The Counselors

An INSTANT Indie Bestseller!

"A nervy, intense, and expertly crafted thriller that kept me hooked page after page. Dark secrets? Summer camp setting? Complex teen girls? Murder? Count me in. A simply stunning book." Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces, You'd Be Home Now, and The Agathas

From New York Times bestselling author Jessica Goodman comes a twisty new thriller about three best friends, one elite summer camp, and the dark secrets that lead to a body in the lake.

Camp Alpine Lake is the only place where Goldie Easton feels safe.

She s always had a special connection to the place, even before she was old enough to attend. The camp is the lifeline of Roxwood, the small town she lives in. Alpine Lake provides jobs, money and prestige to the region. Few Roxwood locals, though, get to reap the rewards of living so close to the glam summer that camp, with its five-figure tuition and rich kids who have been dumped there for eight weeks by their powerful parents. Goldie's one of them.

Even with her "townie" background, Goldie has never felt more at home at camp and now she s back as a counselor, desperate for summer to start and her best friends, Ava and Imogen, to arrive. Because Goldie has a terrible dark secret she s been keeping and she is more in need of the comfort than ever.

But Goldie s not the only person at camp who has been lying. When a teen turns up dead in the lake late one night, she knows that the death couldn t have been an accident. She also knows that Ava was at the lake that same night.

What did Ava see and what does she know? Why hasn t she said anything to Goldie about the death? Worse what did Ava do?

But asking questions offers no answers, only broken bonds of lifelong friendship, with hidden danger and betrayals deeper than Goldie ever imagined.

“Jessica Goodman perfectly captures the wonder of summer camp and the horrors that can lurk beneath the safest of harbors. The Counselors is an engrossing page-turner.” —Kit Frick, author of Very Bad People and I Killed Zoe Spanos

"With her bold and powerful prose, unforgettable main characters, sophisticated and nuanced plots and strikingly clever twists that leave you guessing and breathlessly turning pages, Jessica Goodman has cemented herself as an incisive and exciting must-read author on the thriller scene. An incredible talent." —Courtney Summers, New York Times bestselling author of Sadie and The Project
 
"A nervy, intense, and expertly crafted thriller that kept me hooked page after page. Dark secrets? Summer camp setting? Complex teen girls? Murder? Count me in. A simply stunning book."
—Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces, You'd Be Home Now, and The Agathas

"A riveting, razor-sharp dive into female friendships, in all their dynamic and messy glory. The Counselors doesn't shy away from dark secrets, the complex nature of betrayal, and the memories that bind people together-- and tear them apart. Jessica Goodman beautifully (and brutally) encapsulates what it means to be a teenage girl. You won't be able to turn the pages fast enough."
—Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, author of The Girls Are All So Nice Here and All Eyes On Her

“Both a gripping, fast-paced thriller set at a summer camp full of secrets and an insightful examination of female friendship, The Counselors will hook you from the beginning and keep you on the edge of your seat until its final stunning twist." — Liz Lawson, author of The Agathas and The Lucky Ones

Auteur

Jessica Goodman

Texte du rabat

An INSTANT Indie Bestseller!

"A nervy, intense, and expertly crafted thriller that kept me hooked page after page. Dark secrets? Summer camp setting? Complex teen girls? Murder? Count me in. A simply stunning book." —Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces, You'd Be Home Now, and The Agathas

From New York Times bestselling author Jessica Goodman comes a twisty new thriller about three best friends, one elite summer camp, and the dark secrets that lead to a body in the lake.

Camp Alpine Lake is the only place where Goldie Easton feels safe.
 
She’s always had a special connection to the place, even before she was old enough to attend. The camp is the lifeline of Roxwood, the small town she lives in. Alpine Lake provides jobs, money and prestige to the region. Few Roxwood locals, though, get to reap the rewards of living so close to the glam summer that camp, with its five-figure tuition and rich kids who have been dumped there for eight weeks by their powerful parents. Goldie's one of them.
 
Even with her "townie" background, Goldie has never felt more at home at camp and now she’s back as a counselor, desperate for summer to start and her best friends, Ava and Imogen, to arrive. Because Goldie has a terrible dark secret she’s been keeping and she is more in need of the comfort than ever.
 
But Goldie’s not the only person at camp who has been lying. When a teen turns up dead in the lake late one night, she knows that the death couldn’t have been an accident. She also knows that Ava was at the lake that same night.
 
What did Ava see and what does she know? Why hasn’t she said anything to Goldie about the death? Worse—what did Ava do?
 
But asking questions offers no answers, only broken bonds of lifelong friendship, with hidden danger and betrayals deeper than Goldie ever imagined.

Échantillon de lecture

Prologue

Evil doesn’t exist at Camp Alpine Lake. Not inside the wrought-­iron gate that separates camp from the town of Roxwood, andnot at the waterfront, where far-­out buoys keep us isolated from the rest of New England. Everything here is safe. The tennis courts. The arts and crafts shed. The cabins. The Lodge. Camp is a bubble, made for bonfires and sing-­alongs and friendships formed under the beam of a flashlight.

Even when I was eight and the group leaders would huddle us together on the man-­made beach in neat little rows so we could watch the lifeguards line up in the water to practice safety drills, we knew they were all for show. We were never in danger. Not here.

We’d watch the lifeguards dive in unison, touching the ground beneath the surface, even if it was eleven or twelve feet below. They’d come up with nothing, handfuls of dirt. No harmed child, no limp arm. They’d do this over and over until they reached the end of the boundaries, never screaming in horror. Never fearful that a precious camper was gone.

Even when I became a counselor and was tasked with keeping the children alive, healthy, and well fed, I knew there was never any real danger here. Not on the edges of the forest up by the cliffs where loose rocks threatened to fall silently into the abyss. Not along the ropes course where harnesses always stayed buckled. And certainly not in the lake, where I wore my red lifeguard suit like a superhero’s costume.

But that was before I knew what kind of dark secrets were hidden in the corners of Camp Alpine Lake, out of sight of campers, counselors, and lifers like me, who would give everything we had to keep this place whole.

That was before we learned the truth. About Ava, Imogen, and me—­and how far we’d go to protect each other even after we had been exposed.

Before this summer, Camp Alpine Lake was a haven. An escape from what I could not face back home in Roxwood, only a few miles outside the gate.

But now Camp Alpine Lake is another place whe…