Sixteen-year-old Georgie is less than thrilled to be shipped off with her older brother, Hamish, to star in their stepmother’s latest bid for fame: a survival reality TV show designed to monetize teen dysfunction. The show’s premise is that a group of high school delinquents will be dropped off in the middle of the woods for eight days. From the outset the set-up strains credulity in terms of the legality of leaving minors without food, water, or shelter in dangerous weather conditions, but this can be set aside in favor of the gripping plot that is kickstarted by the disappearance of the counselors. Although the cameramen initially claim they have nothing to do with it, they’re eventually pressured into revealing the teens have been purposefully abandoned as the first in a series of twists. A small contingent decides to split from the group try to catch up with the counselors, taking a cameraman and the satellite phone with them. Thus begins the slow dwindling of their numbers as the line between fabricated scares and actual peril blur. The survivors will have to work together to survive the horrors in store for them. Lovise excels in conjuring a mounting sense of dread through the misty, unsettling woods and a sinister presence just out of sight. The fairy tale elements are updated for the modern age in fun, interesting ways—a social media–obsessed evil stepmother, a trail of protein bread wrappers instead of crumbs, and an evil witch who punishes “bad” children in a creatively gruesome fashion. While the general adult negligence that permeates this novel almost borders on cartoonish, the characterization of the rest of the cast is more believable: with common archetypes like the spoiled rich kid and the mysterious bad boy Mack, who Georgie inevitably falls for. Her and Hamish’s close bond is a more compelling emotional anchor than a budding romance that seems out of place amidst all the blood and violence. Still, the novel is committed to its dark vision until the gory climax, dampened only slightly by an unnecessary twist, and ends on a satisfying note.