keeping your head in a stressful situation

Willow McKenzie has a great life. Well, had a great life. She was the star of her own sit com, We Love Willow. She was beloved by fans. She was engaged to a great guy and had a big house in L.A.. And then she tweeted the wrong thing, and it all unraveled. Her fiancé left her and asked her to move out. Her show was canceled. And she was reviled on social media. When her agent found her after she fell in the pool drunk, she told Willow to go away. Specifically to Camp Castaway.

Camp Castaway is an old school camp in the woods in New York. It’s a place for the exhausted, burned out, and canceled to go to get far away from the public, from temptations, and from cell phones. No tablets, no computers, completely off the grid. And it’s just what Willow needs to get her out of her funk and to stay off of social media.

When Willow gets there, she feels alone and overwhelmed. But there is a lot of nature, and the few other campers seem okay. No one recognizes her from her show (or from her social media meltdown), but she recognizes someone. Juniper Brown acted in several action movies years ago, always playing a strong woman who put up a fight when she needed to. She was the one who had inspired Willow to give acting a shot.

The camp is run by Bebe, and it has a wellness chill about it. There is yoga in the mornings and times for them to get together and talk through their issues. Chef Jeff prepares all the meals for them, which Willow appreciates because her cabin doesn’t even have a refrigerator. And when the campers all sit around the campfire, they share some good old-fashioned ghost stories to make the camp experience complete.

Rumors have it that a woman had her head cut off with an axe in the area back in the 1800s, and now she shows up to find other victims. She knocks first, three times, so she was named Knock, Knock Nancy. Willow loves a good slasher film, so she’s fascinated by the story of Nancy. But as the days go by, campers start to disappear, and they all have to wonder if there is some truth to the ghost story, or maybe someone is using the story just to toy with them.

Willow came to Camp Castaway knowing she’d have to fight for her life once she got back to L.A. But now she’s starting to think she may have to fight for her life while she’s still at camp.

Heads Will Roll is an old school horror story, as good as any classic camp horror movie. There are scary surprises along the way, and a genuine villain for the campers to fight against. As the story morphs into real life, and the danger grows, it becomes all about who will survive the night and who will get canceled permanently.

Generally, I am a wuss when it comes to horror, but there was something about this book that drew me in. I liked the premise of the canceled actor going away to a tech-free camp to reset and rethink her choices. And then I found I liked some of the other characters, and I got drawn into the story, and I had to know what was going to happen. I thought Heads Will Roll was masterfully written and not too gory (thanks for that!), so if you’re looking for a good read for spooky season (or as you’re waiting for spooky season to roll around again), then this one should be on your list.

Egalleys for Heads Will Roll were provided by GP Putnam’s Sons through NetGalley, with many thanks.