As a child, Willa was friends with the monster under her bed. In the present, she’s a famous artist and she has a feud with a television psychic, which is a fun set up.

She was a murder suspect when she was 17. When news breaks that the case is reopening, paparazzi start camping out in front of her home. There’s even a live feed of her house which seems over the top. The book acts like artists are as famous as actors or royalty, which didn’t ring true to me. Also, she’s presented as being famous because she’s a really good artist. In the real world, there’s thousands of excellent artists who aren’t famous because fame has more to do with luck and who you know than just talent by itself.

She gives the paparazzi the slip and returns to her childhood hometown where almost all the townspeople are hostile towards her, blaming her for the deaths she was accused of years ago. How could anyone think a 17-year-old girl is capable of overpowering six of her friends without getting a scratch on her? She’d have to have superpowers to do what she’s accused of.

When someone starts stalking her, rather than calling the police, she decides to stalk them back, which is an interesting choice. I like that Willa ended up having to team up with a couple former enemies to defeat an even worse enemy.

The book feels a bit sloppy in some ways. At one point, Willa gets locked in a basement and the issue of needing to go to the bathroom doesn’t come up for the first twelve hours. Who can go that long without peeing? Willa also forgets she has a gun until after she’s locked up. Huh? There’s no explanation for why she’s afraid of the basement ghosts, but not the ghost under her bed. Also, everyone in town apparently believes there’s a monster in the woods, but at the same time none of them think the monster killed those kids.

These problems aside, it’s still a fun book overall with action, scares, and surprise twists. It’s pretty enjoyable overall.