The Counselors

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Author(s)

Jessica Goodman

Publisher

Razorbill

Genre(s)

Age Range

14+

Release Date

May 30, 2023

ISBN

978-0593524244

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From New York Times bestselling author Jessica Goodman comes a twisty new thriller about three best friends, one elite summer camp, and the dark secrets that lead to a body in the lake.

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.

Editor review

1 review

slow-burn mystery

August 02, 2023

Overall rating

3.0

Plot

3.0

Characters

3.0

Writing Style

3.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

THE COUNSELORS is an intriguing summer camp YA mystery/suspense. The story is told in the then and now, filling in the gap between last summer and this one (their senior year) at the prestigious summer camp three friends attend as well as this summer, when Imogen, Ava, and Goldie are counselors. The three have been besties for all the summers they have been attending this sleepaway camp, though their lives look very different in the time in between as Imogen and Ava are quite wealthy, and Goldie is not - her parents work at the camp and she lives locally.

Summer camp is the best time of year - except this year things are different because of the secrets they are keeping. Goldie's year was one of turmoil and mistakes, which have expanded to threaten her summer. When a body is found in the lake, it brings a lot of feelings to a head and the mystery of who is behind it will slowly come to light.

This was a slow-building mystery told between the then and now. The then definitely helped to build up why the now mattered so much and give a slow explanation of the heavy things Goldie is holding onto, though it is not too long before we learn what that is. The summer camp setup added to the atmosphere with some summer mystery flair after the body is found - and especially with who it is.

The friendship between the three girls was particularly strong, and it is always great to read about strong friendship bonds. I would have loved even more of that along the way. The mystery was a slow burn with much build up to understand what happened in the past and how the characters all came together. The slow pace will work better for some readers than others, and the whodunnit was easy to guess, so it would have been cool to have more misdirections leading up to the surprise reveal.

Overall, THE COUNSELORS is a slow burn mystery read set around a summer camp that will work for readers who enjoy character-driven suspense and a slower pace.