Thank you to Josh Winning, Netgalley, and publishers for this ARC. This is my second book by this author, and I pretty much read it in one day! It's a summerish slasher at a camp, which was what I really wanted to read right now that summers about to be ending here soon. I definitely will be listening to the audiobook when it comes out.

I really enjoyed Winning’s first novel, Burn the Negative, and couldn’t wait to feast my eyes on Heads Will Roll. This one was a ROLLercoaster of sorts, sometimes it was slow, sometimes it was quick, and filled with a good bit of slashing but not nearly enough gore in my opinion. I liked the complicated characters and the idea of a camp for adults, because while I enjoy a good, camp slasher, YA books tend to grate on my nerves, so this aspect was fun for me. It did get a bit repetitious for me and I wasn’t super crazy about the execution of the ending, but I did appreciate the twists and views on cancel culture. If you’re looking for a light slasher read for the summer, Heads Will Roll was overall fun, and with short chapters it makes for the perfect poolside read. Heads Will Roll will be published 7/30. Thanks to Penguin Random House and Putnam for my advanced copy.

Heads Will Roll is a horror slasher that takes place at a summer camp. everyone who goes to Camp Castaway are some form of celebrity or someone who just gets a lot of media attention and at the camp they’re promised a chance to leave all their problems behind. but when the other campers start turning up dead with their heads decapitated, the main character Willow is forced to figure out what’s going on.

i had fun with this one and Juniper was 100% giving Laurie Strode 2.0 and I was here for it! i liked how the author tackled cancel culture and the way society can more often than not be overly harsh to anyone who makes the slightest mistake. the mystery behind who the killer was wasn’t what i was expecting and i enjoyed the direction it took. even though the end picks up with the gore and kills, i never really felt any tension and the final scenes were a bit cheesy for my tastes.

Title: Heads Will Roll by Josh Winning
Publication Date- 07/30/24
Publisher- Penguin Group Putnam
Overall Rating- 3 out of 5 stars

Review: Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Heads Will Roll will give you summer camp, slasher vibes. There is a lot of discussion surrounding cancel culture and phone attachment. Most of those aspects I enjoyed. Some people won’t like them, however, I thought there could have been more commentary on cancel culture and society.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere and setting of the camp. There are various characters we get to know outside of our main character whom I also enjoyed. The character development is well done and you really spend a lot of time getting to know each of their stories which was enjoyable.

You don’t want to take this story too seriously in any regard. It’s supposed to be a light hearted slasher with some commentary in the background.

Some things I felt were missing or I didn’t enjoy: It felt like at about 50 percent the story had reached it’s ending and the last half was one long ending. There are a lot of different twists and most didn’t seem to make sense, flow or felt too convenient. At the end of the book, I didn’t feel satisfied. Some things that would have made me feel more satisfied would have been more creative death scenes, less convenient plot points, less dialogue between the characters which is something I never thought I would say. On that note, I think something that was missing was more experience with the characters, we basically just listen to them talk and then their thoughts there’s not a lot of doing…. Anything.

Unfortunately this story just felt really disjointed. Like I said some aspects were entertaining like the summer camp atmosphere, some aspects of the characters, some kill scenes. It’s like it was almost there.

If you haven’t read Burn the Negative by Josh Winning, you should give that one a try. I enjoyed it a lot more. I will continue to read from this author because all in all I think he’s a great horror writer and has some important things to say about culture and humanity. I wish we would have seen more of that in Heads Will Roll.

Thanks to @prhaudio and @netgalley for the #gifted copies of Heads Will Roll.

This thrilling story follows actress Willow as she seeks to escape cancel culture and the chaos of her life by retreating to a secluded electronics-free summer camp. Little did she know that her getaway would turn into a terrifying fight for survival, as mysterious decapitations begin to occur. With no one to trust and nowhere to hide, Willow and her fellow outcasts must race against time to uncover the truth and escape with their lives intact. "Heads Will Roll" is a heart-pounding slasher tale that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Whether you're listening to the gripping audio version or diving into the print edition, this is a perfect summer read for fans of chilling slashers and relentless thrills.

This book was really interesting. It made think of Scream at summer camp. This book moves pretty fast because there is a lot going on and if you don’t pay you might miss a few tidbits.
The book is mainly about canceled culture and how it can envelope a person so much that it hurts. This book takes you through many people that got canceled for different reasons. That is why people go to the camp to detach from public eye and No Technology means No Technology. The thrills were literally rolling around every corner. I thought the book read YA it could had been pushed a little more with the gore.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for providing me with a free yebook in exchange for an honest review.

This is going to be on everybody's summerween list next year. It's a fun summer slasher with all the fix ins of an 80s horror movie. I loved the characters even though some rubbed me the wrong way. This is a book you will not want to out down I know ai didn't. From the beginning to the blood soaked end I was hooked and cannot wait to pick up more books from this author.

This is my first time reading Josh, and I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I love a good classic camp slasher story, and he managed to work in the common pop culture cancelling into the story in a way that worked really well. It's strongly written, paces well, and has characters that are easy to empathize with.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this arc!
This was a fun slasher read, perfect for fans of Sleepaway Camp and Friday the 13th! While I found that some of the story dragged, I did stay interested in finding out more about Knock Knock Nancy and why the campers (correct term?) were disappearing. While I did have fun, I didn’t feel that Willow’s actions and thoughts were super believable. I think she and some of the other characters needed to be fleshed out just a little more to form any attachment to them. Despite the minor things I found to be less than perfect about this book, I would absolutely recommend it to a friend (and already have).

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for allowing me to read this before release!

I was a big fan of Josh Winning's book that came out last year, so I was excited to be approved for this book. Based on the title, description and book cover I expected a campy slasher and that's exactly what I got. While I enjoyed the plot, none of the characters blew me away. I just didn't feel incredibly invested in any of them, so when people were being targeted by the killer I wasn't on the edge of my seat worried for them.

I will say I did not guess who the killer was though. If you're looking for just a fun, summer slasher then I'd recommend you give this one a try! Also, while this one wasn't a top read for me I'll still be checking out Winning's future books.

willow is being canceled. it's a tale as old as time (or at least as old as social media) - she logs in and tweets and very shortly after the internet hates her. she loses her fiance, she loses her friends, and she loses her job on her tv show, all before anyone stops to ask her the intent behind the remark she makes. she choose flight over fight, signing herself up to attend a tech-free camp in the woods. turns out, willow's not the only canceled person with the idea to get away from it all. but there's someone with an ax to grind and bodies are starting to pile up.

this was a perfectly serviceable slasher. i like the conversations around cancel culture, though i'm not really sure this book truly did those discussions justice. the killing in this book was fine and it felt like it belonged just fine within the ilk of films like scream or urban legend.

i do think that this book had a lot of ideas going on at once and it felt a little muddled conceptually. there's the typical camp lore of a ghost story - a girl named nancy who supposedly was decapitated and haunted the camp and there were doll heads showing up at the scene of every disappearance. that was cool, i guess, but i felt like when this part of the story was combined with the true origins of the nancy story the book felt messy and disorganized. to add on top of that the dynamics of each canceled camp attendee, the book felt like there were too many ideas that perhaps should have been edited back.

i believe (correct me if i'm wrong) that this author is queer, but i did also find a comparison between cancel culture being the same as being forcibly jerked out of the closet to be... really distasteful, to say the least. this happened about 20% in. i get that cancel culture can be really stupid, especially when people aren't given time/opportunity to grow from their mistakes, but that's nothing akin to the danger that queer people face daily just by existing as queer. and i think there was supposed to be further exploration on this concept based on various plot points of the book but unfortunately none of those points was done well to me.

It feels pretty safe to say, in today's political climate and saturation of social media that has taught us to shoot first and ask questions later, that cancel culture is a rather divisive topic, to put it mildly. For some, it's a useful tool to hold ne'er-do-wellers to task for their societal or cultural missteps or grievances. On the other side are those who posit their free speech should also include a freedom from consequence.

I'll admit, I'm certainly no saint. I've been a part of what grew into online mobs speaking out against, in one case, one small press horror publisher's blatantly racist ad copy for a book they not only canceled but closed up shop altogether in light of the outcry they generated. I've spoken out against bad actors in the horror community, not in an effort to see them "cancelled" but because I thought it was the right thing to do at the time. And, of course, I've also been the target of cancellation campaigns, such as the time a popular horror reviewer cum book seller and author manipulated an image I had posted in order to further their own clout and brand, and led a charge of death threats lobbed my way from their friends and fans.

Having been on the receiving end of some hairy online vitriol, I was interested in reading Josh Winning's take on the subject via summer camp slasher horror in Heads Will Roll. Social media and horror have grown into increasingly cozy bedfellows these last few decades, what with one former president turned convicted felon attempting to use his Twitter account to launch World War III, in addition to egging on the cancellation of whoever caught his ire at the moment, and the takeover of Twitter itself to churn an already harmful site into a full-throated white supremacist cesspool under the ownership of a puddingheaded man-child. Cancel culture lies at the heart of Heads Will Roll as Willow, an actress, finds herself under assault on- and offline after a mistimed tweet goes viral and costs her everything. With her life spiraling out of control and online death threats turning into real-life stalking, Willow is ushered into Camp Castaway. Her and the other attendees are anonymous from each other -- no real names allowed and, more importantly, no electronics. It's a complete and total detox from society and social media, and dear fucking god does that ever sound wonderful right about now.

Of course, what kind of slasher in the woods death camp promises would this book be if everything stayed hunky dory? As Willow further enmeshes herself in Camp Castaway and grows close to another camper, Dani, she also begins to make startling discoveries about the history of the camp itself, particularly the truths surrounding the urban legend of Knock-Knock Nancy. Nancy, or so the campfire storytelling goes, was beheaded hundreds of years ago and now haunts these here woods, knocking on the cabin doors and murdering whoever answers, lobbing off their dome with her killer axe to replace her own lost head! Of course, like any good urban legend, there's a grain of truth to the story, and that which happens in the past has a tendency of repeating in the present.

In between murders and camp conspiracies, Winning deepens the cancel culture allegory to reflect on LGBTQIA struggles and the ways in which they suffer under the cancel culture wars waged against them by the right-wing amidst the current onslaught of book bans targeting diverse authors and fictional characters who have two feet planted firmly in the real world, "Don't Say Gay" legislation, and "straight pride" campaigns spearheaded by congresswomen who give their boyfriends a handjob during children's musical stage show productions of Beetlejuice.

While these elements provide a nice spine for Heads Will Rolls, I do wish there was more meat on its bones. Winning doesn't delve as deeply into cancel culture as I would have liked, opting instead to stick to more superficial examinations in an effort to keep the book light and springy amidst the unraveling of secrets and an increasingly carnage-wrought climax. At times, this approach feels more like mere lip service owed to the topic, with a heady dose of both-sidesing the issue in order to provide a happy resolution that feels at odds with the events endured. I will give Winning props, though, for highlighting the granddaddy of all cancel culture and historically notorious antigay women-killer, Christianity, a malignant force that continues to push its own agenda at the expense of humanity in the pursuit of political power (something something Project 2025 something something yada yada yada).

As far as the slasher elements, it does take a while for Winning to get around to rolling all them heads around. For the most part, Heads Will Roll is a bit of a slow-burn, punctuated with some nice moments of violence that, eventually, give way to a big and bloody assault upon the camp and its castaways. The climax is suitably silver-screen big and gory, with the body count stacking nice and high by book's end. I dug the Knock-Knock Nancy mythos, and found the truth behind the camp legend suitably believable and relevant, but I did find myself wishing for more regular, and more extreme, beats of slasher mayhem. Like the topic of cancel culture, Winning just doesn't go far or deep enough to truly satisfy, giving the overall story a somewhat half-baked feel. Of course, it's all punctuated with familiar been there done that vibes and copious pop culture references that compel comparisons, particularly when Willow dons a Jade Daniels sleeping shirt. That brief aside was enough to make me wish I was once again reading about Stephen Graham Jones's final girl instead, and I'd heartily recommend his Indian Lake trilogy over Heads Will Roll if you're looking for some real slashery goodness. Goddamn, those were some good books!

This was great! I love slashers and the camp setting was great for it being summer time. I've never readnfrom this author before but plan to try more of his books out!

Will be posted tomorrow 7/9/24 on Instagram.com/michellereadsthrillers

ARC 📖 Review: Heads Will Roll by Josh Winning
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pub date: 7/30/24

This was such a fun summer spooky read! I was loving the camping/campfire slasher vibes. Would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves a good slasher story. Also, obsessed with this cover, the story was exactly what you’d think by looking at the cover!

⛺️🪓🔪

After sitcom star Willow tweeted herself into infamy and had to be dragged blind-drunk out of a swimming pool, her agent shipped her off to the woodsy and wonderfully anonymous confines of Camp Castaway. Castaway is a summer camp for adults in desperate need of leaving behind their mistakes, their social media accounts, and their lives. But the peaceful vibe is shattered when a terrifying woman pops out of the wardrobe in Willow’s room. Soon after, one of the campers vanishes. Is Willow about to get cancelled all over again, this time for good?

Thank you @netgalley and @putnambooks for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

#netgalley #putnambooks

Thank you so much to Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for this ARC digital copy of Heads Will Roll by Josh Winning. Expected publication date July 30th, 2024.

This was my first time reading Josh Winning's work and I was absolutely hooked from the very first chapter of this book. This story reads like a slasher movie, reminiscent of Scream and Friday the 13th. Right off the bat we're introduced to a group of people that have basically been 'canceled' by society, either by themselves or the internet and are going to a remote camp to essentially disappear while the heat dies down.
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There were many times I thought I had figured out who done it, but I was wrong each time - and for me that is what makes this slasher so effective. Josh Winning keeps you guessing the whole time - stringing you along with just enough information to keep you guessing, but never giving you enough to piece the whole picture together.
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As for the gore factor, there is plenty of blood and slashing - but I think I could easily recommend this to a novice horror reader. It's a perfect mix of horror, thriller and mystery without the hardcore splatter factor.
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This book was such a fun, easy read - and believable as it deals with the way our current society functions. I highly recommend giving this a read - so worth it!

I was able to finally read it using the netgalley shelf on my daughters ipad. I loved this ode of 80/90s cheesy horror movies! If you are a slasher horror movie watcher and horror book/movie fan you must read this! Read it for end of summer reading or save it for spooky fall reading but either way I can guarantee that you will love this

Fans of slashers, and especially summer camp slashers will be pleased with this one. A tv star makes a questionable tweet. After her world implodes in the aftermath, her agent suggests a wellness retreat in the woods where all of the campers have something to hide, and something they're trying to get away from. An urban legend is thrown in for good measure. I had a good time with it, reading it in the summertime.

This was a fast-paced and engaging summer camp slasher with queer representation that I tore through over the 4th of July weekend because I couldn’t put it down!
Amidst the tumbling heads and spilling secrets, there is a lot to chew on IRT our understanding of our own digital personas and how we reckon with them in relationships.
Like any beloved slasher film, there are a couple gaping plot holes that make me wonder if we’re going to go right into a sequel — and I hope that we do!! As one of the founding fathers once said, “The way I see it, someone's out to make a sequel. You know, cash in on all the movie murder hoopla. So it's our job to observe the rules of the sequel…”

Great take on the classic camp slasher story. I really liked all of the characters and it kept me guessing until the end.

Fairly typical slasher camp horror thriller. The plausibility aspect gets a bit wonky in the beginning and ends up totally out there by the end. There were still a fair amount of unresolved bits in the plot and the story stayed cliche.

I will say the pacing was strong and I enjoyed most of the characters. Winning can write characters that feel flawed yet still witty and likable. I didn’t find the story particularly creepy but it does have some gory kill scenes. Ultimately, I think this book will be a favorite with those who love the slasher genre. It was a bit too on the nose and coincidental for me, but I do think this book will have some major fans.