Malicia

Gr 9 Up–Malicia, a horror-themed amusement park on an island near the Dominican Republic, was the center of the world’s attention when dozens of parkgoers were murdered in a mysterious mass killing. Now, 13 years later, Raymundo—whose mother and brother were killed that day—is making a documentary about the killings in the hopes of finding out the truth behind that tragic day. Ray travels to the abandoned island along with his three best friends: nervous Joaquin, ex-girlfriend Sofia, and budding filmmaker Isabella. However, what the quartet doesn’t know is that each member of the self-styled Quisqueya Club has their own self-serving reason for traveling to Malicia. Blood and guts hit the floor soon after the group lands on the island, and as a hurricane bears down on them, so do the shadows and monsters of the island and its past. Storylines, corpses, and demons all collide in Malicia—itself an atmospheric and creepy locale—to create a chaotic, frenzied, but ultimately lackluster novel. While each of the four main characters have interesting reasons for being on the island, the characters themselves are not interesting or fleshed-out enough to carry their storylines. Every chapter—each told from a different character’s point-of-view—is soaked in gore, but that might not be enough to keep most readers engaged.