*I was given a copy of Dead Girls Walking in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Amulet Books and Sami Ellis for my copy of the book*

Synopsis:

Temple Baker knows that evil runs in her blood. Her father is the North Point Killer, an infamous serial killer known for how he marked each of his victims with a brand. He was convicted for murdering 20 people and was the talk of countless true crime blogs for years. Some say he was possessed by a demon. Some say that they never found all his victims. Some say that even though he’s now behind bars, people are still dying in the woods. Despite everything though, Temple never believed that her dad killed her mom. But when he confesses to that crime while on death row, she has no choice but to return to his old hunting grounds to try see if she can find a body and prove it.

Turns out, the farm that was once her father’s hunting grounds and her home has been turned into an overnight camp for queer, horror-obsessed girls. So Temple poses as a camp counselor to go digging in the woods. While she’s not used to hanging out with girls her own age and feels ambivalent at best about these true crime enthusiasts, she tries her best to fit in and keep her true identity hidden.

But when a girl turns up dead in the woods, she fears that one of her father’s “fans” might be mimicking his crimes. As Temple tries to uncover the truth and keep the campers safe, she comes to realize that there may be something stranger and more sinister at work—and that her father may not have been the only monster in these woods.

Review:

The start of Dead Girls Walking was so confusing. It’s a classic case of the author acting like you should know who the character is and what’s going on. However, I really had no clue what was going on.

Having a horror/thriller set at a summer camp can be seen as cliche, but I love it. Some of my favourite horror media have this exact trope: You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight (book) and The Quarry (video game). However, what’s different about this book, is you don’t spend a single moment at the camp thinking everything is ok. From the get-go, you know that something isn’t right and honestly, it was great. Dead Girls Walking dives straight into the action and the suspense never drops.

The pacing was sometimes a little too fast, especially in action scenes, so I did find it a little hard to follow at times. However, the fast pace did this book a lot of favours. It could have gotten too repetitive, but as the story was progressing pretty fast you never had to worry about this. 

Temple was such an interesting character. Her personality seemed to change depending on who she was talking to, which made her a little hard to like. She had the whole ‘I hate everyone and everything’ bit going on and I got bored of it quite quickly. Life definitely dealt her a crappy hand, but it’s not like she tried to make things better for herself. Thankfully, Cali and Yaya took none of that and basically told her she was being an idiot – Cali was my favourite character.

I did really enjoy Dead Girls Walking and it was a surprisingly fast read. The pace seems to accelerate more and more the further you get in and there’s a lot of action. I’d definitely recommend checking this out if you’re a big fan of horror/thrillers with a supernatural twist.

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