Pre-Order WONDERLAND here (released on 10/05/15)
(also reviewed)
Order CREEP here
Order FREAK here
Order THE BUTCHER here
I've been that my book shelves are somewhat of an acquired taste. Not sure what it meant, but I am indeed not very good book clubs and that's mainly because I hate the selection. Some people read to kill time, other read to challenge themselves and I'm the latter. What can I say, I vowed my life to pry open the doors of perception with a crowbar and a stack of paperback novels. Sometimes I want other people to like the same books as me, though.
Early this week I've finished WONDERLAND, the fourth novel of veteran thriller author Jennifer Hillier and I thought it was an compelling and elaborate venture outside her usual territory. It's a novel that blurs the edges of psychological thriller, mystery and horror genres and makes some of the most tired clichés of the genre scary again. This is not only Jennifer Hillier's best novel yet, it's one of stronger novels I've read in 2015.
Vanessa Castro is a disgraced police detective starting over in the small but wealthy town of Seaside, Washington. She's actually landed a deputy chief gig through a connection of her late husband, which raises many eyebrows in the small, but tight-knit community. When her team gets a call from adjacent theme park Wonderland about a mangled body found under the ferris wheel, she has no choice but to start investigating the financial pillar of Seaside and discovers a tortuous history of abusive behavior towards their workers and the city. Vanessa also starts connecting the dots on a series of missing boys who share two common traits: their smashing good looks and their Wonderland employment history.
WONDERLAND is very different from the suffocating serial killer thrillers Jennifer Hillier got us used to over the last couple years. They were satisfying in themselves, but they were safe. They walked a narrow corridor with few variables, so it was difficult to make mistakes. WONDERLAND operates on a much more ambitious scale. Hillier created an entire city with its mandatory underlying social and political tides. She gradually pulls the veil on the secret history of Seaside, revealing the growing horror of its situation. The inherent evil in WONDERLAND lies in the abusive economic relationship between a company and a community, which is extremely bold and yet Jennifer Hillier makes it work beautifully.
Hillier's prior novels operated under the logic that human nature was the source of all evils, yet WONDERLAND pushes this philosophy further by stating that everybody can do evil things given the right situation and THAT is pretty fucking scary.
The writing of Jennifer Hillier has matured a lot, too. It's more subtle and textured than ever and she's more in control than ever during the violent scenes. There is considerably less blood in WONDERLAND than there is in her prior novels, yet it's a more patient and atmospheric novel that doesn't need blood or corpses to scare you. I like to think of it as Dashiell Hammett meets Rob Zombie. The mystery has both a West Coast feeling about it and glorious Gothic undertones. The weight of every year of the abusive relationship between Seaside and Wonderland is palpable in every ride and every stand of the theme park. WONDERLAND is one of the great examples of setting-as-character done properly.
I've had a blast reading WONDERLAND. I'm not sure what to call it, but I guess I'll settle for a contemporary Gothic thriller? It's an unlikely combination and an even unlikelier combination for a great novel, yet Jennifer Hillier makes it work. WONDERLAND is a labyrinth that'll both awe you by its complexity and gradually freak you out of your mind. It was life affirming as a readers too, to see an author figure it all out and create something powerful and unique like this. If you were let down by Stephen King's latest theme park novel JOYLAND like I was, do yourself a favor and give WONDERLAND a try. Jennifer Hillier just made theme parks scary again and it's quite an accomplishment in itself.
I've had a blast reading WONDERLAND. I'm not sure what to call it, but I guess I'll settle for a contemporary Gothic thriller? It's an unlikely combination and an even unlikelier combination for a great novel, yet Jennifer Hillier makes it work. WONDERLAND is a labyrinth that'll both awe you by its complexity and gradually freak you out of your mind. It was life affirming as a readers too, to see an author figure it all out and create something powerful and unique like this. If you were let down by Stephen King's latest theme park novel JOYLAND like I was, do yourself a favor and give WONDERLAND a try. Jennifer Hillier just made theme parks scary again and it's quite an accomplishment in itself.