Hundreds of lucky winners are taken to a remote island where they will be treated to a weeklong stay at the Paradise Club, one of the world’s most exclusive and luxurious resorts, all-expenses paid. The only compromise is that they are to be veritably cut off from society, their phones taken from right as they step out of the ferry. But that’s a small price to pay for a stay in paradise, isn’t it?

Things, of course, turn out too good to be true. The would-be vacationers soon learn that the island is to be the stage for the Skirmish: a game that pits the world’s most bloodthirsty killers against all the innocent, unsuspecting tourists.

Paradise Club is a fun little summer slasher that could have been great if all the interesting (and interestingly eldritch) twists and turns the story took amounted to anything other than the most abrupt of finales. An ending that makes sense only after you read the author’s note which talks about how the book came to be written, but as its own stand-alone thing, I couldn’t help but be disappointed. Especially considering that this only needed an additional chapter or two to have a more satisfactory denouement.

As it stands, it’s still an enjoyable read. I appreciate how Meyer wastes no time with the story, the plot of which is up and running almost as soon as we’re on the island and have met a handful of its victims visitors. He hooks you quickly as a reader, and keeps your attention by featuring an increasingly outrageous cast of killers who do their dirty, morbid deeds in increasingly outrageous, barbaric acts. This is one unflinchingly gory book, so fair warning to those of you who like your horror with a little less blood and guts.