If you like slashers you're going to love this fantastic novel. The name says it all. Heads Will Roll, and oh yeah, take that literally.

It's about a woman who had a hit Netflix show until a single tweet had her cancelled in the most extreme manner. She decides to go to a camp that promises digital detox and getting out in nature. There, she'll meet several characters who all have their own demons they're running from.

But soon, people go missing, decapitated bodies start piling up, and there's no way to escape this camp far away from civilization.

There's a lot more to the story than that but I'll just say it's well written and really dives into cancel culture and how it impacts others.

This book is like watching a great slasher film in your head while reading. There are a number of suspects, red herrings, and plenty of good ol' slashery goodness mixed with dark humor at times.

You definitely want to read this one and I highly recommend it.

Josh Winning Proves Once Again He is a Master of Horror!

Heads Will Roll is everything that you could want in a CAMPy slasher horror novel. It has heart, it has gore, and it has beautiful messages around cancel culture. Oh, and my favorite part is that it reads exactly like a movie in your brain. Josh Winning knows how to craft horror with his words that I can vividly see myself in. I am transplanted when reading his stories to the universes that he builds and I get to experience all of the events along with the characters. It is magical and I loved every second of it.

Heads Will Roll features Camp Castaway, a camp for troubled individuals who need a reset from the world. Enter "Willow," our celebrity main character, who is attempting to relax and escape from the world at large. However, things are not as they seem at Camp Castaway and after introducing us to a colorful cast of characters (suspects). If this premise alone isn't a major draw for you to read this novel, then read it for the cast of characters. Josh Winning has given us some of the classic horror tropes. We have a jock, a badass heroine, a burgeoning (queer) love interest and then we have some other fun characters. The mysterious camp leader who has more secrets than anything, the disturbingly creepy chef named Jeff, and a terrifying legend that gets revealed piece by piece.

I absolutely adored this book. I have loved everything that Josh has put out and when I heard that there was going to be a camp slasher, I knew I was going to love this. It is just truly a fantastic mystery! It has enough gore that I was disturbed but also grossly enthralled! And the reveal was not something that I guessed. Truly the ending has more twists and turns than I could have ever anticipated. You need to check out this fast-paced thrill ride of a queer horror novel. It is truly perfection!

“No contact with the outside world for fourteen days.
No email. No social media.
No cataloging every minute of the day.
No strangers judging me.
No guilt.
Nobody threatening to kill me.
Telling me what they're going to do with my torn-out heart.
I open the nearest locker and set my phone inside.”

Willow is an actress who got “canceled” over a tweet, she’s gone from being so beloved and adored to being hated and getting death threats. She needs space, a place where the internet doesn’t exist,that’s where Camp Castaway comes in. It’s a camp where people go to unplug and start fresh, leave their troubles behind, but the thing about running away from your problems is that they always come knocking.

I was really excited when I received this ARC, who doesn’t love a good camp horror story? Unfortunately this book was a let down for me in so many ways.

This book was so incredibly slow with its pacing,nothing happens until about the 30% mark and even then it’s not thrilling. Honestly none of the “action” scenes were exciting in any way,no cool kills or chase scenes, it was just repetitive.

ENOUGH WITH THE POP CULTURE REFERENCES PLEASE!

There were so many in this book I wanted to slam my head against a wall every time one was mentioned, and there was at least one in every chapter.

By the time you get to know the characters it’s too late, how am I supposed to care at all about what happens to them if everything is jammed into one paragraph? Also almost everything Willow said was so incredibly cringey.

The ending was ridiculous and the last line was so cheesy,this was like watching a terrible 90s drama with a hint of gore.

Even though I did not enjoy this, I do appreciate NetGalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I'm going to be completely honestly, I was genuinely excited for this book but the more I kept read the more I felt trepidation until I finally hit this this quote

"And the most fucked-up part of it? I don’t think I ever really understood what happened to Bran until I got canceled. Being “outed.” Judged. Put in a box and left there. I finally got it."

and had to put it down for my own peace of mind

I was so excited to get the ARC of this book. I read Josh’s last book, Burn the Negative, which was just perfect.

Getting down to it, Heads Will Roll was a perfect slasher novel, seriously. It hit all the right notes for me. As always, Josh used mixed media in the format of texts and articles. I’m all for this.

Guys, this will be out in July, and you should totally put it on your TBR!

Thanks to NetGalley and Putnam for the ARC of this book.

This books has sections of interesting writing styles, when it's snippets of tweets and text messages it's actually different from everything else. But then it goes back into the main chapters and it's another story about a woman dealing with her past. Very very common in modern horror novels and kind of getting sick of it.

This is very much a love letter to slashers of the past; I caught a lot of references throughout. It takes the idea of summer camp horror, religious horror, family trauma, and public drama and combines it into one. The ending has echoes of many other horror literature.

At this point, I will automatically read anything written by Josh Winning going forward.
Heads Will Roll is a slasher novel about an actress attending a phone-free camp for adults after a Twitter post got her in the bad graces of the general public.
I absolutely loved this book.
The characters, settings, scenes... I was able to visualize all of it in my head; could picture it as a film adaptation. The lead character being a horror fan meant that there were a lot of references to both horror movies and other horror authors, which I adored. There were enough turns in the plot for me to be surprised, but not so many that it felt unbelievable or like they came out of nowhere. I also loved the inclusion of the queer characters/romance. Overall? I think fans of the slasher genre, summer camp horror, and/or those who want some fun thrills in their books will enjoy this.

I did not like this author’s previous book, and I don’t think I will continue reading from him. His concepts sound so good, but unfortunately the execution just doesn’t do it for me. I know I’m in the minority, and it makes me sad. The characters in this book felt very one dimensional and I could not connect with any of them. The plot felt all over the place and certain points were obvious, and others were just out of left field. I liked the LGBTQ+ representation, but some of it felt kind of forced. I liked the idea, setting, and the sprinkled mixed media, but it just didn’t work out.

"Heads Will Roll" was a fast-paced enjoyable read.

While this story is very modern, I got a nostalgic feeling while reading it. If Summer Camp Slasher films are your vibe I think that you're really going to enjoy this book.

The plot is well crafted, the characters are memorable and overall it was a very engaging and intriguing read.

Thank you Josh Winning, Net Galley and Penguin Group Putnam for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Josh Winning for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Heads Will Roll coming out July 30, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Willow’s worst nightmare was being canceled. But the shadows in the woods of Camp Castaway might destroy more than her reputation.

After sitcom star Willow tweeted herself into infamy and stumbled blind-drunk into a swimming pool, her agent shipped her off to Camp Castaway. Tucked away in upstate New York, Castaway is a summer camp for adults who are desperate to leave their mistakes behind. No real names, no phones . . . no way to call for help.

Willow’s fellow campers seem okay. Her own favorite actress is even here, making a s’more. And did that jaded writer, Dani, just wink at her? But the peaceful vibe is shattered when one of the campers vanishes and Willow finds a mutilated doll in her room with a threatening message rolled up inside its mouth. Terror grips the group, campers begin to lose their heads—literally—and disturbing past deeds come to light.

Is Willow about to get cancelled all over again, this time for good?

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I was definitely intrigued by the title. I really loved the summer camp feel of the book. It felt a lot like Friday the 13th. I thought there was a lot of horror and scary parts, which I love. I thought the format of the book and the dialogue was really good. Some of the characters didn’t feel as fleshed out, such as the backstories for some of them. But overall, I thought the main characters were awesome. There were some horror movie type decisions, but I thought it was fast-paced and fun.

I would recommend this book for anyone who loves summer camp horror stories!

What would happen if you combined “28 Days” and “Friday the 13th”? I tell you what would happen; “Heads Will Roll” would happen. Josh Winning jumped to the top of my favorite authors last year with “Burn The Negative” and this book solidifies that even more. This is an absolute thrill ride that grabs you from the first page and doesn’t let you go. Winning’s character building and descriptive writing style shine through brightly. I would be shocked if Hollywood isn’t knocking on his door soon!!!

Yes Yes and YES! A good ole’ summer slasher read. This book had me digging my nails into the arms of my chair along the way. I absolutely loved this! I read the description and as I started reading decided it was even more than I thought it was.

I loved each and every one of the characters and each for their own reasons and the setting couldn’t be better. Summer camp vibes + adults = the childhood summer camp you remember but sprinkle it with horror fan Easter eggs, gore & horror…A summer must have read on the TBR.

I really enjoyed this horror novel. Josh Winnings has a way to draw you into the story until the end. Such a fast, fun read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

Heads Will Roll is a new adult horror book about a summer camp turned deadly. When a young woman is cancelled for a tweet, she looses everything. Her job, her boyfriend, her house, and her savings. She decides to go on a "retreat" to escape where no electronics are allowed. When people start disappearing at the camp, everything starts to go dwonhill.

A deadly summer camp is one of my favorite tropes but this one was just ok for me. I liked the setting and the characters. Everyone had secrets and it was interesting to see them all unfold. I liked the ghost stories and the creepy atmosphere that was developed.

I do feel like it was a bit slow for me and focused too much on the drama. I just wish it was a bit more horror. I was just a bit bored unfortunately. I think it was a bit cliché at parts too. I know others have loved this one so it probably is just me.

Thanks so much to netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When sitcom star Willow is a victim of "cancel culture" following an ignominious social media post, she goes away to Camp Castaway, a completely tech-free getaway for adults who need to distance themselves from everything, especially their cell phones. While things seem to be going better than expected as Willow tries to reinvent herself among other troubled but welcoming people, everything takes a turn for the worse when a local boogeyman legend, replete with an axe for chopping off heads, looks like it may be true. As campers start to disappear and die, Willow finds herself in her very own slasher movie.
Though the story was a little clunky at the start, it soon smoothed out as the true nature of Willow's tale is slowly but steadily unveiled as the narrative builds. Definitely a love letter to summer camp slashers, the book is full of surprises and plots twist like any classic horror movie. My only real issues were the fact that one of the biggest plot twists resulted in what felt like an unrealistic self-actualization, and the reality behind the killer was even a bit cheesier than slasher movies tend to be. But those gripes aside, the rest of the story was really well written.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read and review Heads will Roll by Josh Winning.

The main character Willow is a sitcom star that wrote a comment on social media which got her canceled and harassed online. This is where her life starts to fall apart. Looking for a way out and getting away from her phone she books herself a spot at Camp Castaway to commune with nature and quiet along with other campers that are in similar situations as herself. Upon arriving she starts making some connections with the other campers, but before long campers start losing their heads, Will Willow suffer the same fate.

You know when people say a book reads like a horror movie? Well, this one really does. I immediately felt nostalgia for my younger years and the horror movies from the past. A true slasher situation at an isolated camp. What could go wrong? Right? Heads Will Roll is just a good ole fun time. Heads Will Roll will be released on July 30th. Check it out and see if you also feel the nostalgia for the good old 80s and 90s horror films.

We are always up for a gripping novel by Josh Winning, and Heads Will Roll is no exception. This thrilling summer camp slasher horror had us hooked, eagerly turning the pages to uncover its next chilling twist.

The story follows Willow, a sitcom star who finds herself in a nightmare scenario at Camp Castaway. As the tension rises and campers start disappearing, Willow must confront her own past mistakes while trying to survive the horrors lurking in the woods.

The plot of Heads Will Roll is well-crafted and full of unexpected twists and turns. From the moment Willow arrives at Camp Castaway, you can feel the tension building as she tries to navigate this strange and dangerous place. The author does an excellent job of creating a sense of unease throughout the story, keeping readers guessing about what will happen next.

One of the strengths of this book is its characters. Each camper at Camp Castaway has their own secrets and motivations, adding depth to the story and keeping readers engaged. Willow, in particular, is a compelling protagonist who must confront her own flaws and past mistakes in order to survive. The interactions between the campers are also well-written, adding another layer of intrigue to the narrative.

As the mystery at Camp Castaway unfolds, readers will find themselves racing through the pages to uncover the truth behind the disappearances. While the pacing starts off a little slower, Heads Will Roll picks up with just enough suspense to keep you hooked without feeling overwhelming. The author does an excellent job of ratcheting up the tension as Willow and her fellow campers try to unravel the dark secrets hidden within Camp Castaway.

Heads Will Roll by Josh Winning is a gripping summer camp slasher with a modern twist that is a perfect match. What feels like a classic horror movie in book form that we could see getting a film adaptation in the future.

Review posting to our website on March 14, 2024.

This horror gem weaves an immersive nightmare, marrying atmospheric settings with spine-chilling suspense. Characters navigate a sinister labyrinth of terror, unveiling dark secrets and delivering relentless scares. A macabre masterpiece, it transcends the genre, leaving an indelible mark on the reader's psyche. A must-read for horror aficionados.

Classic slasher with a twist. I loved this and flew through it. A fun and wild ride. Not A boring paragraph to be found.