**This blog contains adult language.**
Warning: Spoilers Ahead!!! This is a recap blog which means I read the book and tell you everything that happens so you don't have to read it yourself. Please do not continue to read if you don't want to know who the “bad guy” is.
From the Back of the Book: Candy is dandy, but the licker is quicker... Everyone at Pritchett High wants an invitation to the Senior Scavenge. In 2020, Violet Warren and her friends are the lucky ones. Eight girls will break into the Poison Apple Carnival after hours for a scavenger hunt, then at sunrise will gather for a celebration in honor of their upcoming senior year. But someone else has another game planned. Minutes after the girls sneak into the carnival a madman in a rubber mask begins slashing his way through the group and Violet quickly realizes his motives are personal. As she watches her friends die in a series of increasingly bizarre attacks, she must fight to survive while trying to answer the question: What could she have done to earn a fast-pass for a roller coaster ride straight to hell?
This book was published in 2020 and this is my first time reading it. I'm pretty sure it's my first time reading this author as well. I have high hopes for this one. I'm hoping a book written in 2020 won't have the same issues as the books written in the 80's and 90's. I guess we'll see how that pans out for me.
(((Note From Future Me: My first impression of the cover was that it was kind of cool but after reading the book, I fucking love it.)))
TRIGGER WARNING: there are very graphic deaths in this book. I'm going to tone it down quite a bit but you're in for a wild ride.
Pun maybe intended.
We begin with our protagonist Violet freaking out about her college acceptance letter. She's always planned to go to a university in Phoenix because it has one of the best music programs in the country. Violet plays violin and she's really good at it but she still hasn't heard back from the school. Claire (swim team captain and softball co-captain) got her acceptance letter in the spring of junior year but Violet told herself it was because sports were more competitive and they tended to secure their stars sooner than small music schools. She didn't truly freak out until her best friend James got her acceptance into Texas A&M.
James and Violet have been friends since sixth grade despite the fact that they have very different interests and goals. Violet loves music and James is all about computers and coding but they seem to have genuine affection for each other. We'll see if it holds up.
A week before senior year starts, James texts Violet to see if she got her invitation for the scavenger hunt. Every year in August, a select group of girls get invited to participate in a hunt. These girls are the top students, the best athletes, the club leaders, the most popular, etc. They get an invite and a poem telling them what they need to find. The hunt takes place on the Saturday night before school starts and then they all meet for pancakes the next morning at a local restaurant. The hunt is organized each year by the girls from the previous year.
While Violet is texting with James, she gets a text from cheerleader Mila who has also received an invitation to the hunt. Mila says that Lolly, Gracie, River and Blythe have all gotten invitations as well. We don't get credentials for the first three but apparently Blythe is YouTube famous. Violet doesn't like to be around her because Blythe turns everything into content.
This year instead of holding the hunt at the school, they're having it at the Poison Apple Halloween Carnival. Despite it's name, the carnival is open year-round. The rides and attractions are all Halloween themed and the prizes are things like werewolves and mummies. Honestly it sounds like a damn good time to me and the perfect place for a scavenger hunt during the night. Violet is instantly a little freaked out. She doesn't like the idea of wandering around that creepy place at night and she wonders if the organizers even got permission for them to be there.
The mail finally arrives and Violet's invitation has a picture of the Ferris wheel on the front. Violet is terrified of the Ferris wheel because she doesn't like heights and it's the tallest in Texas. Her poem reads: “Congratulations, Chosen Girl. Jump up and down, do a twirl. Walk the grounds and follow the grass. From the ride entrance, steal a pass. Meet you makers at the Crave Inn at sunrise. Hope you like pecan pancakes!!!”
That was a very low-effort poem, Tholen.
Violet sends a picture of her poem to James who responds with the poem she received: “Wet and wild, Darling Child. A fish tank with no fish. Bring us a sphere stitched with red. Be warned. You may need to hold your breath.”
That was way worse.
It turns out James is deathly afraid of being underwater. Her picture is of the dunk tank so it's pretty obvious she has to get a baseball from the bottom of it.
When Violet's mother gets home, we get a rundown of a couple of the other girls. Gracie is an artist and she draws a popular web comic. River is a writer and she writes for the comic. It's weird that Lolly is the only one who hasn't been fleshed out yet. Maybe she dies first.
We skip to the morning of the scavenger hunt. As usual, Violet gets up at 5:30am to go up to the attic to practice her violin for two hours. When she's done, James calls. She says they're going to spend the day doing errands for her mom and shopping and then all the scavenger hunt participants are meeting for dinner before the hunt. She tells Violet to pack a bag because she won't be going back home until after the pancake breakfast the next morning. Violet protests – she really wants to stay home and wait for the mail to see if she gets her acceptance letter – but James isn't hearing it.
Despite her protests, Violet has fun. James' mother Heather is pretty cool and it's nice to be out of the house and away from the mailbox. Everything goes well until James has a panic attack in a convenience store over the fact that they'll be graduating and starting their real lives after this year. Violet wants to calm her down and tell her that everything will be fine but she's not so sure it will be. She does assure James that they'll always be friends but that's all the comfort she has to give.
To distract herself, James tells Violet that Claire is going to break up with her girlfriend Chelle. To do it, she's going to recreate their first date and then dump her at the end of it. I'm not liking Claire very much. That seems really cruel.
We hop into the head of someone named Ted now. He's a security officer at the Poison Apple Halloween Carnival who works the night shift because he's lazy and he just wants to sit in his office and read. He's supposed to walk the grounds twice a night but most nights he doesn't bother. The carnival has been closed for a week anyway for maintenance and there's really nothing for him to do. He's reading a true crime book when someone startles him by tapping on his shoulder. He turns to see a person in a hoodie with dark glasses. They blow across their palm and he thinks they're blowing him a kiss but it turns out they blew some kind of powder in his face. He inhales it and collapses. I have no idea if he's dead or just incapacitated.
So was it the bad guy or one of the organizers of the event just making sure he won't be in the way? Your guess is as good as mine.
The hunt participants meet up for dinner after a very lengthy group chat discussion about where to go. We get more background information on a couple of the characters that's good for fleshing them out but I'm not going to bore you with it. None of it seemed important to the plot. They talk about college and future plans while they wait for their food and none of that's worth mentioning either. I get what Tholen is doing here. She's making us care about the characters she's about to kill. I appreciate it but I'm not going to recap it.
They decide to compare their “poems”. Mila's says: “Here in Texas, we like guns. Shooting evil clowns is so much fun. No bullets for the guy, only a squirt. Look under his chin but above the dirt.” I wonder if she's afraid of clowns. Or guns. She figures she has to get the balloon that you're supposed to fill up and burst with the water from the squirt gun. Blythe's says: “Madome Lavona can't turn her head. She's got those blank eyes like the walking dead. She might be creepy held together with twine. Still she can answer, how long's your lifeline.” It's a fortune telling machine and Blythe hates it.
We don't get to hear the others.
Their waitress is a girl named Emma who graduated last year. She went to Harvard in the fall but dropped out in the spring. After the others leave, Violet goes up to talk to her. She figures they can commiserate over losing their dream schools or something. Emma is not amused. She actually holds a knife to Violet's neck which just seems like an overreaction to the situation. She tells Violet that she had to drop out because she developed an anxiety disorder and couldn't force herself to go to class. She tells Violet that not getting accepted into her dream school isn't the same humiliation as being forced to drop out because of mental illness.
I don't know. To Violet it probably feels the same. You don't get to decide your pain is worse than someone else's.
Also, I'm 90% sure this entire scene was put in there to make Emma look suspicious.
I still know fuck all about Lolly, by the way. I know Blythe is touring Europe and doing the influencer thing instead of college, River and Gracie are taking a gap year to write a book and everyone else (except Violet) is going to their first choice school but nothing about Lolly – current or future.
This is weird behavior, Tholen.
They drive to the carnival and park in the woods so no one will see their cars in the lot. Claire wants to split up in pairs so everyone has a partner to look out for them. Mila wants everyone to go alone and meet up at the entrance after. James want to explore the carnival after she's finished but Lolly wants to leave immediately so they don't get caught. River has some edibles in the form of circus peanuts and suggests they partake before they hunt. She says her brother will come get them after and they can just leave their cars in the woods. Lolly and Violet really hate the idea of that.
As if Tholen heard my repetitive bitching, we FINALLY get some info on Lolly. She's the Mary Sue of the group with perfect grades and perfect attendance and an unfailing moral compass that keeps her friends from posting drunk pictures online and hacking into teacher's emails.
James eats an edible. Gracie eats 1.5. Claire eats 5 which is the equivalent of 100mg of THC. I have no idea if that's a lot. Mila eats one. Blythe eats 3. Violet eats 2/3 and Lolly eats the other 1/3 after a lengthy debate. While they're standing there figuring out what to do, a man and a dog come out of the woods. The man is Mr Luzon the super creepy English teacher who likes to rub girls' shoulders during class. Gross. Lolly puts on the charm and tells him they have permission from security to be there for the hunt. He tells them that “little girls” shouldn't be out alone at night. He's not wrong really but I hate that he called these 17-18 year olds “little girls”. He tells them to go home and pokes Lolly in the chest when she refuses. Violet immediately tells him to leave or they'll report him for inappropriate conduct with a student. She reminds him that they're at the top of the food chain at the high school and he's had allegations before so they'll be believed over him. He calls them bitches and says they can all go die.
I think we all know what that was.
Blythe collects all their cell phones and then locks them in her Tesla. Why? I don't fucking know. It doesn't even make sense since she's the one who is chronically online and can't do anything without documenting it for her social media.
Odds Blythe actually locked her phone in the car with the others: 0%
They decide to pair off after all since now they're all high. Blythe assigns the groups: River and Gracie, James and Lolly, Violet and Blythe, Mila and Claire. It's weird that Blythe is pairing them up when it was Claire's idea but whatever. Now they just have to figure out how to get in. Claire helps Mila climb the gate and she lets them all in through the employee entrance. James finds the empty security booth and turns off the cameras so there will be no video evidence of them being there. She also erases the footage of them breaking in. They all agree to meet at the carousel in about an hour and then they go their separate ways.
Blythe and Violet go to the bathroom first at Blythe's insistence. Violet tells us that Blythe somehow pees silently but she hears her turn on the sink to wash her hands. When Violet comes out of the stall, the water is still running but Blythe is gone. She tries to leave the bathroom to look for her but the door won't open. She pushes until it opens just enough to squeeze through. When she gets outside she sees that a rolled up newspaper was wedged under the door. Blythe is nowhere in sight.
Violet creeps around, quietly calling Blythe's name but there's no response. Suddenly all the lights come on and the rides start up. She hears someone scream but doesn't know who it was.
We hop into Blythe's head now. She's wandering around feeling sick from the greasy food she ate, the whiskey she knocked back and the edible. She hears the scream when the lights come on and thinks it's probably Mila, River or Gracie. The popcorn machines come on and she's confused. It doesn't make sense to her that they'd be automated like that. She tells us that she's trying to find Lolly and James but doesn't tell us why. Suddenly a person steps in front of her and everything goes black.
Odds that these people are actually dying: 50%
Odds that this is an elaborate prank/hazing: 50%
We're back with Violet. She's frozen in fear and irritated at herself for it. She debates all her options and decides to try to get back to the center of the carnival grounds because she figures the others might try to meet up there too. She sticks to the shadows as much as possible, worried about either being murdered or arrested. Finally she spots Lolly over by the roller coaster. Lolly seems to be ridiculously high despite the fact that she barely took anything. Violet calls her name and then a figure steps out of the shadows and grabs Lolly around the neck. Violet recognizes the costume the person is wearing. She and Blythe had nicknamed him “The Licker” the previous Halloween. The park hires scare actors through the months of September and October to walk the grounds after dark. They wear various scary costumes and carry props. Last year she and Blythe were tormented by an actor in this particular costume – black hood, gray demon face, long demon tongue that protrudes from the mouth.
Violet watches as TL starts to drag Lolly away. She runs and slams into him but he's ready for her. He throws her to the ground and then kicks her a couple of time, knocking the air out of her. He grabs Lolly again and drags her to the “test your strength” booth. He puts Lolly's head on the stand and then bashes it in with the mallet. Violet watches her head explode like a watermelon, some teeth landing at TL's feet.
I have to say I honestly didn't expect a kill that graphic and gory. Way to go, Tholen.
To Violet's horror, TL comes to her next, kneeling beside her and 'licking' her cheek with his protruding rubber tongue. He speaks to her, his voice disguised by an electronic box. He asks if she remembers him and then just stands and runs off with a little wave.
💀River
and Gracie, James and Lolly,
Violet and Blythe, Mila and Claire.💀
One down, seven to go.
I'm not counting Blythe because I don't think she's dead.
When Violet can move again, she runs screaming toward the entrance. She finds Claire by the photo printing shop just watching the lights on the coaster. She's SUPER high and Violet grabs her, shaking her. She screams that Lolly is dead and tries to pull Claire toward the entrance. Claire says they can't leave the others but Violet wants to get to Blythe's car to call the police. Claire is insistent that they can't leave without rounding up everyone else. She says that Violet can go to Blythe's car but she's going to stay. She offers to take Violet to the entrance, though, so she doesn't have to go alone.
Before they can take a single step, the lights go off around the entire park.
Pause.
I'm going to be HELLA FUCKING PISSED if it turns out to be James doing this because of her “anxiety”. I just want that to be known right the fuck now.
Okay, unpause.
Violet is convinced the TL is in the security booth now so they can't go to the entrance. Claire suggests they go toward the House of Horrors because there's another exit there. I think. I'm not really sure why they're headed there.
We're in Mila's head now. She's climbed into a prize booth and made a fort out of teddy bears because she's so high she can barely function. She sees TL walk by and holds her breath, hoping she won't be found. He walks away and she thinks she's safe so she moves, intending to hide on the little shelf under the counter. Unfortunately he finds her, grabbing the counter and ripping it from the booth. She grabs a piece of wood and then takes off running. He catches up with her and grabs her by her hair. Years of cheerleading practice have made her strong so she kicks him in the chest and the crotch and then stabs him with her piece of wood. He howls in pain.
Suddenly we're in TL's head and I find that annoying. I hate mid-chapter head hops. He's thinking to himself that he needs to incapacitate her so that he can give her the death he's been planning for months. He stabs her with the wooden stake, sending her into shock and then picks her up to take her to the water squirting game. He nails her to the back wall so she's between the two ceramic clown heads and then shoves the nozzle of the water cannon into her mouth and down her throat. He turns on the water and shoots it into her until she drowns.
💀River
and Gracie, James and Lolly,
Violet and Blythe, Mila
and Claire.💀
Two down, six to go.
The fact that both Lolly and Mila have died "onscreen" graphic deaths just reinforces the fact that Blythe's still alive. I find that suspicious. TL hasn't left any other survivors. Why Blythe?
Back with Violet and Claire. They hide as TL sprints past them heading toward the House of Mirrors. River and Gracie are supposed to be there. The lights on the coaster go back off and the lights at the entrance come on. Does this mean there's two of them? Is someone running the lights from the security booth while TL runs around killing people?
Can the lights/rides be controlled by outside the booth? Like with a phone?
They resume their trek to the House of Horrors. I thought there was another exit there but apparently they're just going there to hide? I don't know. None of their decisions make much sense to me but that's probably because they're high. On the way, the accidentally come across Gracie who has been hiding by concessions. She immediately asks what's all over Violet's shirt and keeps pressing until Violet admits that it's Lolly's brains. Thankfully they're all too high to get very emotional about it.
Gracie begs them to tell her it's just a joke and none of this is happening. I thought it might be a prank too until Lolly's very graphic death and then Mila being killed without an audience. Claire reminds them that they need to hide so they're not next. She vows to kill TL if he comes after them and it makes Gracie and Violet laugh because they're high.
We're with River now. This doesn't bode well for her. She tells us she ended up eating FIFTEEN of the edibles and she's way too high to handle all the stimulation of the carnival. She's been hiding behind a Ms Pac Man machine since the screaming started. Based on the sounds, she's sure at least one of her friends is dead. TL comes into the arcade and smashes things around for a bit. He calls her by name – making some crack about her vagina smelling like salmon which is just unnecessary Tholen – so it seems like he knows she's in there but he ends up leaving without finding her. She waits a bit and then decides to sneak out because she's high and stupid.
She's headed for the House of Mirrors when the lights go out again so she changes course and goes towards the bathrooms instead. When she gets there, she becomes convinced that the bathrooms are a refrigerator and she'll suffocate if she goes inside so she veers off again toward concessions. TL spots her because she's just strolling out in the open. She gets herself a bottle of water and a bottle of lemonade and then heads back toward the House of Mirrors with TL following her.
River goes into the House of Mirrors and starts to walk through it with her eyes closed humming the Winnie the Pooh theme song. TL is super amused and trying hard not to laugh as he follows her. The song gets faster and faster and higher and higher pitched until his amusement turns to annoyance. He decides to kill her just to shut her up. He turns on a flashlight which gets her attention. She tells him that she's not going to pay any attention to him because that will take away his power and he won't be able to hurt her. That amuses him again.
River finally clues in that she might be in trouble and she starts to run through the maze with him following easily behind her. She slams into a mirrored wall at one point allowing him to catch up. She tries to hit him with her glass lemonade bottle but she bashes in his reflection instead. She takes another swing and actually hits him in the chest this time. He lets her smack him until he gets tired of it and then he pushes her to the ground. She slams the bottle into the wall until it finally breaks and then stabs him in the side with it.
TL grabs the bottle and then uses it to stab her to death. It takes her awhile to bleed out so he hangs around and watches. Right before she dies, he takes off his mask and reveals that he's been a she all along. River recognizes her and asks 'why'. TL asks if it matters.
River dies.
💀River
and Gracie, James and Lolly,
Violet and Blythe, Mila
and Claire.💀
Three down, five to go.
Odds that TL is James: 30%
Odds that TL is Blythe: 50%
Odds that TL is Emma: 10%
Odds that TL is someone we haven't 'met': 10%
I'm still suspicious of Blythe because she didn't get an “onscreen” death and James because books just pull that shit all the damn time. Plus, she'd be the one to know how to work all the computerized lights/rides. Emma's just there because she weirdly overreacted earlier and she was probably one of the scavenge hunters the previous year so she's knows what's going on.
Back with Violet and the others. She's not super down with the plan to hide in the House of Horrors but Claire tells her there's a phone in there hidden behind a curtain. Last summer she was on the ride with her cousin when it stopped. She saw an employee use the phone to call the security booth so she knows where it is. They're not sure if it can call outside the park but they figure it's worth a try.
Claire somehow gets higher as they're standing at the entrance and becomes completely useless. The other two girls drag her along, looking for the phone. They have to make their way through all parts of the attraction, dodging skeletons and swamps and fake ghosts but they finally make it to the phone. It doesn't have any buttons but Violet picks it up anyway and listens as it rings somewhere. TL answers and she hangs it up real fast.
Does that mean TL is back in the security booth or have they rigged it somehow so the calls get forwarded to them?
Gracie and Violet try to figure out what to do next as Claire wanders away to look at the fake gravestones. Suddenly she calls the others over and shows them that some of the stones have been labeled. Lolly, Mila, River and Theodore are all present which means I was right about Blythe.
Gracie immediately freaks out. She says she isn't a person without River. Violet tries to convince her that the headstones don't mean the girls are actually dead but then she goes closer to investigate Theodore's headstone and she finds his severed head. Violet takes off running and ends up crashing into someone. It turns out to be Blythe. Her clothes and mouth are bloody but she's alive. She says TL dragged her around for awhile but then left her, apparently thinking she was dead. She stayed put for awhile and then looked for a place to hide.
Why wouldn't TL make sure she was dead? She's made sure everyone else was. I'm not buying this.
Violet tries to figure out their best chance at survival. Blythe is completely non-functional and Claire is just barely keeping it together. There's no way they can drag Blythe all the way to the entrance to try to escape. She proposes hiding Blythe and then going without her. They drag her to a fake coffin and put her in there, promising to come back and get her soon. Violet tells Gracie and Claire that they need to go to the security booth. They can call 911 from there and then escape through the door they came in and make a run for it. Of course, this depends on TL not being there and on TL not taking out the phones but the only other option is to try to hide until morning when more security arrives.
Claire pokes around until she finds a hammer and a heavy flashlight. She gives the hammer to Violet and the flashlight to Gracie to use as weapons. She finds an electric drill for herself. Both Gracie and Claire want to barricade themselves in the security booth instead of making a run for it. Violet protests that there's no way they can keep TL out of there but they aren't really listening to her. Before they can leave the House of Horrors, all the lights go out in the park again.
They make their way toward the front, seeing TL running around in the distance. Claire wants to jump her, figuring it's three against one, but the other two outvote her. They continue on until suddenly they see TL up ahead blocking their path. (((I've noticed the book is still calling TL 'he' even though the person who killed River was supposedly a 'she'. I'm going to use 'they' from now on.))) They seem amused and say “Aren't you dumbasses supposed to be hiding from me?”
I kind of like them.
Claire rushes them, brandishing her drill. TL pulls out a knife. The two of them tussle. Eventually Violet and Gracie decide to help. They actually get TL pinned down and Claire goes to drill them but accidentally drills Violet's arm instead. This causes Violet to let go and TL gets up. They grab the drill with a “thanks for the gift” and then use it to drill through their stupid rubber tongue for some reason. The girls get up and run but they run toward the midway instead of toward the security booth.
Gracie notes that TL is wheezing really hard when they breathe. I don't know if that's important or not. They're all so high it's hard to believe what any of them say.
If this turns out to be some weed-induced hallucination I'm going to be MEGA PISSED.
Claire is way ahead and the other two lose her entirely. They hide among concessions and try to figure out what's happening. They realize that James is the only person unaccounted for. Violet worries that she might already be dead but Gracie thinks she might have escaped already and gone for help. They debate going to look for Claire but decide they need to try to get out instead. Neither of them wants to die.
We're in Claire's head which pretty much means she's a goner. She tells us that she hit her head super hard during the fight and TL definitely broke her left arm and the fingers on her right hand. She decides to try to get to the entrance again but pretty much immediately runs into TL. TL decides to talk to Claire for a little while before they kill her. Claire asks if TL hates them and that's why they're being killed. TL shrugs and says James is the only one they really dislike.
The violence in this book is hella fucking graphic, ya'll.
TL runs the drill into the side of Claire's face until they can tear off a chunk of her cheek. They shove it in her bra for some reason and then use their belt to drag Claire to the food court. They're muttering the entire time about the girls all having chances but TL doesn't have chances because they threw their happy ending away. They keep making comments about Claire being “strong for a girl”, etc which would make you think they're a guy after all. So there's definitely two right? The problem is, I don't know any guys and have no way to figure out a suspect.
(((Note From Future Me: I obviously forgot about that creepy teacher here but oh well.)))
TL fires up the cotton candy machine and starts melting sugar. They tell Claire that being burned by candy is way worse than being burned by anything else because the candy sticks to your skin. Then they stick her head into the machine until the molten sugar kills her, turning her head into a giant cotton candy cone.
Tholen's creative. I'll give them that.
This makes the cover even better.
💀River and Gracie, James and Lolly, Violet and Blythe, Mila and Claire.💀
Four down, four to go.
I'm still SUPER suspicious of Blythe and James. Neither of them are a 'he' though. You don't think it's Blythe's dad do you? We heard earlier in the book that he was hella wrapped up in her being internet famous for awhile. You don't think the two of them are doing this as some kind of stunt to help her popularity? That would be ridiculous.
Back to Violet and Gracie. They can hear TL killing Claire so they make a break for it. They get lost several times but eventually find the entrance. Unfortunately, the headless security guard is chained to the door and they can't get through. Violet notices something in his pocket and pulls it out. It's a patch from James' beloved jacket so she assumes James is dead as well. Or the guard pulled it off her when she was killing him. Even odds.
The security booth is locked. They try to bust down the door and then try to get in using a library card. Somehow it works and they get inside. The phone lines are cut and there's no internet access so they lock the door and hide under the desk. For some reason, Violet brings up one of the first conversations she and Gracie ever had. Gracie was giving her and River a ride home. River got out first leaving them alone. They passed a florist who had a sign saying you could get a free rose that month if your name was 'Bethany'. Gracie said she'd noticed something weird about those signs. It happened first when 'Zarrah' could get a free rose. Later that month, Gracie saw a missing person's poster for someone named 'Zarrah'. Then there was 'Lauryn'. She fell down the stairs and died after her monthly flower. Then 'Alex' died in a car crash after her name was advertised on the sign. Violet insisted those were all coincidences but why the hell would the florist have picked the name 'Zarrah'? Who is named Zarrah?
Violet apologizes for not believing Gracie about the 'killer flower shop'. She wants to atone for her sins before she dies I guess. Gracie accepts the apology and then notices a CB radio. Violet isn't sure how to use it but she tries to send a message out on all 10 channels saying they're trapped in the amusement park and someone is killing people. No one responds and they figure the message didn't get out.
Gracie decides they need to make a run for it again but Violet wants to stay put this time. They argue until a spotlight goes on outside the security booth and they realize they've been located. Figuring the booth won't be safe, they head outside. Gracie almost immediately gets hit with a flying axe to the chest.
💀River and Gracie, James and Lolly, Violet and Blythe, Mila and Claire.💀
Five down, three to go.
Violet gets up to run but TL tells her not to. They promise not to hurt her but she doesn't listen and runs anyway. She hides in the arcade first but TL finds her right off the bat. Again they promise not to hurt her. She asks if she can just leave then but TL says no. When the night is over, they're going to take Violet with them. She runs again and ends up in the souvenir shop. There are tons of pictures hanging up of Violet and the other girls. Clearly they were taken over the course of months when the girls weren't aware they were being watched.
So the bad guy brought all the pictures here and hung them up? That doesn't make much sense, Tholen.
Someone knocks on the door and Blythe screams for Violet to open up. How did Blythe know she was in there? Violet doesn't question it even though she totally should. She opens the door. Blythe is still acting super high. She asks why no one ever came back for her and Violet explains that she hasn't been able to go for help yet. She tells Blythe that everyone else is dead but doesn't get much of a response.
Suddenly they hear James screaming in the distance. Despite the fact that it's probably a trap, Violet decides to go save her. She finds her tied up, sitting on the board above the dunk tank. The dunk tank is 10 feet deep for some reason and James can't swim. She won't even be able to grab onto anything with her arms tied behind her back. James says she doesn't remember anything after they entered the carnival. She woke up on the platform right before she started screaming.
Violet evaluates things but she can't get James down without the stairs to the dunk tank and they've been removed. She tries to find something to use but nothing is tall enough for her to reach. She tells James that she's going to have to leave her there to go for help. Before she can go anywhere, TL shows up. They remove their mask and it's Blythe.
Of course it is.
Blythe begins her bad guy monologue telling Violet that she got ripped for a challenge on her YouTube channel and now she can lift as much as Claire but no one noticed. She's killing everyone because they have opportunities and futures and big things ahead of them and she has nothing. Blythe says her sponsorships are running dry and she isn't getting good swag anymore. Her views have tanked and the only followers she has left are the ones she paid for. Both her and her dad are probably going to end up in jail for tax fraud because neither of them have paid taxes in years.
I don't know if they throw 17-year-olds in jail for tax fraud.
Violet starts bargaining. She says they'll burn the mask and then tell the police that they never saw the murderer without it. They'll make up some story about how they escaped and they'll never tell anyone that Blythe was the killer. Blythe pretends to listen to them, coming forward to take Violet's hand. She twists it until it dislocates and then tells Violet that she doesn't believe a word coming out of her mouth.
Blythe offers Violet a deal. She's going to ask Violet a question that will be easy to answer if Violet's been paying attention to her. If Violet gets it right, James won't drown. If she doesn't, James goes into the dunk tank. Blythe asks Violet what she recently got canceled for. Violet searches her memory and begins to put it together based on some texts she received and some things she heard Blythe say. Finally she says that Blythe got canceled because she got a pet fish but the internet decided she had it in a tank that was too small. It was the right answer but Blythe doesn't honor her promise. She hits the target and James falls into the dunk tank.
It's full of acid or something. James literally disintegrates. It's a very gruesome and gory death.
Blythe actually kept her word in the end. James didn't drown.
💀River and Gracie, James and Lolly, Violet and Blythe, Mila and Claire.💀
Six down, two to go.
Violet asks if Blythe is going to kill her too. Blythe says her original plan was to ride with Violet to the top of the Ferris wheel and then throw her over the side. She didn't want Violet to suffer. But watching her not get accepted into the only school she wants to go to has made Blythe sympathetic. She can't decide whether to kill Violet or not so she decides to let Siri flip a coin. She still has her phone of course. I always assumed she'd kept it. Heads Violet survives. Tails she dies.
It's heads.
Blythe shoves a rag in her face and everything goes black.
Chloroform doesn't work instantaneously by the way. It's a mistake books and movies always make.
When Violet comes to, she's sitting on a metal seat surrounded by the corpses of the other girls. Blythe is having a conversation with them, telling them that they put up much more of a fight than she expected considering they were so high. Violet looks around and realizes they're on the Ferris wheel in one of the enclosed pods. Blythe reveals that she's been posting photos and videos from her killing spree to her social media all night long. Her plan now is to kill Violet and then jump from the Ferris wheel, killing herself. She points the phone at Violet and asks if she has any last words. Violet throws the phone out of the window.
Blythe decides she isn't going to kill Violet after all – she's just going to make sure Violet never achieves any of her dreams. She pulls open the door and slams Violet's finger in it until it's severed and then she throws the finger out of the window. Violet will never play violin again.
Blythe jumps from the top of the Ferris wheel, killing herself. Violet waits for the pod she's in to reach the bottom and she jumps out too. She finds Blythe's keys and runs for the Tesla, driving off just as the police arrive.
💀River and Gracie, James and Lolly, Violet and Blythe, Mila and Claire.💀
We have our final girl.
For some reason, she goes to the restaurant to meet the organizers of the event. She's covered in blood and dirt and her finger is fucking missing but she pretends nothing's wrong and grabs a menu to order her pancakes. The other girls ask what happened and she directs them to Blythe's social media accounts. They watch in horror. Someone in the restaurant must have called the cops because they come screaming into the parking lot. Violet stands up to meet them and one of the girls stops her. She has an envelope with her. It arrived at Violet's house while she was running errands with James and her mother. Violet's mom gave it to the girls so they could surprise Violet with it when the scavenge was done.
It's from the college.
Violet got in.
Book ends there. That was one hell of a ride. I'm so glad it wasn't James but I'm super confused at how Blythe did it alone and why the book kept referring to her as 'he'. Other than that, I actually loved this book. I loved it so much that I decided to buy a paperback copy even though it's available for free through Kindle Unlimited. It had some really impressive gore and some very creative kills. I really glossed over them for this recap but they're described well in the book. I had fun and I'm happy to read more of Tholen if I can find any.
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