dj1010fl's review
4.0
Really enjoyed this book! Think I have a new author to add to my must read list.
darquedreamer's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Definitely not what I was hoping for. The writing was clunky. There were too many points of view. The plot was muddled and couldn't decide which direction it wanted to go in. There was a lot of unnecessary content, "character building", repetitiveness, and confusing twists and plot points. I don't even know why I finished it...
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcohol, Death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence
minipanda's review against another edition
2.0
Not for me.
Here's Claire's Review, she pretty much says it all.
At first, I thought I was in a reading slump or something because nothing about this novel stuck. There were too many characters to keep track of and nothing about the story stood out. I ended up skimming through the novel.
***Thank you to NetGalley, Nancy Bush, and Kensington Books for graciously sending me the ARC to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.**
Here's Claire's Review, she pretty much says it all.
At first, I thought I was in a reading slump or something because nothing about this novel stuck. There were too many characters to keep track of and nothing about the story stood out. I ended up skimming through the novel.
***Thank you to NetGalley, Nancy Bush, and Kensington Books for graciously sending me the ARC to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.**
pandasbookshelf's review
4.0
The Camp by Nancy Bush is a standalone thriller. I've not read this author before. The premise of the book sounded really exciting and I love the idea of a camp murder mystery. I didn't like the large cast of characters introduced and found it confusing to keep track of who was who and how they related to each other. The mystery was chilling and it made me want to know what really happened to the people involved. I would read more by this author. I think fans of thrillers, camp horror or YA novels would enjoy this one.
lscheibal's review
5.0
The Camp by Nancy Bush makes me really glad I never went to a summer camp...or was born into a cult. I found this to be very suspenseful and I finished the last half of the book in two days. I appreciate the author wrapping up *almost* everyone's stories, but it is killing me to not know what happened to Emma. Did I just miss it? I would read another book that followed Emma's Story for a few months before Camp Love Shack until she returns 20 years later for the parents/alumni weekend.
Also, respect to Sunny Dae.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Kensington Books for the advanced review copy. I have added more Nancy Bush books to my TBR.
Also, respect to Sunny Dae.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Kensington Books for the advanced review copy. I have added more Nancy Bush books to my TBR.
maaaaaaddison's review
1.0
I’m trying to do better at not making myself finish books that I’m not enjoying because that puts me in a slump… so DNF. This book is so poorly written, there’s like 500 different characters narrating, and there’s grown women talking like they’re 15 years old. This book was pitched to me as Friday the 13th meets yellowjackets and I’m like wow, this is made for me. Unfortunately I was not finding any similarities except for the fact it takes place at a summer camp. Also after reading other reviews this is technically a sequel, but nowhere is it mentioned it is. Maybe I would’ve understood certain characters better if I had known.
babygotpaperback's review
Too many POV/(apparently) pointless side stories, juvenile writing and immature characters.
lisacanteven's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
Somehow I read this entire book, cover to cover. All I wanted to do every minute was quit.
I picked The Camp up because it is set in the forests near the Oregon coast, and I just moved to Portland. As I drive through the forests here I always contemplate how many bodies have been hidden among the trees with the intention to never be found again. I've been looking for a book to explore this possibility since. I can confidently say that this book did not help with this fascination.
First off there are too many characters, too many POV's, and too many irrelevant side stories: something about a surrogate, separated spouses, traumatic brain injury, etc. Yes, you read that right- a traumatic brain injury. One of the main characters was attacked her senior year related to what she saw at camp. It is very quickly confirmed by the author who attacked Emma, but it is such a brief moment that I almost missed it. No redemption for Emma there especially since none of the people in her life seem to know or just don't care why she was attacked so many years ago.
You're probably wondering how a character with a TBI that left her in an assisted living situation worked in this story. The answer is that she didn't. The way the author wrote this character was completely problematic. Emma actually had the most insight on what was happening throughout the whole book, but no one listened to here. I believe Emma's character was just a tool used as an unreliable narrator throughout the story. This is an example of ablest representation. The characters who did care for Emma were too wrapped up in their own twisted stuff to care for Emma properly, and then the characters who didn't trust her made it very awkwardly known. One ADULT character actually said to Emma, "I'm so sorry about your disability." Cool.
Aside from the worst offense of ableism, the writing was awful. Like written by a 16yo boy awful. There were things like the term "galumphed" used multiple times within a few pages. Surely there are synonyms for that word, especially as I feel it wasn't used correctly in the first place. She even uses the term, "pooh-poohed." Many times I felt this book was written by a child.
So we have ableism and bad writing to blame for my single star review, but I saved the big one for now. There was a lot of creepy pedophile behavior from the men in this book. None of that behavior was ever addressed as wrong by anyone or anything in the book. It was more like, "silly Donovan likes to look at young girls in their bikinis. Oh silly Donovan." Donovan does get his just desserts, but not because he was probably a registered s*x offender but because the killer just didn't like him. But it's okay bc there were multiple pedos in this book, but their behavior was normalized in this story. It was gross. One of the husbands wasn't a predator of the sexual kind, but he did beat his wife. No one seemed to care though.
In the end the killer was discovered and it wasn't even worth it. His reason for killing had to do with mental illness, specifically bipolar disorder, but the author didn't put a name to his illness. She just let it go unspoken, but that's what it was. If you're keeping track that is now two different characters with mental illnesses just as a trope. Let's be more creative, Ms. Nancy.
I would never recommend this book. If you read through my whole review, you pretty much got the idea of the entire story. The only positive I have is that the fog was described pretty well. As someone who has lived in this Oregon coastal fog, it really is unlike any fog I've been in. If it was as sentient as Ms. Nancy described I just wish it would have swallowed this entire manuscript so it was never published. Too bad it didn't.
I picked The Camp up because it is set in the forests near the Oregon coast, and I just moved to Portland. As I drive through the forests here I always contemplate how many bodies have been hidden among the trees with the intention to never be found again. I've been looking for a book to explore this possibility since. I can confidently say that this book did not help with this fascination.
First off there are too many characters, too many POV's, and too many irrelevant side stories: something about a surrogate, separated spouses, traumatic brain injury, etc. Yes, you read that right- a traumatic brain injury. One of the main characters was attacked her senior year related to what she saw at camp. It is very quickly confirmed by the author who attacked Emma, but it is such a brief moment that I almost missed it. No redemption for Emma there especially since none of the people in her life seem to know or just don't care why she was attacked so many years ago.
You're probably wondering how a character with a TBI that left her in an assisted living situation worked in this story. The answer is that she didn't. The way the author wrote this character was completely problematic. Emma actually had the most insight on what was happening throughout the whole book, but no one listened to here. I believe Emma's character was just a tool used as an unreliable narrator throughout the story. This is an example of ablest representation. The characters who did care for Emma were too wrapped up in their own twisted stuff to care for Emma properly, and then the characters who didn't trust her made it very awkwardly known. One ADULT character actually said to Emma, "I'm so sorry about your disability." Cool.
Aside from the worst offense of ableism, the writing was awful. Like written by a 16yo boy awful. There were things like the term "galumphed" used multiple times within a few pages. Surely there are synonyms for that word, especially as I feel it wasn't used correctly in the first place. She even uses the term, "pooh-poohed." Many times I felt this book was written by a child.
So we have ableism and bad writing to blame for my single star review, but I saved the big one for now. There was a lot of creepy pedophile behavior from the men in this book. None of that behavior was ever addressed as wrong by anyone or anything in the book. It was more like, "silly Donovan likes to look at young girls in their bikinis. Oh silly Donovan." Donovan does get his just desserts, but not because he was probably a registered s*x offender but because the killer just didn't like him. But it's okay bc there were multiple pedos in this book, but their behavior was normalized in this story. It was gross. One of the husbands wasn't a predator of the sexual kind, but he did beat his wife. No one seemed to care though.
In the end the killer was discovered and it wasn't even worth it. His reason for killing had to do with mental illness, specifically bipolar disorder, but the author didn't put a name to his illness. She just let it go unspoken, but that's what it was. If you're keeping track that is now two different characters with mental illnesses just as a trope. Let's be more creative, Ms. Nancy.
I would never recommend this book. If you read through my whole review, you pretty much got the idea of the entire story. The only positive I have is that the fog was described pretty well. As someone who has lived in this Oregon coastal fog, it really is unlike any fog I've been in. If it was as sentient as Ms. Nancy described I just wish it would have swallowed this entire manuscript so it was never published. Too bad it didn't.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Stalking, Ableism, Sexual harassment, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Body horror, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship