Member Reviews

Wonderland had me intrigued from the start with the small town setting and interesting characters with the eerie backdrop of the amusement park. The book is part mystery of trying to find the connection between Wonderland and missing people and part thriller that kept me from wanting to put it down. I love Jennifer Hillier’s writing and enjoyed Wonderland. The narration was also wonderful.

Was this review helpful?

The reviewer highly recommends the story and is a fan of the author's work. They found the narration to be excellent and thoroughly enjoyed listening to it. They believe it will be a success and plan to recommend it to others who enjoy audiobooks

Was this review helpful?

I really enjoyed "Things We Do In The Dark", so I was excited to try out Wonderland by Jennifer Hillier. I had the audio, which might have contributed to how graphic the book came across. Maybe if I had been reading it, it wouldn't have been as challenging to read.

Vanessa Castro has moved her family to a little town known for its big amusement park called "Wonderland". Her first day on the job a body is found, decapacitated and rotting at the bottom of the Ferris wheel. Once the body is identified as a teenage boy who went missing three years ago, she starts asking more questions. Over the next few days she discovers that there were several teenage boys who have gone missing over the last decade, and slowly starts to put the puzzle together.

This novel was just a little too on the "horror" side for me. As a mom, it was hard to listen to the brutal things that happened to the teenage boys who went missing. I did not expect the ending, and really enjoyed the twists and turns along the way. The narrator was great, and I look forward to reading more by Jennifer Hillier.

Was this review helpful?

I absolutely loved this audiobook! Jennifer hillier is one of my favorite authors and her books are so riveting

Was this review helpful?

Vanessa Castro has just recently moved to the small town of Seaside, Washington with her two children following the death of her husband. Today is the first day of her new job as Deputy Chief of Police and it starts right off with a dead body and a missing teen. Wonderland is a famous amusement park and the only thing keeping this old village afloat. It also happens to be where the murdered body of a possible homeless man was discovered and is also the last place the missing teen, and Wonderland employee, was seen before he disappeared. Considering that Wonderland already has a dark past, this may not be good for business but it seems like there are many people in the town willing to do whatever it takes to make it all go away. Can Vanessa figure out this killer's sick, twisted game before anyone else disappears?
I really loved this! I was once again sucked in immediately by this author's writing style and did not want to stop listening. At one point I think I suspected about every character in the book. There are so many twists and turns and it seems like everyone is a liar! Non-stop action and suspense throughout. The narrator did an amazing job bringing this to life and separating the characters. I did not see the ending coming!
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Jennifer Hillier for allowing me to listen to an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Was this review helpful?

Wow this was incredible. I was left completely surprised by the outcome.

I was so invested and I loved getting to see the police procedural side to the story.

Was this review helpful?

How lucky I was to listen to this audio book! The narration was terrific and truly captured the intricacies of the story.
Wonderland is an amusement park in the American Northwest where the younger generation followed by the next younger generation is employed. Bad things happen there and the newly anointed Deputy Police Chief certainly has her hands full. When missing boys and more missing boys are uncovered intertwined with dirty local politics, the fun, or terror, begins.
Great story, great intrigue and another best seller by Hillier!

Was this review helpful?

When a body is found at the famous Wonderland adventure park, an all out investigation begins...but there is much more than just a dead body to deal with. What secrets does this park have?
What a ride!! I really loved this backlist book from Jennifer Hillier. She is one of my favorite thriller authors and never disappoints. The setting of the theme park is the biggest star of this novel. The setting really brings this whole story together. 
This investigation not only deals with a murder ,but there is a string of missing boys that previously worked at Wonderland...is this all connected? I loved the way the author weaved all of this together. The lead investigator is also dealing with her own demons. She recently moved to town and is quickly learning that Wonderland has a lot of secrets and no one wants to uncover them. 
I really enjoyed this one. Jennifer Hillier is a standout among thriller writers.
As far as the audiobook, it was perfect!

Was this review helpful?

I LOVED this one! It’s set at a popular amusement park in the Pacific Northwest. A popular place for teenagers to work. One day a body is found in the middle of the park. The brand new Dt Chief in town soon discovers that there are secrets and coverups going on.
I was sad when this book was over! Highly recommend!

Was this review helpful?

Wonderland
Jennifer Hillier, author

Thank you to Netgalley for the audible version of this fantastic thriller.

I was thrilled to the bone when I discovered this novel had been released on audio. I love Jennifer Hillier's books and have listened to all her other books. This story was as good as her others. It offered intrigue, a great mystery of whodunit and kept me on the edge at all times. It was so hard to put the book down.

Among all the horrid dead bodies that are being discovered; there are also several unsolved cases of missing teenagers in Seaside, Washington. And the new Police Chief of this sleepy town thought she'd come to a quiet town to raise her children. Now another teenaged boy who took a selfie of himself climbing to the top of the famous Wonderland Ferris Wheel, and posted it to his social media account, which went viral, has gone missing. It looks like the new Police Chief has her work cut out for her.

I most highly recommend this novel, as I found it riveting. I leave this review in exchange for the audible version from Netgalley.

Was this review helpful?

I usually love Hilliers books. But this one was just ok for me. It didn’t really grab my attention like her other books. I found that I wasn’t invested in the characters and wasn’t shocked by the ending because I just didn’t really care what happened. I am not a fan of books involving police investigations, and this one falls under that category, which is likely why I couldn’t get into it. I listened to this via audio and did enjoy the narrator, Eunice Wong. Although this one missed the mark for me, it is still worth the read and other fans of Jennifer Hillier would enjoy this one!

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Jennifer Hillier for providing me with this gifted audio copy in exchange for my honest review.

Was this review helpful?

I had been wanting to get my hands on a copy of this book for a while and when it was being mass market published I was really excited. I was even more excited when Macmillan audio reached out to see if I wanted an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a 5-star listen for me. The narrator was great and it was easy to follow all of the characters. And the story was exactly what I expected of a Jennifer Hillier book - dark and twisty!

I loved how well it was written and how you could feel how creepy some of the characters were. There’s multiple twists and it kept me guessing at who was the suspect throughout the book as more and more crimes kept being uncovered.

I think this one is best going in blind and just knowing you’re in for a wild ride 😉

Was this review helpful?

I loved this book. Jennifer Hillier is already one of my favorite thriller writers, and I had looked forward to Wonderland for some time, yet having the ability to listen to it on audiobook enhanced the experience for me even more. The narrator was excellent, the story was full of twists and turns, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes a good story. There were lots of things I didn't see coming, and it was exciting to find out the truth at the end.

Was this review helpful?

I loved so much about this book- the setting, the premise, the overall vibe. It is the perfect Halloween-time read. You have to suspend your belief with some of the events that unfold, but if you can get past that, you will absolutely love this one. Thank you to the publisher for this ARC of the audio version of one of Jennifer Hillier's original books. I have loved almost every book this author has written and can't wait for her next.

Was this review helpful?

While I love Jennifer Hillier and her dark and twisty psychological thrillers, this one was a bit of a miss for me.I listened to this on audio and will say that the narrator did a fantastic job narrating such a large and diverse set of characters.

Was this review helpful?

This was my second Jennifer Hillier book and I definitely enjoyed it. Originally, this was a 3 star read till about the halfway point. Things were happening... slowly... I was a little bored with the slow but overall kept going because I couldn't wait to see who the serial killer was. The ending brought it up to a 4 star read. It was fast-paced and action packed and got me all the answers I was waiting for! I didn't see the ending coming and that's always a plus in my book.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the audio version of Wonderland. Eunice Wong did a great job of conveying the story. I followed along with my physical copy but when I was in the car or running errands, the audio version let me pick up right where I left off.

Was this review helpful?

Vanessa takes a job as deputy police chief of Seaside, Washington. Her life is a bit in shambles but she is doing the best she can with her new job and trying to find some sort of rhythm with her kids. A dead body turns up at the famous amusement park, Wonderland. With a dead body and missing employees…things are really looking strange…and not just with Wonderland.

This was a great thriller. I loved how Hillier pulled me in all different directions with my theories. I also enjoyed Vanessa as a character. She wasn’t the typical good or bad character…she had some morally grey aspects which I really enjoyed and found more realistic in a way. I love multiple POVs and the narrator did an excellent job.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an audiobook ARC.

Was this review helpful?

@jenniferhillierbooks is definitely an author whose books I’m going to gravitate towards. When I saw Wonderland as an audiobook on @netgalley it was a no brainer decision to request it. At the time I had no clue that Wonderland actually came out in print back in 2015. Hillier’s popularity has risen such that @macmillan.audio decided to go to her backlog Wonderland and record it in audiobook form. How awesome is that?

Wonderland is a thriller set in a small Washington town where a popular amusement park is located. Vanessa Castro has moved to escape personal tragedy (her husband’s death) and professional scandal to protect her children.

Little does she know that Wonderland amusement park has its own plethora of scandals that will start to implode when on the first day of her new job as Deputy Chief of Police a dead body mysteriously appears on the premises.

This one definitely has quite a few twists and turns and that ferris wheel 🎡 scene at the very beginning had me so nervous!!

While it’s not as good as Things We Do In the Dark, I’d still highly recommend checking out this Jennifer Hillier backlog in audio form. The narrator does a great job and a good thriller can be hard to find (this is definitely a good one!).

Was this review helpful?

Wow. I had heard good things about this book but it exceeded my expectations! The twists, the turns, the creepy dolls…. Oh my! I thought I had it figured out but twists at the very end threw me. The narrator was great and very easy to listen to. I thought the story line was engaging and gripped me from the very beginning. This was a very enjoyable book!!

Was this review helpful?

This all came apart at the end for me. The strong beginning became a hot stew of plots upon subplots and villains upon villains. Wonderland is set in the small town of Seaside, where Vanessa Castro returns after a family tragedy (and a scandal, and a secret beneath the scandal) to work as the Deputy Police Chief. She quickly learns that the town's biggest attraction, an amusement park named Wonderland has a dysfunctional hold on the town, allowing decades of scandals to be swept under the rug. When a body is found at the park and Vanessa is tasked with the investigation, her outsider perspective and big-city cop instincts may just help her unravel that mystery and a few others, decades in the making. While I liked the premise, and had some interest in the characters, toward the end, it all became a little too convoluted with the belated inclusion on more and more red herrings in a way that just seemed to prolong the book and leave the author with no choice but to explain in narrative what she didn't have the characters reveal gradually in other ways. By the end, I was a little more frustrated than I was satisfied. But I will say this, if the goal was to present a somewhat eerie portrayal of how a place that should have been about "amusement" had a corrosive and sinister underbelly, then I suppose that was achieved. Still, it had more than one twist too many for my liking.

Note: This is a new audiobook of a book first released in 2015, I think the narration style for me was a little too flat, sounding more like a newscast than the narration of fiction. Since most of the characters' voices had the same flat, almost expressionless affect, it was difficult to get a sense of them from their voice alone. The narrator's voice had a white noise quality that sometimes caused my mind to wander as she read.

Was this review helpful?