The Counselors by Jessica Goodman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
With numerous YA Thrillers being released every month, three things about The Counselors made it stand out for me:
Jessica Goodman’s name, this cover giving me nostalgic-campy vibes and the line in the synopsis that states, a twisty new thriller about three best friends, one elite summer camp, and the dark secrets that lead to a body in the lake.
I had a bit of a wait before the audiobook became available through my library, but it was well worth it. Particularly since it is narrated by the fabulous, Phoebe Strole.
This narrative follows Goldie and her two best friends, Ava and Imogen. The girls developed a friendship years ago at the prestigious Camp Alpine Lake. They were campers when they first met, but now as young adults, all three stayed on at the camp as counselors.
Goldie is the only one of the three who is local to the area though, so she has been anxiously awaiting summer and with it, Ava and Imo’s return. Truth be told, Goldie wouldn’t even have been able to attend the camp initially if her parents didn’t work there.
Generally, the campers are from very well-off families. Because of this, there has been a bit of tension over the years happening between those involved in the camp and the local community.
Goldie is the odd exception that has experience with the situation from both sides.
She has mixed feelings about it. Also, even though Ava and Imogen are her best friends, she does keep a lot from them. Goldie was involved in an incident that led to her senior year of high school being a virtual hell on earth.
She kept that from them. Now that Ava and Imogen are returning to town, Goldie wonders if she will need to tell them. The thing that happened was big local news. She doesn’t want them to hear about it on one of their many ventures into town.
Stress, upon stress, upon stress.
When a local boy, who played a very big part in Goldie’s worst year ever, ends up dead in the lake at the camp, Goldie’s summer takes a sudden dark turn.
What was he even doing there? Locals aren’t allowed on the grounds of the camp. Had he been looking for her?
As Goldie digs into this unexplained death, she uncovers truths she could have never imagined. Her whole world is suddenly and viciously turned asunder.
The Counselors is a great YA Summer Thriller, with all the nostalgic campy vibes that I was looking for, as well as a solid friendship trio. I really enjoyed my time getting to know Goldie, Ava and Imo.
The camp and its relationship to the surrounding area was also quite engaging. I live in a resort-type community as well, so I definitely could relate to a lot of the dynamics that Goodman was exploring. I thought that provided an interesting context to the overarching story.
The mystery was well-developed and paced. It kept me glued to the story. When I wasn’t reading it, I wished that I was. The ending got wild, but it was so fun.
This is pretty close to a perfect summer read. I’m looking forward to picking up more from this author soon!