How Bad Things Can Get
The influencer promised the party of the century: five days of sun-drenched games, lavish drinks, and carefree fun on a pristine island paradise. Hundreds of loyal fans flocked to Prosperity Island, ready for their ultimate escape.
But for Ruth, paradise is a potential prison. The sole survivor of a notorious cult, she has spent decades meticulously burying her past, desperate to keep her blood-soaked childhood a closely guarded secret. This retreat was meant to be anonymous, a chance to simply exist.
Instead, Prosperity Island unveils a sinister history, one terrifyingly entwined with Ruth's own. As idyllic games warp into deadly traps and guests begin to disappear, the terrifying truth emerges: they haven't been invited to a party. They've been summoned to a reckoning, and the bonfire's light might soon illuminate a far darker, bloodier end.
- Ruth (Josanna) - Zach’s girlfriend, Festival attendee
- Barom (Peter) - Leader of the Petition
- Aama - Barom’s favorite wife
- Carson - Zach’s friend, Festival attendee
- Zach - Ruth’s boyfriend, Festival attendee
- Hayleigh - Carson’s girlfriend, Festival attendee
- Eton - Influencer, owner of Prosperity Island, 30
- Petra - Eric’s project manager
- Heather - Eton’s employee
- Logan - Video essayist, Festival attendee
- Trigger (Ryan) - Festival attendee
- Makayla - Festival attendee
- Stephen - Leader of the Secret Door Movement cult
- Lisa - Festival staff member
- Barry - Festival staff member
- Gilly - Festival attendee
- Maya - Festival attendee
- Amy - Eton’s ex-girlfriend
- Ruth is the sole survivor of the suicide cult called Petition. The cult was centered around the prophetic child, whom the elders believed had the gift of prophecy. When the elders believed they were being called to kill themselves to save humanity, all 400 members drank a nerve toxin mixed with honey that made them go wild before they died.
- Other than the authorities, Ruth has only ever told Zach that she is the prophetic child.
- Zach wins tickets to Eton’s festival on Prosperity Island and brings Ruth, Carson and Hayleigh as his guests.
- Eton tells his guests the history of Prosperity Island and the story of the Cannibal Witch: In 1970, Stephen brought his most loyal followers from the Secret Door Movement cult to the island, but they soon ran out of food. As people began getting sick, they resorted to eating the dead. The members blamed Martha, killed her and stuffed her into a hole. She became known as the Cannibal Witch.
- Eton announces a game - whoever finds Martha’s grave and brings him proof will win $100,000.
- Ruth realizes it is the twentieth anniversary of Petition’s mass suicide.
- Three festival goers are attacked and killed in the woods during the night, but their bodies are removed before anyone finds them.
- In the middle of the night, Ruth finds Gilly running through the jungle with several spears sticking out of her, but when she alerts Eton, he assures her it was an actor staging a reenactment of part of the cult’s story.
- Two festival goers are attacked and killed on the beach and their bodies removed.
- Eton finds a woman’s body in the water and shows Petra.
- Ruth finds out that Zach told Carson and Hayleigh that she is the Petition child.
- Carson says that Zach wrote on the form he filled out to try to win tickets to the festival that Ruth was the prophetic child from Petition.
- Zach had a podcast years ago that was all about Petition. He was obsessed with finding out everything he could about the cult.
- Zach spent months visiting Ruth’s former social worker, who has Alzheimer’s, to get Ruth’s name out of her.
- Zach deleted the podcast after receiving a threatening letter from someone who knew he had used illegal methods, including impersonating a government official and coercion, to obtain information about Petition.
- Staff lead the festival goers to the beach where five stakes topped with body parts protrude from the ground. One of the heads belongs to Trigger.
- Barry and forty other staff members take the stage, disrobe and announce that the next game is hide-and-seek and anyone still alive at dawn wins.
- Most people run into the jungle, but those who think it’s just a joke stay where they are and are slaughtered.
- Heather tells Petra that she joined Petition eight years ago.
- When Heather saw Zach’s entry form mentioning Ruth, she made sure they got an invite and that most of the festival staff consisted of Petition members.
- Petition believed it was Ruth’s way of reaching out to them and letting them know she was ready to finish what her family started twenty years ago.
- Lisa was killed because she was losing her faith and they were afraid she was drawing unwanted attention.
- Heather drinks honey laced with a nerve toxin and turns wild.
- Ruth sees the staff raise a dead body over a tub and drain its blood, just like the cleansing ceremonies Petition used to perform.
- Carson stumbles upon the Cannibal Witch’s grave in a crevice on the side of a cliff before being killed.
- Petra is able to place a call for help on a satellite phone before being killed.
- The staff capture Ruth and take her to the beach.
- Ships are seen approaching the island, so the Petition members drink honey laced with a nerve toxin.
- Barry forces Ruth to drink some and she tries to spit it out, but some goes down her throat.
- Ruth watches as the people start to turn wild.
- Ruth sees Zach’s body among the many in the water where they were thrown after being drained of blood.
- Ruth was not the prophetic child. Barom’s son was.
- When Ruth was found alive, police assumed she was the prophetic child mentioned in Barom’s writings, and she never corrected them.
- Eton, Hayleigh, Makayla and Logan are rescued.
- Ruth survives and wants Logan to tell her side of the story of the original Petition because she trusts him more than the media.
Darcy Coates has a distinct talent for trapping her characters in beautiful, unforgiving places and letting the terror build from there. The island setting is phenomenal, blending idyllic beaches with a suffocating, dense jungle that feels like a character in its own right. The chapters are long but the pacing never drags. Between the festival activities and the disappearing guests, there is constantly something happening. It keeps the momentum high and the mystery unraveling all throughout.
I love the way the cast is introduced. Coates provides just enough background to understand who these people are and actually care about them, which is a rare feat when you know most of them will probably end up dead before the final page. Logan’s perspective was a standout for me. I really enjoyed his point of view and only found myself wishing he had been a bit more involved in the main story, though it certainly doesn't hold the narrative back.
The atmosphere stays deeply twisted all the way through, leading to a conclusion that truly pays off. The final twist lands perfectly, upending what I thought I knew without feeling cheap or unearned.
If you like isolated island settings, fast-paced thrillers, and cult vibes, then you will love this book.
- Martha - Dead - Killed by Secret Door Movement members
- Barom - Dead - Shot himself in the head
- Lisa - Dead - Killed by the Petition
- Trigger - Dead - Killed by the Petition
- Petra - Dead - Killed by the Petition
- Heather - Dead - Drank poison
- Carson - Dead - Killed by the Petition
- Barry - Dead - Torn apart by the Petition
- Zach - Dead - Killed by the Petition
- Ruth - Alive - Survived Prosperity Island
- Eton - Alive - Under scrutiny for the festival massacre
- Lucan - Alive - Survived Prosperity Island
- Makayla - Alive - Survived Prosperity Island
- Cannibalism
- Drug use
- Suicide
- Murder
- Graphic violence
- Animal death
ISBN: 9781728270265
Publication Date: August 26, 2025
Note: Details are for the original edition. Other formats, editions, and audiobook versions may be available.
