I like Cynthia Murphy’s writing and have enjoyed her books before. Didn’t realise how short this one would be - it would have benefitting from a lot more development and plot!

I enjoyed this one for the most part! I didn’t realise it was so short and I think this story would have benefited from being longer. I really enjoy young adult thriller/slashers so I loved that aspect. I just wish we’d had longer to connect with the characters and if the plot had been fleshed out more.

Welcome to Camp Killer is about a group of teenage counselors working in a summer camp in the U.K where everything starts to go horribly wrong. The camp is allegedly supposed to be haunted by the spirit of a woman who passed away a century ago and once the camp opens up for the season and some of the camp counselors start turning up dead, the remaining counselors start to sense that something sinister is going on.

Sadly, this book was definitely not for me. The book started off really good in my opinion, and I absolutely wanted to love this book due to the creepy summer camp vibes and your typical campfire ghost story that feels perfect for this time of year, but I genuinely just wasn’t a fan. The book felt very rushed and short, and it went by very fast, but not in a good way. The dialogue between characters felt very childish and rushed at times, and it just felt all over the place. The plot bored me at times and felt unoriginal, and I felt like the story could have been so much better if the story was a little longer. I did not feel connected to the characters at all and I found most of them to be very annoying and immature. To me, nothing about this book made sense and I thought the ending was just very strange and ended too abruptly.

Overall, the concept of this book was really intriguing and it felt perfect for this time of year, but I just felt that the story could have been a little longer and that the characters could have been more developed. Thank you to NetGalley and Barrington Stoke for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Love Cynthia Murphy books and camp killer is a great read and the fact it’s dyslexia friendly is an added bonus I have already bought it for the library

A YA horror novella that I enjoyed and read in one sitting. I liked the plot and the atmosphere
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

»Welcome To Camp Killer« was a really fast paced book, I read it in one sitting because it was so short. It was just a really nice palate cleanser book and perfect for spooky season, especially because it's pretty gruesome for a YA thriller!

I stupidly forgot to download my ARC on #netgalley in time because I was sick, but I liked the sound of the book so much I searched it out in Waterstones #wsilverburn

A summer camp for kids has been set up in the grounds of a stately home, run by Chad who has previously been involved in American residential camps. Holly has taken a job there, along with 7 other teenagers for the summer, most of their parents had previously been involved in the camps and were keen to get involved.

The last night before the kids arrive, they sit around the campfire and hear of the ghost of Dorothea, who haunts the house and grounds after a tragedy...perhaps we should call it Camp Killer rather than Camp Miller?

It's all a giggle...until the accidents start....

It's not a long book, 121 pages with a relatively large font, but it's stressful, exciting and just doesn't let up from start to finish! It's a young adult book, but not for younger or particularly sensitive readers as there are descriptions of the incidents - not overly gnarly but could be upsetting.

It was clever and I really enjoyed it.

Review also posted to Goodreads but unable to link account.

The writing in this book was very simple and very 'tell not show.' I feel like everything was being explained to me and I wasn't given the opportunity to work out anything for myself. I was unable to finish it as I knew I wasn't going to enjoy it.

However, the book is very short and will definitely appeal to many people!

A quick and creepy read with summer camp vibes.

Welcome to Camp Killer, an American-style camp on the grounds of an English Estate, with a dark legend of the campgrounds. When tragic accidents start happening around camp, and people keep seeing ghostly sightings, the question rises everything is connected to what happened all those years ago.

It’s an easy, quick and interesting read, and only close to end I understood what was going on and who was behind it. There’s a great built-up of suspense and everyone is a suspect, as the author gives suspicious reactions and not-so-solid alibis to all the characters. It kept me guessing. That final plot twist was the cherry on top of the cake.

My only two critics are the very stereotypical “villain discourse,” where the villain just goes on and on about their plan and why they did it. Their motive didn’t convince me either, it seemed kind of weak to start killing people on camp. The other, is the lack of descriptions. I usually don’t like a lot of descriptions, but I would have liked to know what each character looked like, and more details on the camp location too.

Still, a fun read!

Very entertaining and exciting! Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!
I recommend it to all YA fans! I kept guessing till the very end!

I've recently been binging the original run of Are You Afraid of the Dark and that's all I could picture while reading Welcome to Camp Killer. It was just like watching an episode with all of it's spooky eerie vibes. I definitely recommend giving it a try.

Thank you to Barrington Stoke and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy.

Even though this was only 121 pages, it literally had me tense and creeped out throughout. For a YA, this is freaky. I loved it, defo one to put on your Halloween reading tbr.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I love scary camp novels so this was right up my alley. Welcome to Camp Killer follows a group of teenage camp leaders as they are haunted by what seems to be the ghost of the old house that is now Camp Miller. When mysterious incidents begin to occur and things become serious, they all question the old myth and each other.

A quick, easy read that was a fun spooky summer story. As an adult I found it to be lacking in depth and detail..

Welcome to Camp Miller would be an excellent read for a reluctant reader.

I found this to be a fun and quick read. I liked the pacing and tone of the action, and it kept me hooked throughout. I thought all the characters were done well and felt believable for the setting and scenario. I liked how this felt like age appropriate for the the horror and gore, and all of it was close enough to spooky without being too much for a younger audience.

I enjoyed this and it was a very fast paced book and had me guessing until the end, my only irk is how short it is. I know it's a novella but i would of liked to see more and maybe some character development as i felt i couldn't connect to the characters very much.
3.5

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of Camp Killer. All thoughts are my own.

I enjoyed this YA horror/thriller romp, it was very much reminiscent of the Goosebumps franchise and very much took me back. I however felt there could be more action and a bit more character development. I know that it's a novella so the author is limited in how much time they can dedicate to these things but I didn't connect to the storyline in the way I should.

Great short story with an awesome plot twist. I definitely was left wanting more. It was great for a YA. The characters weren’t too interesting but I guess that makes sense as a short story.

This is a good and shocking ya horror. Holly and seven other teens are spending their summer helping to run a new camp for eleven year olds as camp counsellors. But on their first night before the kids arrive they hear a scary story about the former residents of an old house nearby, and soon strange things start happening in the camp leading everyone to wonder if they’re being haunted.

This is an interesting horror story that was a little different than I expected. At the start we’re introduced to the teens who are working as camp counsellors, with the story following Holly in particular. As the teens settle into their cabins for the night something creepy soon happens that sets everyone on edge. As the story continues and the kids begin their first day of camp, other dark things happen at the camp. It’s soon clear that someone or something is after the camp counsellors and the teens lives are in terrible danger. I don’t want to give away what happens but this was an interesting mix of first a spooky and later a slasher horror. I wasn’t quite sure I would enjoy the story at first. Although the writing is good I just didn’t feel that invested in the story at the start. However, as things get more and more eerie and something shocking happens to one of the teens the story becomes much more exciting and I soon couldn’t put it down!

There are some very dark and creepy moments in the book, some gruesome moments as well as some deaths and blood. There is a brilliant twist to the story near the end too. I thought I knew what was going to happen but I’m pleasantly surprised with how I couldn’t at all guess what happened and I like that final twist on the very last page. This book is specially made for dyslexics and reluctant readers so it’s not very long at around 128 pages. The physical version would also come with separated paragraphs, a special dyslexia-friendly font and creamy coloured thicker pages making it easier to read and look at. There is an image of a flower at the start of each chapter and some author’s notes at the end giving a very brief insight into what helped inspire the setting of the story.

Overall this is a good horror story and perfect for those who enjoy slasher type horror especially. There are some gruesome twists though, some good and some just a little too much for me – the tumble dryer bit just…!😱

This was a really fun read but I think I skewed ever so slightly too old for it! That being said I definitely think it’d be a great read for someone in their early teens.

The book was much shorter than I’d anticipated so I didn’t get as much time to dive into the characters and story as much as I’d have liked.

Despite the short length, Murphy kept me engaged right from the start - it was definitely an easy read from front to back and I had a lot of fun learning the backstory and doing a bit of guessing around what was going to happen.

This was a fun and fast paced read + the title and the cover got my attention immediately.

I don't read YA (or I haven't for 20 years now) but still enjoyed this.
(I feel like this is the sort of thing I would have loved as a child.

Overall I enjoyed this short read, it was a cool setting at a summer camp and had an intriguing mystery set up.

I will admit I had a hard time thinking of what the characters would look like, unsure if it was due to lack of description or just the fact it was fast paced/ a short story.