Cults, Influencers, & Island Horror

A little life background to give context to this review: I recently vacationed in Mexico, and while sitting on the hotel’s private beach, I got the sudden urge to find a horror book set on a tropical island. Imagine my delight when I discovered How Bad Things Can Get by Darcy Coates.

I first discovered Coates when I picked up the horror thriller Dead of Winter. I loved that book so much that I have been trying to get my hands on more of her work ever since. For some reason, I find it hard to find her novels in my local library, but this book was available, so I prioritized it to the top of my TBR queue. (Let it be known to my local library: I want you to get more Darcy Coates thrillers!)

Let’s dive in.

The Setup: An Influencer’s Deadly Island Game

Darcy Coates takes a very modern twist on The Most Dangerous Game and pushes it into full horror territory. The setup is instantly compelling: a private island, a famous online influencer named Eton, hundreds of loyal fans, and a luxury event that promises games, sunshine, and internet-worthy excess.

Ruth’s boyfriend Zach won a lottery, scoring tickets for Ruth and his two friends, Hayleigh and Carson, to come to the island and participate in games for massive prizes. Side note: I haven’t watched any Mr. Beast videos, but I think Eton is supposed to be a Mr. Beast parallel. Can someone confirm that in the comments below?

Everything about this situation feels wrong from the start. Ruth is selected to participate in the first game even though she isn’t exactly a superfan, the games feel far too dangerous, and the island staff have terrifying smiles plastered on their faces no matter what is happening. Going from a small, claustrophobic cabin in a blizzard in Dead of Winter to the expanse of a tropical island is a big shift, but Coates keeps a similarly relentless tempo.

Cult Trauma & The Ghosts of Petition

At the center of the story is Ruth, who arrives on Prosperity Island carrying a past she has spent years trying to escape. Early on, it is revealed that she is the only survivor of an infamous cult called Petition, and her identity is a secret to a world obsessed with true crime. Petition’s members took neuro-toxic drugs that caused everyone to go insane and murder each other, all while Ruth hid among the bodies to survive. To make matters worse, the island games coincide with the 20th anniversary of that massacre.

That history gives the book much more weight than a standard “party gone wrong” survival thriller. The island chaos is frightening on its own, but what gives the novel its edge is how the external danger collides with Ruth’s buried trauma.

Along with Ruth, the story unfolds through multiple perspectives, including Logan (a YouTube journalist) and Petra (Eton’s right-hand woman). I liked all three of these characters. They have motives I could identify with, and they provide a 3D view of the island mystery, keeping you guessing who is really involved. Furthermore, the characters actually do smart things in insane situations! It’s not like a low-budget horror movie where everyone makes terrible decisions.

Human Horror for the Internet Age

What stands out most about this premise is how contemporary it feels. Coates is examining the blurry line between fandom and fanaticism, admiration and control. The crowd gathers around money, access, status, and spectacle, ignoring warning signs because they are dazzled by the desire to be part of something exclusive. Underneath the gore and suspense is a pointed look at parasocial culture and the way charismatic figures can turn devotion into something frightening.

In terms of tone, How Bad Things Can Get is grounded but brutal. Coates puts cut scenes interspersed throughout the narrative, focusing on other contestants on the island and how they end up getting killed. It provides a perfectly fun, slasher-flick atmosphere. This is human horror: groupthink, manipulation, violence, and the terror of being surrounded by people who are already too deep in the lie.

The Verdict (Spoiler-Free)

Overall, How Bad Things Can Get is a strong example of horror that blends page-turning momentum with timely themes. It takes a flashy thriller premise and deepens it with cult trauma, social commentary, and survival stakes. For horror readers who want a novel that feels both entertaining and sharply tuned to the current cultural moment, this is a highly satisfying read. Like I said, I want more Coates!

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🚨 SPOILER WARNING: Stop reading here if you haven’t finished the book! 🚨

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The Ending Explained

People are disappearing, things are going wrong, and finally, a body shows up in a suitcase.

My only nitpick with the book is that the cult killing the guests on the island didn’t seem to have a master plan that lived up to the hype of the “spectacle.” The twist reveals that the cultists are pretty much all the employees working on the island. They tell the remaining guests that they are going to play one more game of hide and seek: if the guests can live until morning, they survive.

The cultists hunt the guests down in gruesome ways, draining their blood into a pool as a grand sacrifice to cleanse the corruption in the world. When Ruth is captured and confronts their leader, her lingering fears about her old cult coming back vanish. She realizes this is just a bad copy of the original Petition cult she grew up with. The new cult’s interpretations were wrong, and their intentions were completely misaligned with the original group’s twisted ideology.

Ruth shows a fierce will to survive, and watching her come to this empowering realization while fighting off these insane copycats was a great touch. Was the ending a letdown? I can’t entirely tell. But I find it very true to life that a modern cult might form from the remnants of an old one based purely on sensationalized social media stories.

What is the best cult horror book you have read? Let me know in the comments below!