The Counselors

By Jessica Goodman and Jessica Goodman

Book Overview

"Dark secrets? Summer camp setting? Complex teen girls? Murder? Count me in." --Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces

* A New York Times bestseller * A USA TODAY bestseller * An Indie Bestseller *

From New York Times bestselling author Jessica Goodman comes a twisty mystery 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--the camp is the lifeline of the small town she lives in. Alpine Lake provides jobs, money and prestige to the region. Her parents work there so Goldie is one of the few townies who have reaped the rewards of living so close to the summer camp, with its five-figure tuition and rich kids who have been dumped there for eight weeks by their powerful parents.

Goldie is back this summer as a counselor, desperate for camp 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 comfort than ever.

But Goldie's not the only person who has been lying. When a teen turns up dead late one night, she knows that the death couldn't have been an accident. She also knows that one of her best friends was there that night.

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

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0593524241
• ISBN13: 9780593524244
• Release Date: May 2023
• Publisher: Razorbill
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

Really enjoyed it

Another addictively readable book by Jessica Goodman. She’s become a must read author for me. I was so excited for this book that I stayed up till midnight to claim it with my points on BookishFirst first because I didn’t want to wake up to find all the copies had been claimed. Totally worth it! Goldie feels most at home at Alpine Lake camp and that’s been the case since she was a little girl. Her parents work at the camp so Goldie got to attend for free. For others, the camp was very exclusive and campers’ parents paid tens of thousands of dollars for their kids to attend. Goldie made her best friends at camp and every year she cannot wait to see Ava and Imogene again. This year, she needs them more than ever. This year all three girls are 18 and working as counselors at the camp but they’re still having lots of fun. The camp is actually in Goldie’s town of Roxwood, throughout the rest of the year the town feels boring to Goldie. But when summer comes around, the girls take advantage of all the fun they can find in Roxwood. People who live in Roxwood having conflicting feelings about Alpine Lake. It brings some money into the town but they think it could bring in more. They also know that every camper who attends is wealthy yet they never tip when they spend days off in town. During the school year this year something major happened in Goldie’s life. It’s negatively affected everything else in her life. But she hasn’t told Ava and Imogene despite their promises never to keep secrets from each other. After the girls are all reunited at the camp, Goldie feels like she’ll get a reprieve for the summer. But then a teenager from Roxwood is found drowned in the lake at camp. Goldie knows it’s not an accident. She also knows that Ava was at the lake the night before. She doesn’t know what any of it means but something seems off. I loved the girls’ traditions at camp and I love their relationship with each other. They might have kept some secrets from each other but they are definitely family to each other. I also loved the mystery. They’ll keep you guessing till the end.

Good Summer Read

Well... I enjoyed Jessica Goodman's other book, They'll Never Catch Us, better. Maybe it is because I was never at a summer camp, especially not one filled with rich kids. And I found Goldie to be very frustrating with her pining over Heller, even after he abandons her to the wolves for something he did that she covered for him. I know it is supposed to be like that because she is a teenager, but come on, by 17 Goldie should have a little common sense, even with hormones. The way she kept thinking about how in love she was with him got to be very irritating. So, the book is half that, and half an intrigue with the camp and with Goldie's friends, Imogen and Ava. And I didn't much care about either. I did care enough to finish the book, so the way it was told was intriguing enough, even if the subject wasn't. I think my favorite part was the camp activities that were happening in between all the troubles and dead body.