Kill River - BookWyrm

Paperback, 350 pages

Published Aug. 1, 2015 by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

ISBN:: 978-1-7249-3977-7

(2 reviews)

In the summer of 1983, thirteen-year-old Cyndi and her three new-found friends, Stacy, Zack, and Brad decide to sneak away from their summer camp in the middle of the night by rafting down the nearby rivers. After spending a tense night lost in the woods, the four teenagers stumble into a mysterious water park that appears to be completely empty.At first they are thrilled to have the rides all to themselves, at least until one of them disappears. Soon they discover that they are trapped in the park, and a dark figure is stalking them from the shadows, picking them off one by one. Once night falls, Cyndi will have to fight to escape the park, a masked maniac, and a living nightmare.

2 editions

hungrycat reviewed Kill River by Cameron Roubique

Killer setting, but a little bit dead in the water

3 stars

This book definitely had some flaws. For one, it was overly descriptive. Knowing the very specific layout of the park to such specificity wasn’t a necessity. I can imagine a water park in my mind on my own with only some basic details, and it would have sufficed for this purpose. Also, I didn’t feel myself rooting too strongly for the protagonist. She was well-rounded, but just not as likable as I felt she should have been. And in the end, we didn’t get anything about the motivations of the killer(s).

And yet, the book was pretty much exactly what I was looking for—a summer camp (almost) slasher with a nostalgia factor (the 80s!)—and I couldn’t put it down. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in this series. Hopefully the author revises his writing style, brings me closer to the characters, and throws down interesting breadcrumbs about the …

This book definitely had some flaws. For one, it was overly descriptive. Knowing the very specific layout of the park to such specificity wasn’t a necessity. I can imagine a water park in my mind on my own with only some basic details, and it would have sufficed for this purpose. Also, I didn’t feel myself rooting too strongly for the protagonist. She was well-rounded, but just not as likable as I felt she should have been. And in the end, we didn’t get anything about the motivations of the killer(s).

And yet, the book was pretty much exactly what I was looking for—a summer camp (almost) slasher with a nostalgia factor (the 80s!)—and I couldn’t put it down. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in this series. Hopefully the author revises his writing style, brings me closer to the characters, and throws down interesting breadcrumbs about the slasher backstory. If those things can be accomplished, it will earn a couple more stars.

SpiderKitten reviewed Kill River by Cameron Roubique

Review of 'Kill River' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

I went into this book after it was recommended by a youtuber I enjoy watching. I was expecting a fun slasher. Instead, this book has the honour of being one of the very few books on my DNF list. I'm going to leave aside the age of the characters, and just focus on the writing. It wasn't great. Very basic sentence structure, and repeated use of the same words at the start of sentences. She did this thing. She did that thing. She also did another thing. She had wide sparkly eyes. If it wasn't for the fact I looked the author up, I would have assumed this was written by a teenager, or someone younger.