Seventeen-year-old Shaun Treadway lives in terror and rage, fearing that his abusive stepfather will kill his mother. In a desperate attempt to save her, Shaun sets fire to his childhood home with his stepfather inside and flees to his mother's hometown in West Virginia. However, he finds Blackthorn Peak to be an unwelcoming town, and the abandoned Blackthorn Peak Lunatic Asylum at the end of Main Street is the creepiest building he's ever seen. When he meets Cass, a mysterious girl his age, he asks her on a date. But on the night they are supposed to meet, Cass tries to get him to leave and tells him never to return. Despite his initial intentions, Shaun rushes into the building when he hears Cass's scream, only to uncover dark and sinister secrets that might cost him his life.

This was a quick and fun read that I got to in two sittings. Great to pass time, but nothing that will stick in my head for long, hence the rating.

This novel felt futuristic and was filled with complex characters. However, for me, I found it hard to lose myself in, the writing felt formal which took away from the overall feel of the novel.

3.5 ⭐️| Gripping title? Count me in :3

Loved the plot and adored the characters.
Shaun? *chefs kiss* Cass? *double chef’s kiss* whenever they were stress I was stressed and whenever they were relieved I was too. Their emotions got to me through the screen (cuz ebook yk) albeit falling flat at some points they still got it.

Interesting set of characters that gave me chills and had me repulsed (which is a good thing with everything considered)

HOWEVER

The plot and the whole generation annihilation thing (iykyk) is amazing but it felt forced at times? Like there was a lot of info dumping for my taste. Sometimes things felt rushed and other times they didn’t get enough time.
All in all, execution could’ve been better, I yet still enjoyed it and it got me hooked from the beginning <3

{thanks to NetGalley, I received a free kindle version in exchange for an honest review}

I love horror. I love extreme horror. It takes a lot for this girl to cringe. Generation Annihilation was, if you’re into extreme horror + gore galore, so much fun! An absolute bloody disgusting thrill ride from start to finish. It takes no prisoners and doesn’t let go. For such a disgusting (in the best way) book, the emotional attachment I felt toward the kids was surprising, and the emotional development between some of the children had me boo-hooing when one would die.
The ONLY thing I truly had a problem with was the (SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER)…………………….. way in which the author wrote the old woman and her sexual appetite. I suppose the only line I really have is reading—in extreme and unnecessary detail—about an elderly sexual sadist and how much little children turn her in (again, in WAY too much detail.) I understand that GA is an extreme horror book and the idea of a sexual sadist who’s also a pedophile is pretty disturbing in and of itself so, extreme horror or not, I really just didn’t appreciate reading about detailed pedophilia for pages among pages. Without that, this would’ve been a 5 star book. My advice is to enjoy the book in all its bloody glory and skip those passages that go just a bit too far, ever for the kind of book this is. All this said, I’m looking forward to reading more by this author!

Us against them. Teens against adults. Shaun Treadway finds himself at the mercy of an evil plan being conducted at an abandoned lunatic asylum. It’s up to him and some other teens to stop what is happening before others like them are consumed. Lots of twists and turns. Memorable characters. I hope there is a sequel.

The writing was really good and I was hooked on the story. I definitely thought it was very creepy and psychological, it made me feel uneasy. There was a lot of tension and fear especially near the end when the kids were in the forest after escaping the first time. I did however wish the interrogation scene with dr richter was a little more than a q and a because all the answers came very quickly and it was more like an info dump. Also I think there should’ve been a bigger standoff with dr richter at the end instead of her being away from everyone when the final chapters happened. It made me a little disappointed that she didn’t get to see the kids escape and was uncaring watching the whole place burn down; I think she should’ve been more angry and upset since her whole goal was to take her family name out of the dumpster but she didn’t seem very bothered at all. Overall though I think it was a very well written and suspenseful story with pretty well fleshed out if not very complex characters and good setting, it’s just some parts felt a little rushed and the suspense not reaching its full potential.

Definitely interesting, the concept was very good, but the execution fell flat at times. Not a huge fan of the ending either. The characters, however, were the highlight of the book for me. I can see myself recommending this to certain readers.

Fast read with some tense themes. Very engaging and well written.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this review copy

The summary intrigued me straight away, as I always like to read about MC’s getting revenge (pre-emptive or otherwise) on their personal bad guy, but also as a native Marylander (who has spent a fair amount of time in Baltimore) and lover of abandoned places as well as urban exploring videos on YouTube.

Immediately, readers are introduced to the aforementioned bad guy (and first) of the story: Rodger, Shaun’s stepfather. Shaun has just set his family home ablaze, along with his stepfather sleeping inside it. Part of me wanted a bit more of an introduction (why and how did we get here/what were the events leading up to that moment in time, etc.) but another part of me feels like that character would not have been worth the extra words, especially as we’re given more information regarding Shaun’s mother’s injuries and are subsequently given more information regarding Rodger in way of flashbacks as the story progresses. He does eventually go into detail with the doctor about what he did and why, and present-me was glad that past-me’s wishes of more page-time for the lead up weren’t granted. Mainly because at this point in the book, I was getting a bit bored with that aspect of the story and after he speaks with Dr. Richter about it, it’s not consuming his inner monologue anymore.

Navigating through the book didn’t feel as unreliable as I was anticipating. To expand on this, Shaun reveals that he takes medication to treat his diagnosis of bipolar disorder (like his mother). To use modern terminology, it felt like Shaun was making the need for his medication one of his only personality traits, alongside his (warranted) hatred for his stepfather. I was interested to see if the repeated mentioning of his medication was going to transform into him being an unreliable narrator, but that wasn’t the case. I think that would have amplified the Thriller and Mystery classification. Asylums are pretty notorious for being wells of paranormal activity, and I think that could have played a role in the (desired) unreliability, coupled with the fact that Shaun repeatedly asked himself if he had remembered his medication and there were moments where he thought he heard noises within the asylum. And if the asylum in the book is based off of the asylum I’m thinking about, the activity definitely could have been used here.

There was a fair amount that I think was done well in this book and a fair amount that fell flat for me. I think that the world building was off to a decent start, given the fact that the town surrounding the asylum was abandoned (which we don’t learn the reason for until the last half of the book), I didn’t expect much in that regard. However, the scene descriptions were alright for what readers were given in my book.

With everything that was good about this book, I do want to be transparent and say that this felt slow to start. As well as slow to finish. I struggled to get through more than a couple chapters a night for about a week and a half; I was more or less put to sleep by what I was reading, and this made me deeply sad, if I’m being completely honest. I *wanted* to devour this book, but the intrigue just wasn’t there for me after a few chapters. A lot of the chapters felt repetitive, and I didn’t start getting an antsy feeling until after Chapter 30. In a 40-chapter book (that’s about an abandoned asylum where they’re doing lobotomies on “troubled” teens), I want to spend at least 75% of the time it takes to read it with that antsy feeling. That’s why I’m reading it, I want to feel disturbed and watched and a little frightened. This just wasn’t that for me. I did enjoy the premise, but I feel like the execution could have been done in less chapters. I think some of the characters that were introduced throughout the book could have been given a bit more detail and backstory, but that’s just my inquisitive nature coming out and wanting to know everything about everyone mentioned.

The dialogue at times felt almost disjointed in that it didn’t feel like teens were talking. There was little use of contractions and slang terms, which surprised me to be honest. A fair amount of other YA books I’ve read have used at least some degree of slang terminology, so not having any in GA kind of threw me. As well as the almost sterile way everyone spoke, even when cuss words were being thrown around. It didn’t feel natural, and I think that was a huge proponent in why it took me so long to get through. The writing felt too clinical and made me feel like I was back in college trying to read research studies for a class I didn’t need to take for my degree but needed to take in order to graduate, if that makes sense.

Some takeaways that I would hope could be explored by the author: I would like to see if the author uses the ending as a way to transition into a sequel, that way some questions could get answered/tie up some loose ends. I also think that there are a few characters that could benefit from having novellas written for them as stand-alones, my main point of interest would be Dr. Richter and her “research”. Something else that would be interesting would be a short work on the kids that we saw introduced, including the kids in the woods. I think their building blocks are too interesting to have the novel end the way it did.

Again, I would like to thank NetGalley, BHC Press, and Tracy Hewitt Meyer for allowing me the opportunity to read this book ahead of publication. I am extremely grateful and look forward to future opportunities.

This didn't really work for me, unfortunately. I was expecting something more scary like, spooky, and instead, it was more scary like, sad. Dystopic. It was also too repetitive for me and the ending just kind of puttered out.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. This was a quick but heart-pounding book that had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I really enjoyed it, and will be keeping an eye out for Meyer's other works! A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads.

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

The feedback I’m presenting in this review is not aimed to personal attack the author, but to provide my honest opinions surrounding the author’s book. Thank you for understanding.

My Personal Review:

I love the concept of this novel and how well-written the characters are. Honestly, I never read a plot similar to the one this novel has so I was very excited when reading this book. So, the author did a brilliant job of picking the perfect setting, story-line, age range characters and psychotic doctors to support the purpose of her story. Fantastic work.

Now, there’s some parts of the story that I didn’t like and I hope the points I place my feedback will explain why I made my rating 3.5 stars.

1. From Chapters 18-20, there’s too much information being exposed all at one time. I mean, I got my questions answered but, I wanted to find these answers either in the beginning when the mysterious vibe was super strong or around the end when the main & supporting characters went on a rescue hunt while struggling to survive out of the asylum.

To further explain, I wanted the answers to come out slowly when I was at my most frightened stage, because this novel does have great spooky vibes. That I can admit.

2. Certain details were being repeated after Chapter 20. Like, the teens are being experimented on, people signing their rights away which explains how they ended up in the asylum and what happened to the teens that never came back. Those are the main issues that kept being brought up a lot and it made me kind the skip some pages since I read about it 2-3 times already.

A few good ideas to replace those repetitive details is making the captured victims brainstorm about where they are from, what are good places they can travel to hide and/or found law enforcement that can help them. Also, the main character has a phone and vehicle he left at his cabin, so when finishing the book, I was like…. Did he forget that he came to this town himself or those important factors are no longer relevant to the story’s plot twists?

3. The plot twist about Cass’ dad being related to the main character’s stepfather was a no go for me.

Those were all my points, so I hope that gives people an idea about my rating. I would also like to add that besides the errors in the novel, this book is really good. I would recommend it when it’s officially published and ready to be purchased honestly.

Thank you NetGalley, BHC Press and Tracy H. Meyer for giving me a ebook copy of this novel to review.

Publication Date: October 10th, 2023

I thought the premise of this book sounded unique and promising and it didn't dissapoint I thought it was executed great, the pacing and characters kept me hooked, any book with an old creepy abandoned asylum will get my attention, the ending was slightly disappointing but I'm hoping for a sequel?

Addictive, intoxicating read this was. Once I started it I couldn't stop reading. The atmosphere was so dark and eerie. The concept of an old insane asylum, just does it for me.

The concept was so original, so well done. I just needed to know the outcome. It was extremely fast paced and will suck you right in. Sometimes the writing in these super atmospheric reads is overbearing, but Meyer's writing is easy, flowy and gripping.

The characters felt real with all their issues and reasons. The way their reactions were depicted felt just right.

I do not want to reveal too much, the ending was a bit of a let down as it did have a lot of openness for me, the pieces were not all tied up, which left me wondering. Apart from that this was a solid read !

If you're looking for a fast paced, dark, eerie, atmospheric YA action packed book pick this one up !

This was a fast read about a boy who runs away after killing his abusive stepfather. He goes to hide in an isolated cabin, which is near an abandoned asylum. I don’t want to give too much away, but the book follows what happens as he discovers the secrets of this building. The book leaves room for a second novel and I would definitely read it!

CW: Sexual, Physical and Emotional Abuse, Drug use
This book was ‘Sucker Punch’ meets ‘Divergent’. . I couldn’t put this book down once I started reading. I had to know what was going to happen. Starting the book in-medias-res allowed the author to play with the chronological events of the story and kept me hooked to find out more about shaun and the choices that led to his current situation. The flashbacks provided some information in understanding Shaun’s actions but felt very surface level. The characters lacked depth and I wanted to see more of their personalities and understand their motivations. The ending was a bit of a let down as it left a lot of open ends but would definitely work for a sequel.

Intoxicating,this book deals very well with parental abuse,grief and terror. I really have liked all the characters and feel them very human trough the story. Everyone needs to read this one !