100 Pages A Day...Stephanie's Book Reviews

Scott Mamer is holding a dark secret in his past about the death of a young girl. Since then, he has had trouble sleeping and holding down a job. When an opportunity arises to work at Camp Crownheart, a children's fairy tale camp set deep in the Michigan woods, Scott seizes the opportunity even though it isn't his cup of tea. When he arrives, Scott is surprised that the counselors aren't exactly the wholesome bunch that you would expect to be a a children's camp; girls with eating disorders, exotic dancers, drug users and teens who owe child support round out the list. The camp director, Charlotte and her maintenance guy, Bruce also seems to be running quite a strict business. Scott tries to settle in before the kids arrive; however, on the very first night two of the counselors go missing and are found dead later that night. The death toll continues to climb and Scott tries to figure out why the counselors seem to be targeted.

Many of us know that the original fairy tales were not the nice sweet stories that have been imagined for today's world. The original fairy tales were dark, gory and downright horrifying; nonetheless their purpose was to teach a lesson, a moral of the story. This is what the killer at Camp Crownheart is striving to teach the wayward counselors. Grimm Woods begins like a typical teen slasher camp film that we all know; teens who are hooking up quickly fall victim to a murderer bent on revenge. It isn't until about halfway through the book that the fairy tale angle begins to become apparent and I became very interested in what twisted fate that the counselors would meet. I was very intrigued once we begin to learn the true versions of the fairy tales and what moral the killer believes each counselor deserves for their transgressions. The deaths were very creative and of course, gory, violent and bloody. The mystery involved is of course finding out who the killer is, but more so why they have it out for Scott specifically. Once all those plot points come together, Scott's fairy tale moral is revealed for an exciting, vengeful and bloody ending. Overall, an interesting murder mystery with original fairy tale tie-ins.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.