This book had a really good twist towards the end. That was the best thing about it! I had been lured in by promises of 90s nostalgia and that it was similar to Daisy Jones and the Six. I didn’t think it did either of these particularly well, but it was a page-turner all the same. It’s in the form of a podcast, with a very irritating host who makes a lot of unnecessary interjections throughout. The premise is that a teenage popstar, AJ Silver, died in a rollercoaster accident in 1996. He had hired an entire theme park, which was owned by an English family. After the tragedy, the family were found negligent, lost the theme park and broke apart. This podcast uses interviews and new claims which later emerged to explore the circumstances around what happened. The end of each episode includes a few comments from listeners. I liked that the story was credible, although I think it unlikely that almost everyone involved could be tracked down so many years later and agree to be interviewed. There was some commentary on the effects of fame on young popstars, which made the big twist – that I’m not going to spoil! – seem very apt, though I never saw it coming. I think it was a good read, one for your summer list, although I got impatient with it and I wasn’t that keen on the podcast format.

Published by Boldwood Books, 2026.