After finishing Season 2 of Yellowjackets, I found myself searching for another story that could terrify me on both a visceral and psychological level. When someone on the /r/Yellowjackets subreddit suggested FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven, I figured it was worth a look.
48 hours later, I’d finished one of the best horror/thriller novels of the last 25 years. You’ll never look at theme parks the same way again — especially the folks like me (back in college) who have worked at one.
What It’s About
From the official publication summary:
Since the 1970s, FantasticLand has been the theme park where “Fun is Guaranteed!” But when a hurricane ravages the Florida coast and isolates the park, the employees find it anything but fun. Five weeks later, the authorities who rescue the survivors encounter a scene of horror. Photos soon emerge online of heads on spikes outside of rides and viscera and human bones littering the gift shops, breaking records for hits, views, likes, clicks, and shares. How could a group of survivors, mostly teenagers, commit such terrible acts?
Presented as a fact-finding investigation and a series of first-person interviews, FantasticLand pieces together the grisly series of events. Park policy was that the mostly college-aged employees surrender their electronic devices to preserve the authenticity of the FantasticLand experience. Cut off from the world and left on their own, the teenagers soon form rival tribes who viciously compete for food, medicine, social dominance, and even human flesh. This new social network divides the ravaged dreamland into territories ruled by the Pirates, the ShopGirls, the Freaks, and the Mole People. If meticulously curated online personas can replace private identities, what takes over when those constructs are lost?
That sums most of it up pretty well, although the publisher does omit that the story contains some interesting twists despite its retrospective format. That doesn’t change the presented narrative, but it does cause you to look one way while something even more horrifying is allowed to dig its claw in.
What Works
If you’ve read Max Brooks’ World War Z, then you know how incredibly well the fictional interview/documentary format can work — even for the worn out zombie genre. With FantasticLand, however, Bockoven conjures something far more terrifying than any fictional creature.
I know, I know…the “humans are the real monsters” trope is arguably more played out than the shambling undead. But this novel does it so incredibly well that even the most cynical readers will have a hard time putting the book down.
In between a very small handful of heroes and villains is a dizzying spectrum of gray. At both their best and worst moments, characters behave and react in ways that are jarringly relatable. We hate some who end up gaining our sympathy and fall in love with others who break our hearts. Bravery and cowardice work in equal measure to the benefit of survival — all set against the backdrop of a narrative so thrilling that it feels wrong how much we’re enjoying it.
Despite the retrospective format, Bockoven creates a level of tension that honestly shouldn’t exist. I’ve never felt so terrified for characters who I know (thanks to them being interviewed) will survive their harrowing ordeal. I also have a new phobia to enjoy next time I have to stay in a hotel by myself.
FantasticLand artwork by John Bergin
What Doesn’t Work
There are a few times when a character rambles to the point that it becomes frustrating. I get that Bockoven was going for realism (and arguably achieved it), but it still disrupts FantasticLand‘s otherwise brilliant pacing.
To be fair, though, one of those characters ends up having a second interview that’s one of the novel’s best moments. It should also be noted that even the “rambling” chapters always find their way back to being great.
The Verdict
It’s rare that I seek out an audiobook of something I’ve already read, but that’s exactly what I intend to do with FantasticLand. In addition to the production’s rave reviews, Bockoven’s story is very much worth revisiting. The story continually takes your breath away while new perspectives reframe everything you thought you knew going in.
If you want a story that will cause both your heart and mind to race (and keep a few extra lights on at night), buy your ticket to FantasticLand today.
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