“Welcome to Cape Carnage! Visit Once, Stay Forever.”
Call it recency bias, but I think Tourist Season comes dangerously close to replacing Butcher & Blackbird as Weaver’s best work yet. I mean, this was exactly the dark, unhinged, hysterical, and delightfully horrifiying serial killer romcom that I was expecting it would be, and I am not ashamed to say that I devoured it in a single day.
Now, considering how much I enjoyed The Ruinous Love Trilogy, I honestly didn’t even glance at the synopsis of Tourist Season before eagerly diving in headfirst. And to no one’s surprise, I knew I was in for another wild adventure when I saw that the first line is: “I’m sure nobody goes on vacation expecting to be dismembered and put through a woodchipper, but some tourists are just assholes and deserve their fate.”. Iconic. Tone is set, hook is planted, now bring on the chaos and carnage, babyyy!
Right from the very first page, I fell head over heels for my dangerous woman Harper, a skilled gardener with killer instincts (or maybe more than just instincts) who fiercely protects the town of Cape Carnage and her aging mentor’s safety like her own life depends on it… because maybe it does. Now enter Nolan Rhodes, a broken yet devilishly charming man who has come to Cape Carnage to complete his murderous revenge quest by slaying his last and most imporant target: none other than the sweet Harper Starling. Except things get more complicated when they somehow find themselves locked in a mutually beneficial truce that may or may not spiral into a dangerous obsession… AND I WAS SO HERE FOR THAT!
The tension is just delicious, and I loved how both Harper and Nolan were such strong and well developed characters all while keeping so much of their backstories shrouded in mystery and secrecy. And sure, there was quite a bit of miscommunication driving their dynamic forward, but this is one of the rare cases where I think it was understable and handled in the most entertaining way possible.
I do think the side characters in Tourist Season could have been a bit more well-rounded (okay, except Arthur, he was perfectly imperfect), and I felt like even Nolan was a bit inconsistent when it comes to his actions/motivations. Like, we as the reader quickly realise that Harper literally isn’t the monster that Nolan believes her to be (my heart truly broke for this woman as her tragic backstory was slowly unveiled), but he doesn’t know that yet and instead just has a change of heart when he realies that she is… kinda cute and hot? I mean, can’t blame him, I would probably lose all my senses if I met her too, but still.
Even so, I was totally on board for their reluctant budding romance, and I loved the balance between the development of their sexual attraction and emotional connection as they do cute bonding activities like digging up bodies, avoiding stalkers, and unaliving assholes; they are truly a match made in heaven… or hell? Also, the way that these two keep pushing each other’s buttons and playing with fire by entertaining and sharing their darkest desires was just SO HOT. Don’t mind me blushing and sweating over here, helloooo!!
And while the slow-burn romance was my personal favourite aspect of Tourist Season, I loved how the mystery/thriller/horror elements helped to increase the tension and stakes to seriously deadly heights. Moreover, while this is mostly a fun and delightful romp, it also tackles some very serious and heavy topics like PTSD, grief, Alzheimer’s, and the dangers of cultish obsession which really added that extra oomph that makes Weaver’s works just stand out from the crowd for me.
Safe to say, Tourist Season was everything I was hoping it would be, and then some more. I think this would be perfect introduction to Weaver’s uniquely unhinged storytelling, although if you have read The Ruinous Love Trilogy, you will recognize some red threads connecting the two series that only make the twists even more exciting. Just be warned, The Seasons of Carnage Trilogy doesn’t seem to follow the same series structure of companion standalones like The Ruinous Love Trilogy was, and now I am absolutely dying for book 2 because THAT ENDING! Brutal, bold, I love it.
