The Counselors
Book: The Counselors by Jessica Goodman
Synopsis:
Camp Alpine Lake is the only place where Goldie Easton feels safe.
She’s always had a special connection to the place, even before she was old enough to attend. The camp is the lifeline of Roxwood, the small town she lives in. Alpine Lake provides jobs, money and prestige to the region. Few Roxwood locals, though, get to reap the rewards of living so close to the glam summer that camp, with its five-figure tuition and rich kids who have been dumped there for eight weeks by their powerful parents. Goldie’s one of them.
Even with her “townie” background, Goldie has never felt more at home at camp and now she’s back as a counselor, desperate for summer to start and her best friends, Ava and Imogen, to arrive. Because Goldie has a terrible dark secret she’s been keeping and she is more in need of the comfort than ever.
But Goldie’s not the only person at camp who has been lying. When a teen turns up dead in the lake late one night, she knows that the death couldn’t have been an accident. She also knows that Ava was at the lake that same night.
What did Ava see and what does she know? Why hasn’t she said anything to Goldie about the death? Worse — what did Ava do?
But asking questions offers no answers, only broken bonds of lifelong friendship, with hidden danger and betrayals deeper than Goldie ever imagined.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
My Thoughts: This book is the epitome of summer thriller. It literally takes place at a summer camp. Chapters alternate between present day and Goldie’s life leading up to her fateful summer. Chapters also alternate between feeling calm and then chaotic and exciting, much the way summers at camp have moments of routine mixed with exciting activities and events. You’re left torn between wanting to know how Goldie got in this mess but also wanting to know how the current summer is going to pan out so you just keep reading until all of a sudden you realize you’ve read most of the book in a single sitting.
If you’ve ever been to summer camp then somehow through all the darkness and mystery this book will also manage to make you nostalgic for the days of free swim and color war and whatever specific traditions your own beloved camp had. I read it over the first week of summer and could feel the excitement of a new camp season laid out in front of me even though I would only experience it from words on a page.
You can get your own copy of The Counselors here or borrow it from your local library.
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