The Camp by Nancy Bush
Published by Kensington Publishing
Release 6/27/23
By Matt Spaulding
When I was looking over the list of books up for review sent to Atomic Geekdom, this phrase jumped right out at me: “Friday the 13th meets Yellowjackets…”. That' was the description given to Nancy Bush’s latest novel, The Camp, and I knew right away I had to read this book.
Set most in a summer camp, Camp Fog Lake (aka “Camp Love Shack” to the counselors), located in the Oregon woods, “The Camp” delivers on its promise of being a lot like the hit series Yellowjackets, and a little less on being like Friday the 13th, but I’ll get to that.
The book’s main characters are a group of women, Brooke, Rona, Wendy and Emma, who, when they were young, went to Camp Fog Lake during its last year of being open. While they were there, mysterious deaths occurred that were ruled a murder/suicide. But the women know some things they aren’t telling.
Here’s where things got a bit muddled up for me. While the aforementioned women are the initial main characters, in the present day of the novel we are greeted with yet another set of main characters, the younger generation: Emma’s younger (but still adult) sister Jamie and Jamie’s daughter Harley, who is set to go to the reopening of Camp Fog Lake.
Jamie and her husband, Cooper, are expecting a baby via a surrogate, Mary Jo, who once lived at Haven Commune, a mysterious religious commune very near Camp Fog Lake. Jamie is uncomfortable with Mary Jo having been in a “cult” and this sets up one of the book’s three main mysteries as she goes looking for answers when she goes to visit Harley on parents’ weekend at camp.
I won’t lie, at this part of the book, too many more side characters began to enter the story. Once Harley is at camp, we meet so many other side characters: camp counselors, camp staff, husbands of women, and members of Haven Commune. On top of that, there is a third plot line that involves murders happening away from the camp that introduces police officers. I don’t think all readers will find this parade of names a problem, but I certainly did. I often found myself unsure of who was who and forgetting relations to other characters.
Ultimately, however, not being able to keep up with all of the characters didn’t stop this book from being a great mystery. Between the mystery of what happened at Camp Fog Lake, the mystery of Haven Commune and the mystery of the murders back in town, there is no shortage of things to keep you wondering right up to the very end.
Speaking of the end. While the description of the book that caught me promised a bit of Friday the 13th, the ‘80s slasher horror really didn’t come into effect until the last fifty pages or so. So, while it was a good riff on that genre, don’t go in expecting it throughout the entire book.
Full of murder and mystery set against the backdrop of summer camp in June, The Camp is a great read for when you’re on the deck, at the beach or anywhere else you might be this summer. Dare I even say…at camp?