https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4920601973

I really enjoyed this book and read it in a few sittings. As another reviewer pointed out, it is similar in concept to Black Mirror crossed with Never Let Me Go/The Unit/The Island, plus a bit of suspense, camp-fire ghost story and dystopian science-fiction thrown in.

Without giving too much away, it is set in a summer camp where rich adults can consciously inhabit the body of a child, to once again to become carefree or to recreate or manipulate childhood experiences and events, in order to affect the future.

I’ve never read a book quite like it, and enjoyed the dystopian context and ethical question raised. The characters are not particularly likeable, but this really does not stop you from gunning for them as the story develops. There were a few red herrings initially and some intrigue around a few of the wider camp characters, in terms of who was ‘real’ and who were the people manipulating in the background. I was a bit disappointed that these strands weren’t developed further, as felt that a number of loose ends weren’t tied up.

A number of the characters were fairly one-dimensional, more potential twists alluded to at certain points would have raised the book to 5*, and the ending felt a bit incomplete and rushed. However, there was still an awful lot of thought put into the premise and I found it very entertaining. If much more had been squeezed in then I think that it would have made the novel too long.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and California Coldblood Books for providing an early copy of this book to read and review. I am looking for to the author’s next offering!

Is this novel a coming of age story, a love triangle story, a misuse of science story, a ghost story, or a psychological thriller? It is all of these and none. Sam, not quite 21, is the obvious coming-of-age character, now heading off to be a councillor at a Summer Camp for kids: Camp Phoenix. However, kids come in many ages and each step up that ladder can be just as much of an upheaval, so there are many coming-of-age incidents. Logan and her husband, Max, form two corners of the triangle and Hugo is the third. In the real world the couple would probably never have met him, but for them this isn’t the real world. A genetic and neurological scientific breakthrough (presented as a given and otherwise unexplained) has created a business opportunity. For a huge price, it is possible for a person to be put in suspended animation while their consciousness is transferred into a cloned version of their younger self, age selected by the customer but roughly seven to fourteen, and for the child to then spend eleven weeks in Camp Phoenix. Ethical considerations, especially around the fate of the clones after the summer is over, are an undercurrent to the councillors lives, but the kids don’t know they are clones and behave like kids. Pubertal and young teens therefore form liaisons based on their experience at Camp, hence the love triangle. “The ghost of Danny McGee” is a tale told by the councillors, of a previous camper who died tragically. It may not be true, but perhaps it is, and in any case kids have vivid imaginations and a propensity to embellish. Perhaps it most obviously sits as a psychological thriller, spinning around the four elements, joyful but always on the edge of tragedy.
The story is told by the two main protagonists, Sam and Logan, each relating events in their own lives and those of the people they interact with. Inevitably the majority of those people are children and the writing is particularly good from that perspective, but is also excellent on the councillors, who are late teens or early twenties and chosen specifically for that reason. Older characters, there aren’t many, are solid but in some ways less believable. Overall it is an allegory, but I suspect different readers will have different interpretations as to the nature of that. Although it has some flaws, it is just too original and too well plotted to get less than 5 stars.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

Fresh idea that was completely unique backed up by some great writing.

I really enjoyed this book and think it would be popular with anyone willing to take a chance. Either a beach read or a cosy curl up one.

2.5 stars. Such an interesting premise, but having read it, I feels as it’s incomplete and gobs of information is missing. The story keeps you hooked, but there are also many unresolved threads, including racism, homophobia and sexual assault. These are big, heavy subjects, and to tease them and take them to any kind of resolution feels like a cop-out. At the very least, the consequences for Max and Logan should have been clearer, as that is the set-up of the story in the first place.

Review copy from NetGalley.

I loved this novel. It was fun and interesting. Barley anything wrong with this novel. The issues were minimum so I don't have to complain. This is an author who has talent.

I was immediately intrigued by the premise and the 'black mirror' vibes that it gave off and I think it would make an amazing TV Show. The number of characters and the change in POV really left me struggling to connect with them, which is the main reason for reducing my rating.

The Ghost of Danny McGee by Quinlan Grim was a wild ride. Camp Phoenix might be high-priced and highly exclusive for a kids’ summer camp, but it’s for good reason! The super rich can have their consciousness transferred from their adult body into a child version of themselves (with no memory of their adult life) and have a carefree summer camp experience.

Immediately I was intrigued by the concept of the book, as I’ve never read anything with the same storyline. It was eerie and fascinating and had me hooked from page one. It took me a while to realize why the characters that were narrating were doing so. To me, they didn’t feel like main characters from the beginning, but they step into those roles as the story progresses, and having a slightly unreliable/out of "the know" POV is a nice touch. Reading from the point of view of a camper and a counselor meant finding out things about this mysterious place alongside them, which was exciting and suspenseful.

The story is a little slow-moving, but it kept me invested in the characters and interested in what would happen next all throughout. In the end, I think I was already ready to hear about the announcement of a sequel to this book. I’m curious to learn the fate of these characters past the final page.

I was very interested in this story because it gave me major Black Mirror vibes. The book is very unpredictable, and I didn't know what to expect which left me hooked. Fast paced and entertaining, the story is a little over 500 pages, but it didn't feel like it was that long. Things moved pretty quickly.

Set in a summer camp, adults can pay to have their conscious put into a child clone to leave their worries behind for a summer of carefree fun. We switch between two perspectives, Sam, a camp counselor and Logan, a camper who is attending with her husband in hopes to save her marriage. The camp has a ton of other characters including a famous actor wanted for murder.

I loved the cast of characters and the sci fi aspects throughout the story. This story is very character driven and I do wish there was some more suspense, but I enjoyed the story.

I highly recommend this story for readers who enjoy getting attached to a cast of characters and sci fi vibes.

In this novel, adults can pay gobs of money to transform their adult consciousness into a genetic clone of their pre-teen selves and enjoy a carefree summer camp experience while their adult bodies lie in a state of suspended animation. They do not have their adult memories while they are in the younger bodies. The novel focuses on Sam, a counselor at the camp, and Logan, a camper who is there to try to reconnect with her husband by resharing their summer camp experience. Not everything is sunblock, s'mores and sing-alongs, there are some spooky and unsettling moments and one of the campers is the consciousness of a man soon to go on trial for a vicious murder. I enjoyed the novel, but would have liked for the story to “go somewhere”, i.e., delve into what happens when the summer is over and the adults are back in their bodies and minds.

Camp Phoenix is a controversial and expensive summer camp program that transfers adults’ consciousness into a clone of their childhood selves. On the surface, it’s an ordinary summer camp. Twelve-year-old Logan has come to have a relaxing, carefree summer. She wants to ride horses, make new friends, and she loves listening to ghost stories. Sam is a twenty-year-old counselor, taking on the responsibility of the kids’ care by day, and riding the rollercoaster of a summer romance after hours.

Whilst it wasn't the best, it also wasn't the worst! It's a very insteresting premise but the excecution lacked something. The ending fell flat for me and whilst I enjoyed most of the book I felt like there was something missing it did not fully satisfy me.

3.5 stars.

I'm a huge fan of Black Mirror, so I was really intrigued by the concept of this one - an expensive summer camp for adults to relive their childhoods, but in a way that is darker than you might expect. I found that, for the most part, this idea was executed really well! There was a darker underlying sense of mystery and tension that made me fly through this book, but it was also interesting to read about the cast of characters. I enjoyed seeing the dynamic between them, particularly considering their adult lives outside the camp.

Whilst I liked the majority of this book, I was disappointed by the quick ending. It felt like the rest of the book had been building up to something bigger, especially with the relationships between the characters, so the ending did feel a little rushed. I think this was largely because the blurb teases a question about the characters' fates after camp which, to me, wasn't answered as well as it could've been.

Overall, this book had a super unique premise and a cast of interesting characters that made for a fun and enjoyable read.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGALLEY for an E-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

“Their place is cabin chore charts and mealtime etiquette and campfire skits. The thorny reality-celebrities, digital consciousness transfers, genetically engineered bodies-has to exist outside of their understanding for the summer to make sense”

Publisher: California Coldblood books

Release date: 15th November 2022

Pages: 362

Representation: black side character, gay male side character.

Trigger warnings: Child death, cloning, murder mention, Sexual assault, bullying, animal death, non-consensual medication administration, memory alteration, alcohol, panic attacks.

Summary: Phoenix summer camp is no different from any of the summer camps across the country-children play, camp out, roast s’mores and sing campfire songs. Oh, except for the fact that every child there isn’t really a child. They’re the consciousness of a group of adults, who pay in the millions to spend one last summer as a care-free kid. Sam is a college kid who’s been invited to work as a camp counsellor for the summer, and she’s struggling to come to terms with the fact that when it ends all these kids will go back to their adult bodies-to their husbands, to their wives, and-in the case of Hugo baker-to being on trial for murder.

At a summer camp like no other, the ghost of Danny McGee will haunt readers in the best way for weeks to come.

I love speculative fiction that poses ethical questions. For fans of black mirror, this book will be a perfect read. The idea and concept behind it is one that I loved, and it was executed very well. It wasn’t perfect- I found a few spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, but not enough that it ruined the story. At points the plot and characters were messy-but in a way it added to the summer camp feel. Kids are messy, camp is messy, and the entire book had the feeling of being sat around a smoky campfire covered in dirt, exhausted and ready for bed.

Sam was an okay character-i didn’t hate her but i didn’t love her. She was well written and realistic, she just didn’t provoke strong feelings in me either way. Weirdly, it wasn’t hard to read her POV despite this. She was doing so much and slowly learning so much that I craved her POV most out of the two offered-the other being a child at the camp.

The plot centred around the existence of the camp, and for all intents and purposes plays through like a normal summer camp would. There’s no high action, just kids being kids-going on adventures and making up ghost stories-but it’s driven by the reality of what the camp is. It makes us face the fact that these kids aren’t just kids-they have lives outside of camp. They’re celebrities, adults, and one of the campers is even an accused murderer. This really shows through in Sam’s POV, as we watch her struggle to wrap her head around the idea of it all. I loved watching her try to treat them as children, even though she knew the truth. If I gave you a child to babysit, and you knew they were going to grow up to kill people, how would you handle it?

I would have loved more exploration about what happened after camp-especially Linda-one of the POV’s-reaction to the things she did over the summer. It would have added an extra layer of depth and furthered the ethical questioning, but I think the point was that the book ends when the summer does. There is no world outside of camp. It worked well at driving this point across.

Its shining glory: The concept carried this book an astonishing amount. It draws you in, and you want-no, need-to know how it ends. What’s really going on? Days later, and I’m still thinking about it.

Its fatal flaw: The pacing isn’t ideal. At times it feels chaotic and like a video on fast-forward, yet at the same time like nothing much happens.

Read this if: You love speculative fiction, and books that offer ethical questions wrapped in summer fun. You don’t mind writing that isn’t perfect, because the plot can carry the story.

Skip this if: You like fiction that draws a clear line between right and wrong and shows it. You don’t like Dual POV. You like books that have a clear beginning, middle and end and wrap a conclusion up with a bow.

Camp Phoenix, an ordinary Summer camp where children can experience all that the great outdoors has to offer.

Making new friends, camping, riding ponies, swimming and making memories to last a life time.

The camp maybe ordinary but are it's residents?

For all intents and purposes Logan is a carefree twelve year old girl, in reality she is a clone of a wealthy adult who has paid an obscene amount of money to have her twelve year old consciousness transferred into a clone of her childhood self, to relive a childhood summer again with her husband.

Sam is a camp counsellor in her second year at the camp she's responsible by day looking after and caring for the children by night partying and exploring relationships with the other counsellors.

I finished The Ghost of Danny McGee last week but I wanted to sit with it for a while before adding my thoughts.

I really enjoyed this book, I've been reading a lot of fantasy recently so this book was a nice change of pace. The pacing was slow but enjoyable and I'd liken to a boat ride along a slow moving river with plenty of twists and turns.

You get the duel point of view of Logan (the camper) and Sam (the counsellor) which I thought was great as you got to see the story from the experience of two different people. One knowing about the clones and the programme and one from the point of view of the clone.

Quinlan's writing style was good, as a reader I think it gave space for me to draw my own conclusions to the ethics around the cloning in the book and regarding the clientele they have allowed to use their services.

There was a couple of SA scenes between the 'children' that made me feel uncomfortable, and didn't really add anything to the story for me, so please take this into account before reading the book.

This book stayed with me a while after reading, all in all a solid 4/5 for me enjoyable palette cleanser.

Thank you to Net Galley, Quinlan Grim and California Coldblood Books for the e-arc copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun, thrilling book that deals with childhood consequences and consciences. The writing was brilliant and the setting was unique.

If you could relive a childhood summer would you?
That’s exactly what Camp Phenix does for. Your consciousness is transferred into your childhood clone. Just don’t forget about the camp ghost.


Okay, this was a fun book.
You live out the weeks of summer camp from two perspectives, one camper and one councillor.
Knowing who some of the adult characters were before transferring consciousness has you wondering how the summer will turn out.

Black mirror had a baby?

I guess, i really enjoyed that book. There's so many people who pays this therapy due to they can come back their childhood memories that idea make me happy and scared. It was fine 😉

DNF - I couldn't connect with the writing style & the approach to dialogue. The concept of this book sounded so intriguing & perhaps if/when an audiobook version becomes available, I might give it another shot but, I struggled to become immersed in the narrative.

This was a book that I really loved the concept of, but couldn't really get into it past the big ideas presented at the beginning. With the premise being that for a fee, you can transfer your consciousness to that of a child and experience the lost joys of childhood without worrying about the eventual adulthood for a summer, there were quite a few interesting questions presented upfront: particularly the ethics of such an experience, and what happens at the end of the camp.
There were a few things I really loved from this book; the atmosphere took me right back to summer camps that I've been to, and I loved the explorations of some of the campers characters and the counselors. I also personally loved the dual POV of counselor and camper, it really helped to dig into both characters.
Unfortunately, for me, I just feel like there weren't enough pages to really explore the world, so the whole experience ended up feeling cut short. Particularly, there were some interesting points made about heteronormativity that I wish got explored some more, and the full ethical implications of consciousness-transferring fell a little bit flat, which I was dissapointed by.
Overall, great concept but the execution fell a little flat for me. Maybe if there were more pages, it could have made a better impact but I really wanted more exploration into some of the ethical questions presented at the beginning of the book, even if that might cut into part of the thriller plot which the book also tries to present.

In all honesty, this book made me want to turn back in time to be a kid again and experience summer camps again or make use of my age and actually become a camp counselor.

There was something extraordinary about the atmosphere created in the book, it seems so realistic and even though there are descriptions of the areas where the action takes place, they're general enough, so that some of them can be reimagined to fit the pre-existent ideas of camps that some people have.

I really enjoyed the book and the characters, even though some of them were certainly flawed and at some point in the novel I had absolutely no idea what was about to happen. Definitely engaging!

There were some times, however, where the book felt messy and the narration shifts didn't help resolve all of that but altogether, it wasn't that much of an issue.

I already told my friends to look out for the book, once it's available to buy.

I loved the concept for this book when adults are able to download their consciousness into a body representing themselves as a child and go back and re-experience that quintessential American experience of a lakeside summer camp
As a Brit this experience is not so integral to our childhoods but nether the less having watched any number of movies with this setting I didn’t find it hard to imagine .The book is very visual and cinematic and this helps ,I also couldn’t help but imagine the smells of sun block musty kids and lake water
There are some sections that are surprisingly horrifying in a Steven kingesque way.These we’re sometimes difficult to read
I have to admit to finding the ending rather disappointing ,I had jumped far further in my imagining and desired a more complex ending
The prose is well written and easy to read ,I could imagine this book being enjoyed on the nations sun loungers during summer holidays 2023
I read an early copy on NetGalley Uk the book is published in November 2022 and I am sure will sell very well