Heads Will Roll by Josh Winning

I cannot be the only person who has the Yeah Yeah Yeahs song run through their head every time they come across the words of this title. Tho as I write this review, I’m listening to the horror-movie-soundtrack oeuvre of Isabel LaRosa, while shivering slightly in the unseasonable (and thankfully temporary) chill of local weather. While I’m glad it’ll warm up again soon, the weather and music combine to make the perfect atmosphere for this excellent spooky season read.

After being cancelled for an injudicious tweet — one that’s received a backlash so bad, it’s cost our primary narrator her job, her fiance and her savings — the sitcom actress most famed for her role as the perennially peppy Willow checks into Camp Castaway. The remote retreat for adults advertises itself as a place for people to unplug from all their electronics while getting back to nature and undergoing a little group therapy in the process. Attendees are encouraged to assume aliases upon arrival. Our narrator, having been too panicked and overwhelmed to read through all the promotional material her agent pressed on her before getting there, unthinkingly chooses Willow as her alter ego.

This is kind of a Freudian slip, because in many ways the actress does aspire to be more like Willow. But she’s also hiding secrets that she’s starting to believe might not be worth keeping buried any more. Ironically, she’s in a place filled with secrets, and not just because the other campers all carry guilty burdens of their own. Camp Castaway has its own sordid history, that Willow starts to piece together after a series of unsettling events begins to befall them. Another camper vanishes after telling the rest of the group the local legend of the murderous Knock-Knock Nancy, and Willow finds a creepy doll’s head in her cabin, with a threatening note tucked inside. There couldn’t actually be a vengeful spirit haunting the woods around Camp Castaway, could there? But when the bodies start piling up, and the heads literally start rolling, Willow and her new friends will have to do everything in their power to defeat a ghostly killer and survive.

This book took me a minute to get into but once I was in, I was hooked! Part of the effort of suspension of disbelief for me was the whole thing about cancellation: so many people come back unscathed from far worse things than Willow said, that it felt like any half decent PR firm would have easily been able to spin her gaffe in a way that also helped free her to be true to herself — and that was even before I knew what she’d so injudiciously tweeted! In fairness, a large part of her need to go to Camp Castaway came from the vicious emotional spiral that followed, fueled in part by her own self-loathing. And I get that. Just because you know something will blow over doesn’t make it any less painful in the short term, especially when you’re still coming to terms with your own past.

The narrative otherwise flows like a well-written horror movie, even if I still have Thoughts! and Feelings! over Juniper. I loved how Josh Winning kept me guessing throughout as to whodunnit and why. The way he shows how stories get twisted and tangled over time was also really thoughtful and engrossing. As with many horror films, there were a few teeny tiny plot holes, but overall this was thrilling entertainment that kept me on the edge of my seat while rooting for the good guys (RIP to the fallen!) I do not like watching slasher films at all — reading about people dying is one thing, but watching them, even when it’s fake, is quite another — so this was the perfect scary way for me to welcome the return of fall and spooky season!

Heads Will Roll by Josh Winning was published July 30 2024 by G. P. Putnam’s Sons and is available from all good booksellers, including