FantasticLand | Mini Review

Rating - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

"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?"

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FantasticLand is a standalone horror novel by Mike Bockoven.

True crime lovers, where are you at? This is 100% a book for you. Set up as a series of interviews, FantasticLand covers the gruesome events that occurred at a theme park after park-goers and workers are forced to survive after the landfall of a hurricane. Sounds like an episode of a true crime podcast, doesn't it? Well, that is exactly how it reads.

I am kind of sad that I didn't listen to this on audio for full immersion, but this was a fantastic read (pun intended). It wasn't as gruesome as I was expecting it to be, but it was an interesting peek into the human psyche and how it reacts to danger. After the park is hit by the remnants of a hurricane, those who did not flee the area were stuck, but not without countermeasures and the means of survival. It just so happens that the teens and young adults took on a different means of survival, i.e., they formed tribes and started killing each other a la battle royale.

This is a rather short book, so I cannot get too much into the details, and I think that you should just read it yourself, but this was such an interesting read. It reads like it is a real account, so if you like true crime and are looking for a new interesting story to read or listen to, try this one for shot.