15 years ago, Emma went to summer camp for the very first time. Being late to arrive, the 13 year old was placed with three girls who were older and were friends already. There was the queen bee, Vivian, bitchy when she wanted to be, always adventurous and determined. Natalie and Allison played the role of the queen’s attendents, doing whatever Vivian told them to do. Emma? Emma just idolized Vivian. Having been at the camp only two weeks and falling in line with the girls, Emma is angered when the other three leave in the middle of the night and tell her that she’s too young to come. Emma is terrified when the three girls never return.
Now, 15 years later Emma is making a name for herself as an artist, always painting “her girls in the woods” and covering them slowly with paint and images of trees. Even after she made accusations against the family that owned the camp about the girls’ disappearance, they request that she and some of the other girls return for the camp’s reopening so that closure and healing can happen. But once there, Emma is sure that someone is watching her every move and is planning something and it doesn’t help that she keeps seeing Vivian everywhere she goes. It also doesn’t help that the boy she accused all those years later is back, looking hotter than ever…but he might just be a hot killer?? WHO KNOWS?? (I do, but you don’t).
This was the second Riley Sager book that I’ve read. About two years ago, I reviewed his first book Final Girls https://everyday-offershub.com/2018/03/74925/ and I liked it a lot. I thought this second outing was even better than that. For one, Final Girls, I knew who the “bad guy/girl” was. In this one? I really thought I had it nailed down and lo and behold, I was way off. Once I got past the first few chapters, I really couldn’t put this book down and when I did finish, I immediately purchased Sager’s third book. So, I’m a Sager fan and I’m happy to say that each book is better than the one before it. If you’re a fan of mystery and suspense you might enjoy this.