This was a fast-paced survival thriller with twisted justice, memorable villains, and a morally complex twist. This is a good one for fans of survival horror and book clubs that like a good ethical debate. 

Energy: Devious. Diabolical. Amusing. 

 

🐕 Howls The festive snowy atmosphere fades out. I initially listened to this while multitasking but found it’s better suited for focused listening or text to keep track of characters and developments (I think because it’s fast paced, but it’s also a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it style read at times). 

 

🐩 Tail Wags Schadenfreude-y bad guys face a reckoning. Rooting for some characters but also rooting for them to get picked off one by one. Twisted villains. Fast pace that avoids bogging down in overly detailed action or drawn-out bickering. The survival elements stay engaging. The twist at the end (I had my suspicions but it was still captivating). Creative traps that didn’t feel cartoonish and how characters meet their demise. 

 

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in a deserted old west town made to look old artificially, with modern tech. I think in upstate New York, USA 

Perspective: Mostly a career criminal who has gotten by through robbing vulnerable people. Their latest attempt goes horribly wrong when they wake up to find themselves in an unknown location with several strangers. We also get snippets of some peripheral characters POVs as needed. 

Timeline: Current (2010s or 2020s). 

🔥 Fuel: Who drugged and abducted the characters? Why place them all together in this fake deserted town? What do each of them hide in their pasts that may have made them targets for this set-up? Will they work together or turn on each other? Is the set-up survivable? 

📖 Cred: Suspended disbelief with a side of camp

 

Mood Reading Match-Up: 

Old timey town. Silent night. Blowing snow. Wine. Grizzly bear. Ax. Hatch. Barbed wire. Carousel horses. 

 

Content Heads-Up: Body horror. Gore, blood, dismemberment. Theft. Death. Murder. Confinement, abduction. Drugging. Animal attack (descriptive on page). Intoxicated driving (off page). Violence, homicidal tendencies (sexually aroused by). Serial murder. Psychopathy. 

 

Rep: American. Cis. Hetero. Ambiguous skin tones. 

 

📚 Format: Everand Audio 

 

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