Self Publishing Weekly Book Review: Nightmare at Camp Forrestwood

Book reviews are a great way for self-publishing authors to gain exposure. After all, how can someone buy your book if they don’t know it exists? Paired with other elements of your book promotion strategy, requesting reviews is a great way to get people talking about what you’ve written.

When we read good reviews, we definitely like to share them. It gives the author a few (permanent) moments of fame and allows us to let the community know about a great book. Here’s this week’s book review by Midwest Book Review:

Nightmare at Camp Forrestwood

 Kelli Sue Ladon

Publisher: Outskirts Press

ISBN: 9781432770860

Genre: Young Adult

Reviewer: Margaret Lane

Nightmare at Camp Forrestwood by Kelli Sue Landon was a surprisingly interesting read. As it is marketed in the young adult category, I wasn’t expecting much of a “whodunit?” aspect to the book, but I was pleasantly surprised. I also didn’t see the guilty party coming, but there was plenty of explanation after the fact as to why he or she did the terrible that was done.

I found Nightmare at Camp Forrestwood to be an engrossing read. I started and finished it in the same day, over a period of about eight hours. It wasn’t that the story was too easy, rather it was too good; I wanted to know what was really going on at Camp Forrestwood and who was behind it. Once I was invested in the tale, I had to keep reading to find out what was going to happen next and to whom and more importantly, to see if I could figure out who was doing it. ( I couldn’t .)

I thought the storyline was clever and creative and only slightly predictable:  A bunch of kids go to camp and start turning up dead. There is no phone, no technology – which is explained – and no help available. I would have been a little more convinced of the reality of the storyline had it happened over a shorter period of time; it went on for more than a full day, so it was a little hard to believe a group of high school seniors couldn’t band together and get out to find help during that time.

Overall, I thought the author did a fair job of portraying the tension of the situation and the results that tension would have on a group of teenagers. I thought the mystery was believable except for the amount of time it encompassed before help was finally reached. I thought it did a good job of showing how suspicion of even innocent people can be raised in extreme circumstances and how stress can tear people down or bring them together to fight a common enemy.

I would recommend reading Nightmare at Camp Forrestwood. I found it interesting and enjoyable, and except for the setting, it was hard to predict what was coming next. I think it would be appropriate for  upper middle-grade readers as well as young adults, though I would avoid going any younger because of the gore involved in the story.