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

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.

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcefire books for the ARC!

Billie has just landed a promotion at her local theme park. It's opening night and everything is going to be perfect. Until she finds the custodian dead on the new ride. She's sure he died of a heart attack and not from a broken neck on the ride she's supposed to be operating. But more weird things start to happen and she's left to fight for not only her job, but also her life.

I really enjoyed Murder Land. I love theme park thrillers and this was a fast paced book that didn't let up. From the beginning, there was tension building up to the climax and I found myself rooting for Billie and wanting to know what was going to happen and what was really going on.

Murder Land is an absolute thrill ride for theme park lovers—and anyone who enjoys a good, heart-pounding murder mystery! Imagine a twisted, almost-too-real amusement park backdrop, where dark secrets lurk behind every cotton candy stand and roller coaster. From the very first page, this story had my pulse RACING, and it didn't let up.

Meet Billie, an employee at Murder Land, who seems to find herself ensnared in a web of secrets, lies, and—yes—murder. What makes this story even more gripping is the colorful ensemble of characters that each add depth and intrigue to the plot. The author’s brilliant pacing gives us time to focus on select characters, peeling back layers of hidden motives, secretive pasts, and shocking twists—much like a vintage Agatha Christie novel or a high-stakes Knives Out mystery. Each chapter keeps you guessing, narrowing down the suspects while opening up more questions.

The plot itself is a non-stop sprint. It kicks off at full speed and doesn’t slow down as the body count rises and the stakes get higher. What really kept me hooked, though, was the fascinating backstory of the theme park itself. It’s easy to draw parallels to real-life theme parks, but the inspiration behind Murder Land adds a whole new layer of fun (and a little bit of darkness) to the mystery. Stick around for the acknowledgements, too—you’ll get a fun tidbit that sheds more light on the park’s twisted origins!

That said, I did feel one death came a bit too out of left field. While it definitely pushed the plot forward, it felt almost rushed compared to the carefully built tension leading up to it. It was shocking, yes, but I would have loved to see just a bit more buildup to make it land with the impact it deserved.

In the end, this book is a wild, rollercoaster of a read, and I’d recommend it to fans of Hide by Kiersten White and anything by Natasha Preston. Murder Land delivers the thrills, chills, and whodunit intrigue that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page!

Murder Land is an almost 90’s style murder mystery with a setting of a theme park as they try to figure out who is killing people.

I wanted to like this book, I really did but it was hard to follow, there seemed to be a lot of weird information that didn’t really help the plot and it seemed to jump around from idea to idea like the writer didn’t really seem like they knew how they wanted the story to go.

I figured out who the killer was fairly fast let’s just say through pattern recognition and a love for 90’s thrillers I won’t say more than that because I don’t want to ruin the book for others who might enjoy it.

Overall this was a miss for me but I also expect a lot from thrillers I read so this thriller might be better suited for people just getting into the genre.

Thank you Netgalley and sourcebooks Fire for the arc

As a theme park nerd, I was super excited to read Murder Land! I read it in just under 1 day. I enjoyed the story, the relationships, and documentary flairs. There were some grammatical errors, some sentences inorganically broken up, and some lines that I had to re-read several times to get the meaning. As a theme park nerd, I was a bit put off by the storyline that seemed to parallel the Buzzy/Hypothalamus mystery at WDW. It seemed kind of like the novel was loosely based off of that scandal and therefore wasn't as creative as it could have been. Overall, I really did enjoy this read and would recommend it to others. The author created a world that I was glad I got the chance to visit.

Book:
MURDER LAND by Carlyn Greenwald
Thank you SourcebooksFire and Netgalley for the Earc May 6)

Review:
4⭐
It's opening night at Murder Land and Billie is excited to start her new job at the park she's been working at for the past few summers. When the ride breaks down, and is inevitably fixed, Billie takes that as and opportunity to test the new addition to the ride with her friends and one of the other workers. When he d*es, Billie and her friends embark on a nights long journey trying to prove what they know and stay alive.
MURDER LAND was a fast-paced thriller with an ending and whodunit it reveal.that left me shocked. Yes, I thought something like that was happening, but the person involved, and their reasons for being involved was something I didn't piece together. It was like the clues didn't add up, but I guess plot twist. And who doesn't love a never-would-have-seen-it-coming plot twist/whodunit???
Now, I did find MURDER LAND intriguing, and it was quite thrilling. There were points that kept me on my toes---that I found crazy. From page one, the action never stopped, but neither did the cringe. OMG, this was so cringey: Billie's inward thought, some of the conversations, and some of their actions. Nonetheless, this is mystery within mystery within a mystery, begging to be solved.
.

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.