It’s been three months since Ollie made a daring deal with the smiling man to save those she loved, and then vanished without a trace. The smiling man promised Coco, Brian and Phil, that they’d have a chance to save her, but as time goes by, they begin to worry that the smiling man has lied to them and Ollie is gone forever. But finally, a clue surfaces. A boy who went missing at a nearby traveling carnival appears at the town swimming hole, terrified and rambling. He tells anyone who’ll listen about the mysterious man who took him. How the man agreed to let him go on one condition: that he deliver a message. Play if you dare.

Game on! The smiling man has finally made his move. Now it’s Coco, Brian, and Phil’s turn to make theirs. And they know just where to start. The traveling carnival is coming to Evansburg.

Meanwhile, Ollie is trapped in the world behind the mist, learning the horrifying secrets of the smiling man’s carnival, trying everything to help her friends find her. Brian, Coco and Phil will risk everything to rescue Ollie—but they all soon realize this game is much more dangerous than the ones before. This time the smiling man is playing for keeps.

The summer nights are short, and Ollie, Coco, Brian, and Phil have only until sunrise to beat him once and for all—or it’s game over for everyone.

I was excited to read the conclusion to this series and find out what would happen with Ollie and her friends. I do feel like we got more of a glimpse of the Smiling Man in this installment, and enjoyed the carnival setting, but in a lot of ways I felt like it was a little disjointed. There were a couple different POV’s and jumping in time just a little. I wanted there to be a more climactic event since this was the last book in the quartet and unfortunately felt like I didn’t get that. I did like a lot of the elements that were throughout the book and the clowns were wonderfully creepy, it just felt a little rushed for my taste. When we finally did get some action towards the end it was over too soon. Still, I’m glad to have read the conclusion and do feel it wrapped up the quartet to satisfaction.

Happy reading!