Wilderness Reform: A Novel

With “an ever-rising tone of dread that builds to a terrifying crescendo” (Marcus Kliewar, author of We Used to Live Here), this unputdownable horror novel follows a teenager searching for answers about the mysterious events and disappearances that plague the wilderness camp for troubled teens he was sent to, taking survival and discipline to a frightening extreme.
Thirteen-year-old Ben is sent to an isolated reform program for troubled teens by a juvenile court judge. But when he arrives at the camp, located on the edge of the vast wilderness of northwestern Montana, he immediately recognizes that there is something weird about the counselors. They’re too friendly and upbeat…yet Ben can tell there’s an undercurrent of menace.
As he gets to know the boys in his cabin, he soon discovers that they each have far more going for them than whatever crime landed them there. And each has a different critical skill, one that could help them unearth what is really going on in this place—and how to make it out alive. They are inching ever closer to the truth, but the hidden evil beneath the camp’s surface will make itself known in order to deter them. Brooding, clever, and sinister, Wilderness Reform will keep you “in a vice-grip until the very end” (Matt Wesolowski, author of the Six Stories series).
Thirteen-year-old Ben is sent to an isolated reform program for troubled teens by a juvenile court judge. But when he arrives at the camp, located on the edge of the vast wilderness of northwestern Montana, he immediately recognizes that there is something weird about the counselors. They’re too friendly and upbeat…yet Ben can tell there’s an undercurrent of menace.
As he gets to know the boys in his cabin, he soon discovers that they each have far more going for them than whatever crime landed them there. And each has a different critical skill, one that could help them unearth what is really going on in this place—and how to make it out alive. They are inching ever closer to the truth, but the hidden evil beneath the camp’s surface will make itself known in order to deter them. Brooding, clever, and sinister, Wilderness Reform will keep you “in a vice-grip until the very end” (Matt Wesolowski, author of the Six Stories series).
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Community Reviews
This is an extreme slow burn, my book peeps, and I don’t do well with those! 🫣 There were some great tension-filled, horrific scenes but the story dragged between them. The ending was great, albeit a bit predictable. 🤷🏼♀️
The MMC Ben came off as a very smart-mouthed punk to me which didn’t help either! 🤨 Yet he also didn’t act and think like a 13-year-old; felt like he was more in his late teens/early twenties. I know the authors were trying to portray him as a genius, but he just irritated me instead! 😅
Overall, it’s a great plot and I’m sure there are slow burn lovers out there who would devour this! Sadly, it was just okay for me.
TW: animal death (hunting)
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for my honest review! ❤️
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