Thanks to NetGalley and Disney Hyperion for the ARC — I requested this one myself, and honestly, past-Jenna and I need to have a conversation.

I finished Body Count with one prevailing thought rattling around in my head: What the hell was this?

I genuinely cannot remember why I requested it. I wish I could. It might help me make sense of what I just read.

Here’s the setup: a group of teenagers descends on Wildwood, New Jersey, for prom weekend. For Sundae, returning to the Jersey Shore carries extra weight — seven years ago, when she was eleven, something evil hunted her there. Something most people wouldn’t believe. Now she’s back, and so is whatever came for her the first time.

That’s actually a solid premise. Childhood trauma, a debt coming due, a monster with a ticking clock — there’s real potential there. And yet.

What follows is every high-school-party-gone-wrong trope you’ve ever seen, layered with slasher horror that reads less like atmosphere and more like a checklist. Drugs, sex, rock and roll, body count. If this were a movie, it would be wall-to-wall jump scares, generous blood spray, and — because apparently the genre demands it — inexplicable sexual encounters timed to the most dangerous possible moments. I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt.

It’s grisly. It’s gratuitous. It’s all over the place.

Consider yourself warned.

Best for: Readers who love slasher horror and don’t mind it loud, messy, and very bloody. Not for: Anyone who needs their darkness to have a point.