you in immediately and the mystery unfolds in a way that keeps you engaged and guessing ’til the end.
This novel has a connection to Hillier’s 2015 novel called Wonderland where the killer from that novel has recanted one of the murders. This now potentially unsolved murder is the focus of this novel. Although the seaside town is the same setting, I found it was fine not having read Wonderland first as it could read as a standalone.
As someone fairly new to the reality TV universe (I’ve watched Vanderpump Rules and have ventured into a couple of Real Housewives, but I mainly watch the game show ones like Big Brother and The Traitors), it was fun that the two main characters are in this world. Barb, is a major contributor to a popular gossip site and writes almost exclusively about the show Trophy Wives with a special interest on her former best friend, Nicolette, who now goes by Cole while starring in the show.
The novel has flashbacks to when Barb and Nicolette were teens and the circumstances leading up to and following their friend’s death. As adults, there is certainly tension between the two that becomes palpable once they reconnect. The pacing of this was intoxicating– the flashbacks threw me back into the naïvete, the insecurity, and pettiness of being a teenage girl and I loved seeing these two women having to reckon with their past. I didn’t guess the ending, which shocked me because I usually do! I ended up really enjoying this book and read it in less than 24 hours.
Have you read this book? What are your thoughts? I’d love to know!
I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book from Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Minotaur Books. This has not impacted my rating and this review is voluntary.
Musings by Michelle 