I was really interested in the concept of Murder Land. A death at a theme park where the protagonist seems to be getting set up tot take the fall? I was there. However, Murder Land, unfortunately, missed the mark. I did like the mystery of the missing Gooseberry animatronic, as it reminded me of the mystery of the missing Buzzy animatronic from Disney, which the author does also say this in the acknowledgements of the book. However, I do think the author really liked that idea, but to the point that it doesn’t totally make sense in context. Unfortunately, it would be heavy spoilers to explain what I mean.

One of my major issues with Murder Land is that everything happens very conveniently. Characters end up in the right rooms or with the right information because of happenstance a lot of the time and this keeps happening to the very end. I often didn’t fully understand why a character would do things or go places and then the plot would continue to happen and I realized that the moving the plot forward was the reason.

The killer’s plans for one of the deaths made no sense. The book even goes “Well it sure was luck no one else got caught up in that plot” even though the odds of at least one other person dying from the situation were astronomically large. What the killer did wasn’t even guaranteed to kill the person they wanted to kill for multiple reasons.

They try to lure the killer at one point and it doesn’t make sense how they do it, because of the timeline of events that had happened. Billie thinks about how grabbing the killer’s knife would leave fingerprints, so she gets a glass statue and breaks it to get glass shards, but they don’t wrap the glass in anything to make a hilt, so they basically are just bleeding anytime they touch the shards. There clues given for the killer weren’t great. They were kind of too vague to fully get anyone there on the killer, although I did figure out who it was early because of process of elimination.

Ultimately. Murder Land feels too much like an early draft. Hopefully this is just because it was an ARC, but there were a few times where only a few chapters later, something would be different. There were a lot of consistency problems. At the end even there feels like a retroactive thing that happens that we would have seen happen because we were with the characters the entire time. It only is there because the plot needs to be wrapped up and it made absolutely no sense no how Billie acquired the item.

Welcome to Murder Land, where the plot is as twisty as the roller coaster Billie probably should’ve stayed far away from. This book gave me whiplash—and not in the OMG, I didn’t see that twist coming! way, but more like Wait, WHAT is happening now?

Billie’s decision-making ranged from eh, okay to Why are you like this? Her friends? A little too sketchy to be trusted, but honestly, by halfway through, who wasn’t suspicious? And the big villain reveal? Less mind-blowing twist and more That make sense, I guess.

The dialogue tries to be clever, but every now and then, it swerves straight into awkward town. Case in point:
“To think that I got what I always wanted from you tonight. Your attention.”
I find myself smiling. “No one’s ever wanted my attention that badly.”

Read the room! Her best friend (and your girlfriend, might I add) just died—maybe save the poetry for literally any other moment? If I were the best friend, I’d be floating over thier shoulder with the most epic ghostly side-eye imaginable.

Overall, Murder Land is like a theme park ride that looks thrilling from afar but leaves you stuck at the top of the loop-de-loop wondering how you got here. Would I recommend it? Only if you’re in the mood for a chaotic fever dream. But hey, at least it’s a ride you won’t forget anytime soon!

I wanted to love this book but it just dragged on for me and it was tough to finish.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review Murder Land!

A mystery thriller following Seventeen year old Billie, a ride operator at Murder Land a brand new attraction at Californialand, After a coworker is found dead on her ride.

I’m usuallly so easy to please when it comes to murder mystery’s and thrillers, I love the genre but don’t read much of it as I find it can be easy to start guessing the plot twists. I will say I didn’t find the plot twists easy to guess at all during the story, I was hooked and one reveal after the other I was eager to keep reading to unravel the truth right alongside Billie.

Firstly I love a diverse story that doesn't feel like it's pushing diversity in your face just to prove it's diverse to the reader.
This book has a natural feeling queer representation that talks about real issues, like toxic relationships, stigmas around being friends with the same sex you're attracted to, discovering yourself.

Billie’s character is strong willed and willingly to do anything to prove she’s innocent. She feels realistic to the reader with her actions and thoughts. The side characters felt far superior to me and I would’ve loved to see their POV during the story. I loved how the side cast balanced each other out during the story in a way that made the plot feel more feasible.

I think something that let this book down for me was the age of the characters, high school/collage age kids running around after a murderer and talking about sex and toxic relationships and crushes on each other just didn’t feel right in the story, it was distracting. If the characters had been aged up it could have added a lot more depth to the story.

The writing was okay, it reads well and fast while describing the theme park very intricately to the reader to add to the atmosphere. It could be confusing at times to try and imagine all the nitty gritty details about rides and attractions but it was fun to read.

Overall I think this book is a great starter into murder mystery/thrillers if you’re wanting to venture into the genre or if you were a teenager I think you would enjoy this story more.

Thank you to both #NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me an advance copy of Carlyn Greenwald's #YAThriller, Murder Land, in exchange for an honest review.

#MurderLand is a fast-paced #mysterythriller that involves four teen colleagues and is primarily set over the course of one night at a theme park during the grand opening of the eponymous attraction, Murder Land. The chapters are divided by the time, interspersed with snippets from a video transcript for a YouTube channel, which allude to two mystery subplots that may or may not be connected to the main plot.

Its the summer before college and what better way to spend a summer night than visiting your friend who works at Californialand and can score you free passes to a brand-new ride? ...Or, so I thought. I bet some of those friends are wishing they stayed home after their ironically (or not?) terrifying experience at Murder Land, for which live murders were not advertised.

After two harrowing summers of working a corn dog cart, Billie just received a promotion to become a ride operator with an acting role. Sure, the role is for the part of a murder victim, but at least she won't come home smelling like grease.

Billie's three "friends" (using the term loosely), who either currently or have previously worked at the theme park, meet up with her to take a spin right as the ride short circuits. When tech whiz and frenemy, Sawyer, volunteers to fix the control panel, the four collectively decide to test the ride before re-opening the attraction to the eagerly awaiting public.

Before Billie can start the ride, however, her older co-worker Randy appears and blackmails her into letting him join the fun. Unfortunately, for Randy, he exits the ride in a different condition than he was in when they entered, which becomes the catalyst for the remainder of the night. Through some hijinks and sleuthing reminiscent of the CW's Nancy Drew, the four musketeers battle everything from a real life murderer to corporate evil deeds.

This is the first novel I have read by the author, and it certainly will not be the last. I normally do not read #YANovels, but the story was so entertaining that it has me reconsidering the genre. A whopping four stars!

P.S. Whole-heartedly agree with the note in the Author's Acknowledgements regarding the major twist. Perfectly, devastating, yet necessary.

This book was such a thrilling and fun ride. I love books set in or around theme parks, especially the ones that have a horror or mystery aspect so I was super excited to read this one. It was a fast paced read and I enjoyed my time with it.

I selected this book because I loved the premise of a thriller set in a theme park. I love theme parks and any conspiracy or lore that they may be involved in and seeing that brought to life through a story was really really fun. I enjoyed the mentions of the other two main theme parks in the area. Also a fun touch. I did struggle a little in reading this, especially at the start. The story felt a little disjointed and wordy. I think that it really came together at the end. The twist was unexpected and overall I felt satisfied with the conclusion.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I wasn't sure when I started this book. I stopped reading it quickly. After a while I decided to persevere and it was worth it!! A book full of suspense and twists, an absolute must read !!

Really enjoyed the story, the mystery, the characters and so many twists and turns that meant the ending was unexpected. However I did at times struggle with the amount of description used, it caused me to skip bits because it was just too much explaining and describing. Never the less i enjoyed it.

A thrilling ride!

An hour after opening, Murder Land’s newest ride is shut down. Someone has died and it’s up to four teens to figure out why. It might mean the difference between Billie keeping or losing her job. However, the teens get more than they bargained for and soon, the accident doesn’t seem like an accident anymore. They’re racing against the clock before one of them is next.

I loved the premise for this and jumped at the chance to read it! Sadly, it started out kind of slow for me and I felt like I was missing something. Unfortunately, that feeling kept up throughout the book. In the last 60 pages or so it really picked up and I enjoyed it!

Overall, I felt like this had the bones and promise, but didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

I read it in one sitting, it was short and interesting, although I saw the reveal coming. Maybe I've read too much books with this kind of premise, but I loved all the queer representation.

Thank you for this e- ARC in exchange for my honest review.
3.5 stars 🌟
I was first drawn in by the title and plot, who doesn’t love a theme park murder mystery.
This book is fast paced and the main character Billie finds herself entangled in a web of lies and conspiracies.
Murder land is an attraction in the theme park of Californialand. This book shows us After getting a promotion Billie finds herself fighting to solve this mystery, and what ties these 5 deaths together both past and present.
I really enjoyed this book, I did find myself confused at the start but pushed through and ended up enjoying this book way more than I thought. Murder land is a quick and easy read and I would recommend this book as it is unlike anything I have read.

I received an e-ARC and am giving my honest review

This was incredible!! I went into it thinking it would be like Fantasticland, more hunger games esque but that’s on me tbh this was much more interesting. I loved the mystery, solving it with the characters. And the tragedy of the story was SO well done. I feel like you never see the main character truly crumble after tragedy happens in a book, and it was written brilliantly here. It felt so real and genuine, I felt my heart break for Billie time and time again. This was so good

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks for this ARC.

So, I do love theme parks. Even when I have only been on a theme park ride once, they do scare me (and not only since watching Final Destination). Therefore, I felt like a theme park in combination with a murder mystery is totally something that would draw me in. And boy, it did!

I did most enjoy Billie as the main character of course, but Grace was fun as well. Nothing beats a good friendship, after all (I hated Sawyer, though. I don't know, her presence always felt like nails on a chalkboard to me). I also loved the fast pace which does totally fit the story and always made me want to read 'just one more chapter'.

This would for sure be a great read for Halloween, with the murder mystery theme park plot, but really, you should read it at any time of the year once it comes out!

This had a fantastic concept and worked well with what was going on. I was hooked from the first page and was engaged with the characters and their story. It had that thriller element that I was looking for and was glad everything worked together to tell the story. Carlyn Greenwald wrote this well and am excited for more.

I had the chance to ARC read Murder Land by Carlyn Greenwald.

When I saw the cover and read the description my interest in this book was immediately peaked. As you may know I love a good murder mystery and murders happening in a theme park? Cool!

I have to be honest, I thought the 5 murders would be recent but they weren't. It's a mix of cold cases and recent ones. We follow Billie, who has been promoted to ride operator when a new section of the park has been opened. On Preview night Billie invited some of her friends to explore said new section. But after a death takes place on her ride, she gets sent home.

One of her friends, an amateur sleuth and Billie convince the rest of the group to stay and investigate because the higher ups told it wasn't a simple death, but a murder. After uncovering some dark stuff and lives being in danger, they decide to stay and risk their lives. This is where my star rating comes from, I would've been more thrilled if it was a locked in kind of scenario. Why risk your live and the lives of your friends to uncover some mystery?

It is an easy read, I do still recommend because I haven't really read much murder mysteries that play out in theme parks.

Murder Land follows Billie on opening night of the new attractions at the theme park she works at. Everything is going in her favour—her best friend and crush are spending the night at the park and she got a promotion to ride operator with a crazy new twist. But when her and her friends test out the new ride with a coworker, the coworker dies. At first, it looks like a heart attack but when she returns with help, his neck is broken. Billie could lose her job so she convinces her friends to sneak around the park to uncover the truth. But with a killer lurking, no one is safe—including Billie and her friends.

As someone who just went to Disneyland, this was the perfect time to read this! I had a lot of fun and was so fascinated with Californialand. I haven’t read tons of mystery/thrillers at theme parks but I really wish there were more because its just a fun concept that hits so well. This book is no different and has great pacing and a great twist that I had no idea was coming. The author balances the reveals and theories from the characters so well to the point where I really couldn’t begin to guess. It felt like it could be anyone. The theme park the author created was so cool and I adored getting to see the characters sneak around and also see them explore behind the scenes. Really great concept that was executed very well!

The characters were so entertaining. Billie is a great main character and I really enjoyed that her grief was really explored and given a space. It wasn’t brushed over and I really liked that we got to see her process and struggle but also come out the other side by the end. Her friendship with Grace was so wholesome and Grace was such a fascinating character. I loved how obsessed Billie and her were with the park. Sawyer was such a good logical sounding board to keep the others in check and I love where her and Billie’s relationship grew to.

Overall, this is such a fun, entertaining mystery/thriller and if you love theme parks, I’d highly recommend giving it a try!

Thank you to Sourcebooks and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review

As a fan of theme park conspiracies and urban legends, I love the premise of this book! If you enjoy YA thrillers, then you’re in for one hell of a ride! You’ll be questioning what’s real and what’s not alongside the characters and not knowing who to trust! The documentary transcripts in-between the present day chapters adds another layer of mystery to the story. Overall a great debut thriller by Carlyn Greenwald.

fun murder mystery and cool characters! super fun and very well done! i would recommend the story. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

I desperately wanted to like this because I love theme park horror. I expected FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven or Wonderland by Jennifer Hillier. That's not what I got.

We open with a true crime section of a theme park which sounds interesting but it went into the usual "true crime is bad" stuff and then it was just trying to check off various LGBT boxes. It's not that I'm against that, it just didn't come naturally. It felt forced and I felt like this was just pushing an agenda and representation and that is only interesting to those who need or wish to be represented or recognized in a popcorn thriller.

It had all the ingredients to be a good book but it went off the rails and felt like a Huluween movie.