FantasticLand: A Novel

7.5 stars. Loved the structure & concept, but overall felt like there were too many loose ends left.

I loved how it was written like a real true crime story and was given different points of view.

How could a group of survivors, mostly children, commit such terrible acts? How could survivors with the best possible circumstances in which to weather the storm and its aftermath produce the worst possible result?" "The employees of Fantasticland both bonded and separated. That makes the case unique." Unique is putting it mildly! This book was dark, and at times, disturbing. The premise intrigued me immediately. A massive hurricane that isolates a theme park full of employees, who are mostly teens or young adults, keeping an eye on the park after the customers were evacuated. They had safe places to sleep and plenty of food and water. They even, in theory, had leadership there to help oversee. How on earth could it have gone as badly as there being dead bodies hanging from the lampposts? I can't say that I actually enjoyed reading all the parts of the book but they did keep me interested. The writing style was completely perfect for this story. It's done in interview style and written well enough that I was literally going online to see if this had been an actual hurricane. There were so many chapters that kept me on the edge of my seat and so many characters that I was either rooting for or against. Some, honestly had to be sociopaths! (If you have read this, you know of whom I am speaking). There were characters who were good, who were insanely cruel, some who were creative and showed foresight and planning. All in all, this book was nothing short of fantastic and very much showcased Mike Bockoven's talent and creativity, while also making me worry about him a little bit. These characters live inside his head?? Oh, and for those of you have read the book, the Freaks are totally my tribe!

"𝑰𝒇 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝒊𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒘𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒖𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒂𝒕, 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒘𝒊𝒄𝒉." 𝔽𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕃𝕒𝕟𝕕 - Mᴵᴷᴱ Bᴼᴄᴷᴼᴠᴱᴺ ⭐ ( 9 / 10 ) I'm lying he getting my full 10 ⭐ hell naw YALL! That quote literally sums up the book. Ha! If you don't read it you'll never know. I picked this book up on a whim. The lady at B&N said everyone liked it while I was in the Horror section and I decided ok I'll try it. No summary read nothing. Got home whipped it out. Opened it up. I read the first chapter and a page and almost put it down. Actually after the first chapter I read rhe summary and at "fact finding investigation..." Down she almost went, especially after I read person one's history of the park. GIIIIIRL! BOOOOOI! YAAAAAAAAAAAALL!!!! IM OB.SESSED! It was so good! Yes it's told person by person like an interview with no questions. I honestly cannot describe it. The "author" describes it as editing the questions out so it appears as one flowing story. Kind of like that movie Inside Man which is mentioned at the end of this book as a reference of sorts. But dear God. This is giving my Guilded Ones a run for it's money cause. I did take off a point as much as it hurt me because there are two sections of lazy writing I feel at these transcripts where Bockoven switches from whole names to initials and there for. A tenth of a point docked. I don't care it was amazing. Im going to read it again this year I know it. Murder. Murder! MURDER! EVERYWHERE! Im not telling yall nothing else. Go read the damn book! 𝕄𝕦𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕤 ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝘑𝘢𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘺 𝘖𝘶𝘵

It's been a while since I've wanted to sit and read all day and I did just that with this one. Started a lil slow and I was afraid I wouldn't enjoy it, but once I was in it, I was in it! I loved seeing everything play out from the different POVs. Thought it would confuse me but the story was told in an order so it didn't. I loved the documentary style writing. It made it feel so real, like this had actually happened. This should definitely be made into a limited series! I may have to listen to the audio book at some point.