Review: Wonderland by Jennfier Hillier

Author: Jennifer Hillier
Publisher: Pocket Star
Publication Date:  October 2015

Welcome to Wonderland. By day, it’s a magical place boasting a certain retro charm. Excited children, hands sticky with cotton candy, run frenetically from the Giant Octopus ride to the Spinning Sombrero, while the tinkling carnival music of the giant Wonder Wheel—the oldest Ferris wheel in the Pacific Northwest—fills the air. But before daybreak, an eerie feeling descends. Maybe it’s the Clown Museum, home to creepy wax replicas of movie stars and a massive collection of antique porcelain dolls. Or maybe it’s the terrifyingly real House of Horrors. Or…maybe it’s the dead, decaying body left in the midway for all the Wonder Workers to see.

Vanessa Castro’s first day as deputy police chief of Seaside, Washington, is off to a bang. The unidentifiable homeless man rotting inside the tiny town’s main tourist attraction is strange enough, but now a teenage employee—whose defiant picture at the top of the Wonder Wheel went viral that same morning—is missing. As the clues in those seemingly disparate crimes lead her down a mysterious shared path of missing persons that goes back decades, she suspects the seedy rumors surrounding the amusement park’s dark history might just be true. She moved to Seaside to escape her own scandalous past, but has she brought her family to the center of an insidious killer’s twisted game? Acclaimed author Jennifer Hillier’s bone-chilling thriller is masterful and fast-paced, hurtling toward a shocking, bloody conclusion.

Wonderland is a wild ride. It involves creepy happenings at an amusement park, mutilated corpses, missing people that go back decades and a new police chief who is trying to figure it all out.  I really enjoyed this one.  There were a lot of twists and turns.  There were also some pretty horrific scenes.  That time in the tunnel toward the end was so creepy.

 

My only issue with the book were things that were a bit unrealistic for me.  Like the obvious signs of a creepy stalker.  I mean if you knew your daughter was very uncomfortable with a co-worker at her part time job, wouldn't you investigate it more?  That's just one example.  However, I was able to put those things aside and just go with it.  I do definitely recommend this one.

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

Author: Jennifer Hillier
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Date of publication: June 2018

This is the story of three best friends: one who was murdered, one who went to prison, and one who's been searching for the truth all these years . . .

When she was sixteen years old, Angela Wong—one of the most popular girls in school—disappeared without a trace. Nobody ever suspected that her best friend, Georgina Shaw, now an executive and rising star at her Seattle pharmaceutical company, was involved in any way. Certainly not Kaiser Brody, who was close with both girls back in high school.

But fourteen years later, Angela Wong's remains are discovered in the woods near Geo's childhood home. And Kaiser—now a detective with Seattle PD—finally learns the truth: Angela was a victim of Calvin James. The same Calvin James who murdered at least three other women.

I had to think about this book for a little while before figuring out what to say about it.  While Jar of Hearts is an interesting and engaging mystery, it is also kind of disturbing.  The book begins with the arrest and conviction of Georgina "Geo" for aiding her then boyfriend, Calvin in the the murder and concealment of her best friend Angela 14 years earlier.   Kaiser, who was also close friend of the girls, is now a cop and arrests Geo and Calvin.  5 years later, the bodies of women start showing dead and they may be connected to Geo and Calvin.

Given some of the content in the book, I feel a little uncomfortable saying I "enjoyed" the story.  I liked it, but I didn't love it. I was engaged from the beginning and wanted to keep reading to find out what really happened.   There were some surprises and twists.  One of the twists, I figured out about 3/4 of the way through.  Anyone paying attention would be able to as well.  I also was satisfied with the ending. 

The story is told through the eyes of Geo and Kaiser.  We get flashbacks that slowly reveal what happened to Angela and how everything went so wrong.  I will admit, for me, the characters were all pretty unlikable.  Even once I found out why Geo was involved, I still didn't like her very much.  All she ever had were excuses.  Kaiser was a cop but he wasn't that much of a hero and not someone I would respect very much.  I guess it is possible to like a book even if the characters are slimy.  

I would recommend the book.  The mystery is good and progressed at a nice even pace.  There are some uncomfortable scenes of rape/almost rape in the book, so that could potentially be a trigger for some readers.  

The Butcher by Jennifer Hillier

by:  Jennifer Hillier
publisher:  Gallery Books
publication date:  July 15, 2014

A rash of grisly serial murders plagued Seattle until the infamous "Beacon Hill Butcher" was finally hunted down and killed by police chief Edward Shank in 1985. Now, some thirty years later, Shank, retired and widowed, is giving up his large rambling Victorian house to his grandson Matt, whom he helped raise.

Settling back into his childhood home and doing some renovations in the backyard to make the house feel like his own, Matt, a young up-and-coming chef and restaurateur, stumbles upon a locked crate he’s never seen before. Curious, he picks the padlock and makes a discovery so gruesome it will forever haunt him… Faced with this deep dark family secret, Matt must decide whether to keep what he knows buried in the past, go to the police, or take matters into his own hands.

Meanwhile Matt’s girlfriend, Sam, has always suspected that her mother was murdered by the Beacon Hill Butcher—two years after the supposed Butcher was gunned down. As she pursues leads that will prove her right, Sam heads right into the path of Matt’s terrible secret.

I read Jennifer Hillier's first book Creep and thought it was great.  I was excited to read this one.  I wasn't let down.  I read this one in almost one sitting.  At a softball tournament!  That's how caught up in this book I was.

This is one of those serial killer books that you know who the killer is throughout most of the book.  Generally, I don't like those kind.  That kinda takes away from the mystery of it.  However, in this case it was pretty creepy and weird so that made up for it.  I really felt bad for Matt throughout this book.  His whole life was falling apart and he didn't have anywhere to turn to.

I would recommend this book to the mystery/thriller readers out there.  If you haven't read Creep, check it out too.  It's a good one too.  When you're headed to the beach this summer and you need a dark, twisted book to add to the beach bag The Butcher would be perfect!

Creep

by:  Jennifer Hillier

published by:  Gallery Books

publish date:  July 5, 2011

Dr. Sheila Tao is a professor of psychology. An expert in human behavior. And when she began an affair with sexy, charming graduate student Ethan Wolfe, she knew she was playing with fire. Consumed by lust when they were together, riddled with guilt when they weren’t, she knows the three-month fling with her teaching assistant has to end. After all, she’s finally engaged to a kind and loving investment banker who adores her, and she’s taking control of her life. But when she attempts to end the affair, Ethan Wolfe won’t let her walk away.

Ethan has plans for Sheila, plans that involve posting a sex video that would surely get her fired and destroy her prestigious career. Plans to make her pay for rejecting him. And as she attempts to counter his every threatening move without her colleagues or her fiancé discovering her most intimate secrets, a shattering crime rocks Puget Sound State University: a female student, a star athlete, is found stabbed to death.

Someone is raising the stakes of violence, sex, and blackmail . . . and before she knows it, Sheila is caught in a terrifying cat-and-mouse game with the lover she couldn’t resist—who is now the monster who won’t let her go.

This is the debut book by Jennifer Hillier and I was impressed.  Once I started, I couldn't stop.  I read through the entire thing cover to cover in one evening.  The title certainly fit the bill.  Ethan was a creep, the tone of the book was creepy, even Sheila herself was a little bit creepy at times.

From the very beginning I was very sympathetic towards Sheila.  I'm sure some readers might not like her, but I did.  Ethan was the perfect sociopath.  He manipulated Sheila so smoothly, but she was able to hold her own against him when she had to. 

This book has a lot of twist and turns and big surprises.  It was a great read.  I'd definitely recommend it!