Loved this story! It had me hooked from the very beginning. The setting of a theme park as the main location for a story was such an interesting and intriguing idea. I was riveted to hear about the inner workings of the park, its employees, and what lies beyond the shiny surface. I really enjoyed the multi POV. It didn’t distract from the story, but added to the mystery and intrigue of who the killer could be. I kept changing my mind trying to decide who it was and who was helping them get away with it. This book kept me on my toes and guessing as a good murder mystery should!

Jennifer Hillier never disappoints. Her writing is always gripping and edge of your seat amazing. Literally just finished the book and let me just say I need more! Amazing story and gripping from the beginning! Loved it!

If anxiety thru an audiobook was a book it would be this one. The Narration was spectacular. I don't think it would have been nearly as good without the Narration.

Wonderland is the park full of fun and happiness during the day, but at night it turns into something else. When a corpse is found the police must intervene. But that’s not all - a worker is now missing as well.

Vanessa moved back to Seaside to get away from her husbands suicide and her ex’s drug charges. Now as deputy chief she has to figure out what is going on in wonderland. As she keeps digging more and more indiscretions come to light. Wonderland might now be the place everyone thinks it is.

I loved this audiobook so much! The narrator was amazing and I loved the plot of this book. Definitely take a listen!

A good solid read and giving it three stars...the story kept me interested to know what was going to happen next. I did feel slightly overwhelmed with the amount of character names to remember and I kept forgetting who was who.

Jennifer Hillier NEVER fails to send a shiver down my spine. She's done it again in this, "Wonderland."

Set amidst a small touristy town, Wonderland is the sought after theme park. With people travelling near and far to see their creepy clown muesem or ride their large ferris wheel. Despite a disturbing past, and town law enforcement set on protecting its financial waterfall, the new deputy police chief is set on properly investigating the missing Wonder Wheel free climber.

Chilling and disturbing, Hillier takes everyone's clown nightmare and thrusts us into this whirlwind of a read. Once again, she's got me sleeping with one eye open and keeping the lights on.

This book is a... wild ride. The audiobook was done very well, and I was hooked the entire time. The characters in this book are so. messed. up. Just when you think things couldn't get worse.. they do. I especially enjoyed the creepy amusement park setting. I was only able to guess one part towards the end, but there were other twists I wasn't expecting. This is my second Jennifer Hillier book and this one takes first place so far.

A very creepy, twisty read - highly recommend the audio!

This old amusement park definitely fit the creepy, atmospheric setting criteria.

Overall, I liked this one. Lots of characters to suspect and many to actively dislike overall. I didn't guess every twist and turn, which I always consider a win with a thriller. I was definitely invested in finding out what happened at the end.

Please check TW on this one.

A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

This audio version of Wonderland is actually just a re-release of a novel which had previously been released in print. However, I absolutely LOVED this book. It's centered around an amusement park where things just seem to be going wrong. Missing people, some shady business deals, hook-ups, you name it. It's got the police woman's daughter getting a job there, while her mom is busy working on some case in the same area. Talk about stress! I've only recently discovered Jennifer Hillier but I've really enjoyed her work and would love to continue exploring her backlist.

3.5 stars.
My least fave of Jennifer's unfortunately; all of her other books have been 4.5 or 5 stars for me, mostly 5! I was hoping this one would be way creepier and more atmospheric to the setting because I was super interested in the amusement park setting; I found the vibes to be minimal. I also guessed the twists, which makes it less fun for me. Overall, it was just average.

So good! Thrilling and wild. I didn’t know what was coming next which is exactly what I’m looking for in a thriller!

I was so excited to receive the audio book. I had purchased the actual physical book awhile ago and just hadn't gotten around to it. I can officially say had this not been an audio book I probably would have DNF the book.
I love a good what happened who done it style book and add in creepy clowns and an amusement park BONUS. or so I thought.
This book starts off with a omg what moment and that's about the only one. I appreciate what I think Jennifer was going for with adding some spice but honestly it would have been a better book without it or with more of it. Pick a lane spice or no spice but dashing some horrible spice is cringey.

The premise of this book is based around a park, a scorned lover, a can't think for myself guy, and a woman just figuring stuff out. Vanessa Castro has returned to Seaside as Deputy Chief just in time for a body to appear and a boy to go missing. Vanessa learns quickly that what happens in the town is controlled by Wonderland park. Vanessa isn't going to go along with that thinking and proceeds to investigate.

It is an ok story with ok characters. It could have been great but fell short.

I did enjoy the narrator and it was the only reason I finished it

I really loved it! This is a thriller that will definitely stick with me. I’m a sucker for a crime book and one set at a 1980sesque cult like amusement park- sign me right up! I liked the pace, the characters, and the twists. I’ve really got nothing bad to say here. I would definitely recommend.

I also have plans to read Little Secrets, Creep, and Freak by Jennifer Hillier since they feature some of the same characters.

Edge of your seat thriller in a super creepy setting. Make sure to check trigger warnings prior to readings. I struggled with some aspects of this book which is why I gave it a 4/5 (the dynamic of an older woman sleeping with barely legal teen boys was an ick factor). Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook for an honest review.

From my blog: Always With a Book

I have been a fan of Jennifer Hillier’s books for quite some time and so I was thrilled to see that they had finally released this earlier book of hers on audio. It was originally only released as an e-book and I had never gotten around to reading it. Now this is one of her backlist books I can cross off my list!

Like most of her books, this one was just as creepy and twisted as I would expect. This is the second or third thriller I have read set in an amusement park and I have to say, I wasn’t really a fan of them to begin with and now I definitely will not be heading to one anytime soon!

This book grabbed me from the get-go and I was unable to put it down, finishing it in one day. I loved the characters, especially Dectective Vanessa Castro. She’s new in town and wants to do right, but definitely has a few secrets of her own. And that’s not it as far as the secrets go…it seems that everyone has their own fair share of secrets. And most interesting of all is the relationship between Wonderland and the police. Will this impede the current investigation?

This book has so many twists and turns and the creep factor is off the charts. It kept me on edge all the way through and I had no idea where it was heading. I love Jennifer Hillier’s writing and this one was no exception!


Audio thoughts: This was such a great book to listen to…the creep factor alone had me on edge and I thought the narrator, Eunice Wong, did a great job bringing the story to life. Her pacing and intonation were spot on and she infused just the right amount of suspense into her voice as needed.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* This was a pretty great mystery/thriller to read right before summer, would be a great beach read for sure!

Jennifer Hillier is an amazing author that can do no wrong when it comes to thrillers however this story was very slow compared to her more recent work. I was excited to get into the story because I’ve never read a thriller about an amusement park however, I am afraid to say that I did DNF this story about 30 percent in. I was not a fan of an older woman sleeping with barely legal teen boys. It made me cringe and just wasn’t something I was interested in continuing.

Welcome to Wonderland. By day, it’s a magical amusement park boasting a certain retro charm. But before in the dark, an eerie feeling descends between the Creepy Clown Museum and the rumors of the underground tunnel. Vanessa Castro’s first day as deputy police chief of Seaside, Washington, is off to a bang when the unidentifiable dead man appears in Wonderland and a teenage employee goes missing on the same day. As the clues in cases gather, she suspects the rumors surrounding the amusement park’s dark history might just be true. She moved to Seaside to escape her own scandalous past, but has she brought her family to the center of an insidious killer’s twisted game.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book since I was let down from Jennifer Hillierother book I read, but I was sucked into this one from the start! I loved Vanessa and her two children (mainly her daughter, as she plays a bigger role in the story) and the dynamic workers at Wonderland, all of which have their own secrets. There were multiple twists in this book, none of which I saw coming until a page or two before they happened, or at the time the twist was explicitly put in front of me. I had some suspensions about what characters may or may not have done based on their personalities, but I did not see the last two surprises at the end of the book coming at all!

This was an audio book, and the narrator did a great job of telling this story and was clear while reading, which is great because I like to listen to my audio books at 1.5x the speed. The clearer the speaker, the easier it is to set a fast pace for the book!

I rated this book with 5 🌟!

I'd like to say a huge thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

QUICK BITS
•Amusement park
•Strong women
•Trigger happy

REVIEW
Wonderland was originally released as an ebook in 2015, now in 2023 for the first time ever the audio version has been released!

This book has everything going for it.

The characters are wacky, wild, and well written (you will have no clue who to trust).

The concept of murders in an amusement park never gets old and the creepy vibes are off the charts to boot.

I will warn sensitive readers to seek out the trigger warnings because I am pretty sure this one contains pretty much every trigger you could imagine (even clowns and rats eating faces).

So if you dare...read this and then come tell me what you think.

RATINGS
9 Characters
8 Atmosphere
9 Writing Style
9 Plot
7 Pace
9 Intrigue
8 Enjoyment
3 SOS Bonus
TOTAL= 59+3= 62/14= 4.42

3.00/5.00 SOS Rating
--Yall there is so much to unpack here. Twists and turns galore...and apparently one of these characters shows up in Little Secrets...I guess I know which JH book I'll be reading next.

4.5/5.00 Rounded Rating

I read Wonderland for the first time last year and was excited to revisit Seaside with the recently released audio version! (I selfishly hope this release is setting us up for a new trip around the Wonder Wheel in the future 🤞🏻) @jenniferhillierbooks is one of my auto buy authors and I couldn’t be more happy for her and the re-release of one of my personal faves! @eunicewongnarration did an awesome job narrating! Her unique voices for each character truly added to the creep factor!