The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Goodman, Jessica. The Counselors New York: Razorbill, 2022.

The novel is narrated in first-person by the main character, Goldie. The chapters alternate back and forth between past tense and present tense and are labeled either “Now” or “Then” after the chapter number is given at the top of each chapter. The book opens with a prologue that is told in present tense, but in this prologue Goldie seems to be speaking from the future because she tells the reader that Camp Alpine Lake had always been perfect to her, but during the summer after senior year she discovers all of its dark secrets.

The first chapter zooms back in time, though continues to use the present tense. Goldie arrives at Camp Alpine with her parents, who work there. They live in Roxwood, the small town just a couple of miles outside the gates of camp. No one in Roxwood could ever dream of affording to attend the camp, but Goldie gets to go because of her parents. She loves camp more than anywhere else, and she has spent every summer since she was eight there with her two best friends, Imogen and Ava. This year, the girls are going to be lifeguards and counselors for the younger girls.

Goldie is looking forward to reuniting with her friends because she has had a very bad year at school. She started dating the most popular boy in school, Heller, and fell in love with him. She kept him a secret from her friends, though, because she thought they would think he was “Roxwood trash.” On New Year’s Eve, Goldie and Heller went to a New Year’s Eve party and drove home together. On the way, Heller crashed into his best friend, Dylan. Dylan survived, but he was unable to play hockey or get a scholarship like he had planned. Since Heller was drinking and Goldie was not, Goldie agreed to take the blame. Heller’s father gave Goldie $20,000 and an NDA to sign. She did so happily because she loved Heller. However, everyone at school hated her for what she had done. Heller stopped talking to her, and she became so depressed she basically quit going to school. She failed the whole semester, and she was going to have to go back after the summer and finish before she could go to college.

Goldie feels so embarrassed about all of this that she decides to keep it all a secret from her friends. She also feels like they are keeping secrets from her. When they all go out to a dive bar in town together, Goldie is horrified when Ava says she thinks Heller is cute and approaches him. The next day, Heller steers his boat into the camp’s side of the lake and talks to Ava again. That night, Goldie sees Ava sneak out of her cabin at night. She comes into Goldie’s cabin a few hours later and cries, then goes to sleep.

The next morning, the camp owners—Stu and Mellie—announce that a local boy drowned by accident in the lake and was found that morning. Goldie is devastated when she learns that the boy is Heller, because, even after everything, she still loves him.

The younger counselors arrive, and Goldie gets busy taking care of them and introducing them to camp life. While on a hike with her campers, she sees her old friend Cal in the woods crying. After he leaves, she walks over to where he had stood and finds Heller’s ID card for his job at the County Clerk’s Office.

On their next night out, Heller goes with her camp friends to a bar called West Lake and finds a local newspaper with an article suggesting that Heller’s death was not an accident but a murder.

On the Fourth of July, Cal comes to camp to deliver fireworks. Goldie asks him about Heller’s ID card and Cal explains that Heller gave it to him before he drowned and said Cal should use it if anything happened to him.

The cook, Christina, tells Goldie that she needs cumin for her chili and asks her to go to town to pick some up. Goldie does so, but she stops at the County Clerk’s Office and sneaks into Heller’s office. She finds a picture of the two of them hanging on his wall. She also finds emails from him to dozens of newspapers saying that he had uncovered a massive financial scandal involving Mark Cantor, Ava’s father.

Goldie confronts Ava about her father and whether or not she had anything to do with Heller’s death. Ava is insulted at the question and explains that Heller wanted to meet with her to talk about her dad the night he died. She met with him, but then left when a golfcart approached. Goldie apologizes and tells the truth about her and Heller.

Cal calls Goldie and tells her that he has discovered the head counselor, Meg, worked with Heller at the office. Goldie suspects that Meg is the killer and she tries to tell Stu and Mellie. However, when she does so, they explain that Meg is not the killer—they are. They had been using Mar Cantor to help embezzle from the camp for years. Meg had found out and told Heller about it. He had confronted Stu, and Stu had killed him with his insulin pen, then thrown him in the lake.

Stu and Mellie lock Goldie in the cafeteria and light it on fire. She uses a walkie talkie to call for help. Her friends arrive and save her. When she wakes up in the hospital, she learns that Stu and Mellie confessed and were arrested. She and her friends sit around the bonfire and Goldie dreams about buying the camp and making it a better place.