The set-up for this book felt very intriguing, and I enjoyed the initial details provided on the theme park setting. However this book lost me with it's characters unfortunately: too many introduced at the same time without clear characterization for each, resulting in me having to flip back and forth to remind myself who was who.

Thank you Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. This one has a fun setting! Billie just got promoted to Californialand’s new park Murder Land. She’s finally going to be able to operate a ride. The parks preview is tonight and she got tickets for her best friend Grace, Sawyer, the best friend’s girlfriend, and her crush Leon. This will be a perfect night for their little queer friend group. Only the Billie’s ride stops working, her first night is off to a disaster but then Sawyer to the rescue. Because they had to shut the ride down it’s just the four of them, Billie shouldn’t, but the ride is quick and this is their chance to check it out. Before the set off a janitor comes in and asks to join them, she can’t say no so she lets him on. The ride is a little exhilarating and when it’s over the get off her friends promising to meet up with her after her shift. It’s only after they’re gone that she realizes the janitor never got off, as she gets closer she realizes it cause he’s dead. It looks like he had a heart attack. She gets help but when they get back the body looks different and he seems to have a broken neck. Did she just imagine the way he looked after the ride? In order to save her job she has to prove he died of a heart attack and it wasn’t her fault. To do that she’ll have to sneak around the park looking for clues. Luckily her friends are here to help. But Grace starts acting strange, she’s keeping something from Billie. As more people die and they have a run in with an ex-employee with a knife they may be in more danger then they realized. Can Billie figure out what is going on? Will the make it through the night alive? And what isn’t Grace telling her? I enjoyed the theme park vibes and them running around an empty park with the somewhat spooky vibes! Had me hooked and was a thrill from start to finish! Great for mystery lovers and theme park enthusiasts!

As soon as I read Greenwald's announcement of "Murder Land", I was hooked. This book's suspense did not let me down! An amusement park's thrills and excitement are aptly conveyed in Greenwald's writing. The attractions, the food carts/restaurants strewn throughout the several zones, and the animatronics were all very clear in my mind. I thought Sawyer and Billie's developing friendship was particularly interesting, but all of the primary characters were well-developed. The adolescent anxiety that accompanies approaching change was brilliantly portrayed by Greenwald.Without many twists and turns, it wouldn't be a theme park or a thriller, and this story did not disappoint. I was just as interested in unraveling the mystery surrounding Randy and Grace's relationship as Billie was. As the transcripts revealed the background upon which the park was founded, I adored the Theme Park Confidential interludes. The climax was satisfactory and brought all the plot lines full circle. Readers who enjoy a little romance, mystery, suspense, and history together will appreciate this narrative!

The premise of this book was cool- a California themed theme park one of which is called Murder Land about the famous murders in California. Then on opening night 4 people end up murdered! A great plot but this book was all over the place. There was so much extraneous information that I really didn’t even understand what we were trying to solve for 3/4 of the book. Are we solving a mystery about people dying at the park, a missing animatronic, generation old murders? It was hard to know that there was a lot of reflection on the same issues that felt unnecessary. I really did like the premise and I think a different reader might be more of a target audience.

🔪┊“ you can't hurt people and get away with it. ”

Murder Land follows seventeen-year-old Billie, a ride operator in the newest section of the theme park Californialand. After the mysterious death of her coworker on the buzzworthy new ride she operates, she teams up with her friends to sneak through the park after hours in search of the truth.

PROS:

- from the opening sentence, i was enraptured by this book. seriously, i stayed up reading until three am because i didn't want to put it down. i held my breath like i was actually hiding from the killer(s) along with them during certain key tense moments.

- the main character was refreshing, i loved that she actually stood up for herself and expressed what she wanted.

- i LOVED the inclusion of the interview interspersed throughout the novel, as well as the video with the comments at the end. it really fit the tone of the novel, and made it feel much more realistic.

- i suspected literally everyone but the actual killer(s) but that may be because i suck at solving mysteries.

CONS:

- while this is more something neutral, all of the brands + pop culture references throughout the novel kinda threw me off/pulled me out of the story.

- the messy love square stressed me out trying to keep track of everyone's feelings.

I really really really enjoyed this book. A murder-mystery like none other I’ve read before, I truly had no idea what would come next and how the story would resolve. I was really excited for this book, and it certainly lived up to my expectations.

I did knock off a star for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, I felt the thru-line was a bit confusing. Lots of moving parts and names of people the audience barely knows but needs to remember for the sake of the story. I worry that since this is YA, it might go over some younger people’s heads. I honestly felt like this book would’ve been a 5-star read if it wasn’t YA. My second reason for knocking off a star was the romance aspect. There are murders happening and our main character is focused on how heated she gets when literally anybody touches her? It just seemed a bit forced.

I still enjoyed the hell out of it and I would read a sequel if there was one. I feel like there’s so much potential with a story like this one, and I’d be interested to see what happens after this story.

A huge thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC!❤️

Murder in a theme park about murders - I was hooked from the moment I read Greenwald’s deal announcement. The suspense and secrets in this book did not disappoint!

Greenwald’s writing perfectly captures the excitement and thrills of an amusement park. I could vividly picture the animatronics, the rides, and the food carts/restaurants scattered around the various lands. All the main characters were well-developed, and I especially enjoyed Sawyer’s and Billie’s growing relationship. Greenwald did a great job portraying the teenage angst that comes with impending change.

It wouldn’t be a thriller, or a theme park, without multiple twists and turns, and this story delivered on both counts. Billie’s confusion was my confusion, and I was equally invested in solving the riddle behind Randy and Grace’s relationship. I loved the interludes from Theme Park Confidential, as the transcripts peeled away the history the park was built upon.

The ending brought all the plot lines full circle and provided a satisfying conclusion. This story is sure to appeal to readers who love a bit of history, romance, mystery, and suspense all rolled into one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Murder Land releases May 6, 2025

An hour into the opening night of Murder Land — a new attraction at the Californialand theme park — the ride that Billie has been promoted to operate has malfunctioned.
When she goes off script and takes a private ride with her best friends and one of the theme parks custodians, the last thing she expects to find at the end of the three minute ride is one of them dead.

To put her mind at ease, Billie is determined to prove that the custodian died of a heart attack, and not by a broken neck from a ride she was operating. But before the night is over, another person close to her dies.
Are these deaths freak accidents? Is a disgruntled ex-employee seeking out retaliation? Or did someone dig too deep into something they weren’t supposed to know about?

I liked that this story was isolated to a time period of just over twelve hours, but I didn’t enjoy how heavy-handed the teen relationship drama was. Having all three of Billie’s friends pining after her made her seem like a not-like-other-girls/pick me.

<i>“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.”</I>
Ew. Was I supposed to swoon from reading that? Why would you say something like that when it took your girlfriend/best friend literally DYING to get the attention of another girl? I’d be rolling in my grave.