Murder Land / Carlyn Greenwald / Book Review

MURDER LAND

Seventeen-year-old Billie has everything she could want. She's got the best friend in the world. She's got a maybe-kinda boyfriend on the hook. And she's just been promoted to ride operator for the most buzzworthy new attraction at the amusement park where she works. Nothing could be better.

But preview night at the all-new true-crime themed wing of the amusement park doesn't go as planned when a creepy coworker of Billie's mysterious dies... on her ride. On the ride she ran even though she should have waited for the mechanics. On the ride she's barely authorized to run anyway. And what could have been just a heart attack looks suddenly much more like it is her fault...

Her dream job suddenly in peril, Billie knows she has to do whatever she can to keep her position (and the fast-passes she scores for her friend group). But sneaking around a park after-hours isn't exactly safe, especially not this park, with its unexpectedly bloody history. A history Billie is just starting to realize may be more reality that conspiracy theory.

THOUGHTS

This book is exactly what you'd think a book called Murder Land will be. It did what it promised. It didn't underdeliver. It also didn't overdeliver. It just did what it said it would.

PROS

Bi Rep	Any time there's explicit bisexual representation on the page, it is a good thing. So many books dance around the word, the label, and that just contributes to a sort of bi erasure (even in, you know, bi representation). So it is refreshing to have a book where the main character calls herself bisexual, and where she's crushing on a boy and a girl in the same book. It's nice to see.
Theme Park Conspiracy	There's something inherently creepy about animatronics, and this book really plays into that. This is the perfect book for anyone who has fallen into a YouTube rabbit hole about abandoned places, behind-the-scenes theme parks, creepypastas, and corporate cover-ups. It's a lot of fun.
True Crime	You know what's crazy? Having a theme park designed around true crime. Like, cold cases and brutal murder as your attraction themes. That's a crazy idea... and I can see people being into that. I wish more of this book had dug into the newly-opened Murder Land part of this park, but the idea at least was there. Before, you know, the actual deaths started happening.

CONS

This book moves so quickly, in a bad way. Billie's just so quick to move on. To move on from people dying. To move on from one crush to the next. To forgive and forget (even when she hated someone at the beginning of the book). I don't know. Maybe you shouldn't be contemplating going out with someone before the body at your feet has even gone cold. Maybe try at the very least waiting for the police to arrive first.	Quick Transitions
Billie really, really, really wants to keep this job, and I was really, really, really not sure why. It isn't that great a job. Sure, it's fun, but she's headed off to college in a few months anyway. She's already got it on her CV. She can't possibly be making much more than minimum wage. If she gets fired for getting tangled up in this onsite death, well, she can easily replace the money with something else that pays minimum wage for the summer. I just wasn't sure why she felt the need to independently investigate. She cited keeping the job, but... do you really need it? Do you really want it?	Unclear Motivations
Going through all the stages of grief to wind up in the acceptance phase by the end of the night is crazy. This timeline is so crunched, there's not really any time to adjust, to contemplate, to figure out who one might be now in this new reality. And there really isn't enough blood splatter to warrant needing to move on so quickly. Less than five people die in this book (which, frankly, is a bit of a letdown for a book titled Murder Land). Without all that bloodshed, there should be a bit more time to sit and think about what's happened instead of just giving up, moving on.	7 Stages?

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5/10

Fans of Kathryn Foxfield's Come Out, Come Out, Whatever You Are will like this new murderous amusement park. Those who enjoyed Eva V. Gibson's Frightmares will love following this new minimum-wage-worker-turned-witness as she investigates.

Details Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire Date: May 6, 2025 Series: N/A Add to Goodreads Buy it HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.