Slasher Horror

Review: Dead Fake (Bleak Haven #1) by Vincent Ralph

~ megs14malloy ~ Leave a comment

Dead Fake (Bleak Haven, #1)Dead Fake by Vincent Ralph
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dead Fake is the 1st-book in an all-new YA Horror series from beloved YA Horror author, Vincent Ralph. I have read previously from this author and had fun with his stories, so I’ve been looking forward to this.

This Bleak Haven series had the first 2-books release this January, and books 3 and 4 are set to release in the Fall. If I’m understanding it correctly, these books are like Fear Street in that they’re all set in the same fictional town, where curious and horrible things frequently happen, but each book follows separate characters.

I’m assuming there will be some overlap of characters, but I’m not sure how much since I haven’t read them all yet. This one did set-up nicely the idea that this town is cursed, and it also referenced some previous atrocities that would lead residents to believe that.

This story in particular follows Ava Wilson, whose Uncle Miles is an infamous Bleak Haven murderer. Ava attends the local high school and it’s there that the action kicks off. Flyers are posted around the school asking students if they would Swipe to Die?

The flyers have a QR code that lead to a mysterious website where students can view their own ‘death’. These deaths take the form of AI-generated Slasher Movie moments, putting the students in the final death scenes. These videos are then made public for all to see.

Ava is a hard pass on this disturbing new trend, but many students, including her friends, can’t resist trying it out. Curiosity killed the cat, and all that.

When some of her classmates deepfakes are replicated in real life, Ava can’t help but notice unsettling details that prompt her to believe these deaths may be connected to the past. Unable to leave it alone, Ava digs in, determined to find the killer before they take out anyone else she loves.

Dead Fake is a lot of fun to read. It’s engaging and well-written, with a solid intensity and well-developed characters. IMO, it’s a great start to a YA Horror series. It felt nostalgic for me, channeling the Point Horror, or Christopher Pike/R.L. Stine reads of my youth.

I really enjoyed Ava as the protagonist. I thought she felt very natural and the backstory of everything involving her Uncle added substance to the story. There was a lot of complicated emotions her family was dealing with in the aftermath of all that, and I enjoyed that exploration.

I also loved the build-up, with the flyers and the videos dropping, and then finally with the bodies dropping. There were some good twists as well once Ava starts looking into who is possibly behind the website and the murders.

I’m really excited to continue on with these books. I’m looking forward to seeing what the content of the other books is going to be. I’m not sure if they’re all set in the same time period or not, or if some of them will maybe feature some of the previous bad things that have happened in the town that were referenced in this book.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys YA Horror, or even Adult Horror Readers who are looking for something fun and potentially nostalgic ((if you’re of a certain age, like me)). You can tell by this phenomenal cover exactly the vibes you’re getting in this story too. I love it.

Thank you, Wednesday Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m super excited to start the next book. I have no doubt it will be as much fun as this one!

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Review: Showstopper by Lily Anderson

~ megs14malloy

ShowstopperShowstopper by Lily Anderson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars**

Showstopper is a blend of YA Contemporary meets Horror-Thriller ((light)), all set at a theater camp. When I read the synopsis, I knew this was one that I had to check out.

I’ve previously read one other book from Lily Anderson, Undead Girl Gang, and I absolutely loved it. I was excited to pick up another novel from her, and this certainly sounded like it’d be right up my alley.

This story follows 17-year old, Faye, and her friends at the Ghostlight Youth Theater Camp. This is Faye’s last year to take part in the camp, because the age limit is 17. She’s hoping it will be the best summer yet.

Faye feels like she’s finally ready to break out from the good girl parts she’s been type-cast in before. She’s ready to take center stage and wants to go after the leading role in their Riverdale-inspired production.

As soon as she starts to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight though, problems arise. She’d be competing with her BFF for the role, and that’s never really a great idea.

She’s also surprisingly attracted to the new boy at camp and that’s hella distracting. There’s just a lot of drama going on, which eventually takes a sharp, and very deadly, turn.

With stagehands disappearing and mysterious accidents occurring left and right, Faye isn’t sure if this production will ever truly come to fruition.

This was a cute story. I liked learning about the characters, as well as the drama and the history of the camp. The theater camp setting was fantastic. It wasn’t just an idea in the background, it was incorporated continuously throughout the story.

I also appreciated how diverse the cast was. I feel like the characters we got to know were all well-developed, and their interactions believable.

I think for me though, this was much more focused on the interpersonal drama than I was expecting. I feel like it’s sort of sold as a Slasheresque story, so I was expecting much more action and intensity than I actually got.

We were very much focused on the interpersonal dramas, which is fine and it did keep it entertaining. I did like the mystery too of who was messing with the production and those involved. I just kind of wanted more of that.

I wanted more action surrounding the accidents, injuries and deaths. Then also, the reveal made me more sad than anything. It just kind of put a bit of dark cloud over a story I was just really looking to have fun with.

These small criticisms shouldn’t take away from the great story the author has created here, it just wasn’t exactly to my tastes, or what I was looking for when I picked it up. I would recommend it for anyone who thinks the synopsis sounds intriguing, and musical theater lovers.

Thank you to the publisher, Henry Holt and Co., for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m looking forward to picking up more from this author!

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Review: Final Cut by Olivia Worley

~ megs14malloy

Final CutFinal Cut by Olivia Worley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**4.5-stars**

Hazel Lejeune dreams of becoming an actress. Shortly after she graduates from high school, she ends up landing the lead role in a low-budget Slasher Horror movie. The filming of the movie will require Hazel, who goes by Haze, to travel to the small town of Pine Springs, Louisiana.

The thing that no one else knows, the secret that Haze is keeping, is that she’s been to Pine Springs before. It was actually in that very town that her father, known as the Pine Springs Slasher, was convicted of a series of murders 15-years previously.

Haze has mixed feelings about returning to the town she lived in prior to her father’s conviction. Mostly though, she just hopes no one will recognize her.

As the cast and crew arrive on set, Haze ends up in a situation she never could have dreamed of. Mysterious accidents plague them from the start and mentions of her Dad can be found throughout the script.

Then a gruesome murder shocks everyone involved. Clearly, there’s a real killer stalking the set, but it is just a Pine Springs Slasher copy cat, or is perhaps the wrong man behind bars?

Obviously, this is a crucial question to many, but to Haze it means even more. Now she’s left to try to piece together the truth of what happened 15-years ago, while also trying to get through this film alive.

Final Cut is a really strong YA Slasher. I loved the vibes, setting and the mystery behind the slashes. It did feel a little drawn out in the 2nd-half to me, but overall, a very fun read.

Olivia Worley is quickly becoming one of my go-to YA Thriller/Horror authors. I just love her plotting, atmospheres and intense dramas. Her writing is addictive, fluid and always a darn good time.

I love that she brought us back to Louisiana in this one, a setting I also enjoyed in The Debutantes. This felt secluded and dangerous, in a small town way, from the very start.

She also brought true slasher vibes to this. The danger and the kills were just boom, boom, boom, and definitely kept me engaged and wanting to keep reading further.

I would definitely recommend this to any Slasher fan, even if you aren’t a big YA Reader. I don’t think you necessarily have to be to enjoy this one. It doesn’t feel overly-YA, if that makes sense. More New Adult feel to me personally.

Haze was an interesting main character and I liked the growth she displayed throughout the story. Being back in Pine Springs really forced her to face her past, in a way she never had before. Well, that and the fact that she had a serial killer on her heels.

I liked learning about her background, and also the investigation into the murders that happened when she as a kid. I think that whole aspect added a little depth to the story that was needed and appreciated.

Overall, I feel this was well-plotted, while also keeping it fun and true to the Slasher style. Another success for Worley.

Thank you to the publisher, Wednesday Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I can’t wait to see what Worley delivers next!!!

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Review: Let’s Split Up (Let’s Split Up #1) by Bill Wood

~ megs14malloy

Let's Split Up (Let's Split Up, #1)Let’s Split Up by Bill Wood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Let’s Split Up is an entertaining YA Horror novel that made me nostalgic for the scary stories of my youth. This is a multi-perspective story that follows a group of teens in the small town of Sanera, California.

Amber, Jonesy and Cam have been best friends for years, and when new girl, Buffy, arrives, led by Amber, they quickly envelop her into their crew.

Prior to meeting our group though, we get a Prologue, where two of their popular classmates, Brad and Shelley, exploring an abandoned estate, Carrington Manor, end up getting brutally murdered.

That’s how this book kicks off, and it definitely sets the stage for what’s to come. The deaths of the two students rocks their local high school, and our main cast is caught up in the consequences of all of that.

Rumors fly around the small town that the Carrington ghoul is responsible for Brad and Shelley’s deaths, but could that really be true? A paranormal entity is hard to fathom.

When they don’t trust the local authorities to figure out what happened to their classmates, Cam, Jonesy, Amber and Buffy decide to investigate themselves, heading to Carrington Manor to dig around.

When things take a turn, and they find themselves in danger, they decide to split up in hopes of getting answers faster, thus breaking a widely recognized rule in Horror.

From there it’s balls to wall craziness as these kids just try to survive their town day-to-day. No matter the danger, they’re determined to crack this case.

Let’s Split Up was a lot of fun. The author mentioned in his acknowledgements at the end that he had wanted to explore what it would be like if Scooby-Doo was scarier, and I think he definitely succeeded.

This gave me all the Scooby-Doo vibes, with a touch of Scream mixed in, making it a truly entertaining YA Horror story. I love that there’s already a 2nd-book set to release in the Spring. I’ll definitely be reading it.

This is super trope-filled though, I do want to caution you, in case you don’t enjoy books like that, but for me, I thought that aspect was so fun.

Personally, specifically in YA Horror, I love to see all the tropes. It makes it feel more nostalgic for me, bringing me back to the stories I enjoyed as a youngster, when I first fell in love with my most favorite genre.

It’s pure entertainment. The characters were fun and I enjoyed their relationships a lot. I think it will be fun to follow them again on different cases. They have so much room to grow, and I wanna be there for it.

Initially, I wasn’t crazy about getting three different perspectives — Jonesy, Amber and Cam — but I did come to really enjoy that aspect. I think as the story continued it started to make more sense for it to be told that way.

Overall, I think this was a really enjoyable read. It’s not perfect by any stretch, but I like how it didn’t take itself too seriously. It was revisiting some of the best tropes in Horror, and I adored the added Scooby-Doo vibes. As mentioned above, I’m looking forward to the 2nd-book.

Thank you so much to Scholastic for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m looking forward to reading more from Bill Wood!

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Review: The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre by Philip Fracassi

~ megs14malloy

The Autumn Springs Retirement Home MassacreThe Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre by Philip Fracassi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Brimming with dark humor, violence, and mystery, The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre is a blood-soaked slasher sure to keep readers guessing until the very last page.

The above, from the Publisher’s synopsis, is what first caught my attention in regards to this book. After reading it, I’d agree, that description is spot-on. I couldn’t be happier about my experience with it.

🧡🧡🧡 I’M OBSESSED 🧡🧡🧡

The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre follows Rose, a single-woman, in her late-70s living on her own. Well, she does live in Autumn Springs though, so is surrounded by friends and companions her own age, as well as the staff always willing to lend a hand.

When one of her friends dies, while alone in her apartment, Rose is okay chalking it up to an accident. These things happen at their age.

After another resident drops dead though, and then another, Rose starts to believe these are no accidents. Finding it difficult to convince the people in charge of this fact however, Rose and her good friend, Miller, start looking into the deaths themselves.

The more they dig, the more convinced Rose becomes that there’s a real-life killer on the loose at Autumn Springs, and if she doesn’t watch her back, she may end up next on the killer’s to-do list.

Y’all, I loved this. Absolutely loved it. As a Horror Girlie through-and-through, I always appreciate when someone puts a new spin on the genre so close to my heart.

Fracassi’s choice to have a Slasher MC, a potential Final Girl, in her late-70s, is such a smart and creative choice, IMO. As the wild success of books such as The Thursday Murder Club have made clear, people are itching for some time with more aged protagonists.

I adore following older protagonists as I’m an older protagonist myself. And no offense to anyone in their 20s, but once you reach a certain age, there’s only so many books you can stomach following protagonists in that age bracket.

Rose was a very likable MC. She was smart and resourceful, not willing to back down in the face of danger. I also liked how her looking into these deaths, it didn’t feel forced. The information, in the beginning, just sort of fell into her lap and she ran with it.

I had so many questions around these deaths, so could understand why Rose would be curious enough to pursue it. Particularly, when the authorities were trying to sell her a story of ‘accidents’ that just weren’t lining up.

Fracassi also got super creative with his kills, which made this very fun. I never knew what to expect next. I appreciated he didn’t hold back just because he was dealing with elderly characters either.

And the characters, all the fabulous characters, there were so many quirky, interesting side characters, which made this story extra-compelling. It wasn’t just Rose, they were all great, just trying to live their best lives.

This also kept me guessing to the very end, as predicted by the publisher. I loved how fast-paced it got as the conclusion closes in on you. I was speeding through so quickly. I couldn’t stop. I needed to know who, or what, was behind the Autumn Springs Massacre.

I can’t recommend this enough, including the audio format, for anyone looking for a delicious twist on the Slasher genre. Rose is a protagonist I won’t soon forget, and I’d happily read this again some day. It definitely entertains.

Thank you to the publisher, Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This is the 2nd-novel I’ve read from this author, and the 2nd-5-star rating. I definitely need to be picking up more from him!

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Review: Breath In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley

~ megs14malloy

Breathe In, Bleed OutBreathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars**

Breathe In, Bleed Out follows Hannah, a young woman plagued by grief after losing her fiancé on a wilderness excursion.

No one knows the truth of what happened the day Ben died, and Hannah would like to keep it that way. She remembers though, and it haunts her so much she’s finding it hard to function in every day life.

When her friend group gets invited to an exclusive Wellness Retreat by Joshua Tree, and she mentions it to her therapist, he thinks it’s a great idea and encourages her to go.

In spite of her doubts, Hannah reluctantly agrees. Perhaps it’s the fresh start she needs. It can’t hurt, right?

As she joins her best friend, Tess, and the rest of their friend group, making their way to Joshua Tree, I quickly wondered, why are these people friends? Or more specifically, why are they friends with Hannah? Offense sort of intended.

It’s an odd group, but nevertheless, I was along for the ride. When they get to the town abutting the retreat, the real Slasher vibe starts to set-in. Including a run-in with a hostile local, and a potential historical aspect that could lend its influence to future killings.

And even though I was starting to really enjoy these classic Slasher elements, the character work veered quite quickly into eye roll territory. The stereotypes overfloweth, and Hannah was the biggest jerk amongst them, IMO.

I was feeling like I should have been rooting for her as a potential final girl, yet I found myself rooting for her to be the first victim.

Ultimately, those feelings continued for the rest of the book. While it was a fun Slasher story, it felt very uneven in enjoyment for me as well.

I do appreciate McAuley sticking to a true Slasher style, but at times it leaned too heavily into the character interactions and since they were all so annoying, I just didn’t care.

Therefore, I loved the kills and hated the characters. Frankly, I wish the killer would have taken out more of them…

Thank you to the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review. Even though this one didn’t knock it out of the park for me, I would be interested in checking out more from this author.

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Review: Smile for the Cameras by Miranda Smith

~ megs14malloy

Smile for the CamerasSmile for the Cameras by Miranda Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars**

Smile for the Cameras is a fast-paced and entertaining Slasher ((Lite)). IMO, Smith brought the right amount of Camp to it to get me in the mood for Summer Screams season.

This book is told in three ways: a present perspective, a past perspective and through the screen play of a decades old cult-classic Slasher Film, Grad Night.

Our protagonist is Ella Winters, who was a young, inexperienced actress, just trying to make her way in the industry, when she got tapped to play the Final Girl role in Grad Night. It certainly changed her life.

20-years later, Ella’s star has burned out. She retreated from the spotlight after filming, as she had great difficulty putting behind her some traumatic events that happened during the shooting of that iconic film.

She used the excuse of her ailing mother as her reason to retreat from the Hollywood life, but now that her mother has passed, Ella is thinking of making a comeback.

When her agent offers her the opportunity to participate in a Grad Night reunion documentary, she’s quite hesitant at first, but as her agent points out, it could be the perfect way for her to reemerge onto the scene.

Ella eventually agrees, and makes her way to the original filming location, a cabin in the woods in rural Tennessee, for the reunion weekend.

When the people on site begin being murdered in gruesome ways similar to the film, and the original cast suddenly finds themselves stalked by the Grad Night killer, it becomes clear this reunion was a trap. Perhaps as payback for something they did all those years ago.

Ella would happily give up Hollywood forever if she could just make it through the weekend. Who will survive?

This was fun. I enjoyed how the original script of the film, and the past perspective, which followed Ella during that original filming, boosted up the action in the present.

For me, all three of the aspects played off each other very well and contributed to a well-rounded Slasher story. I felt Smith did a great job keeping it all distinct and easy for the Reader to engage with.

It is quite dramatic, the characters each seeming to add fuel to the fire in their own ways. I felt for Ella the whole way through. She was quite young during the filming of Grad Night, and was definitely influenced by her fellow cast members. She was a bit deer in the headlights.

The ending was somewhat meh for me, but I never guessed it, so good on Smith for keeping me on my toes. My head was spinning as I tried to figure out who was killing everyone. That was hidden quite well, I thought.

Overall, this an entertaining Horror story, with a classic Slasher vibe. It’s a great read for Summer and if you love Horror that brings Camp, you’ll def find that here.

Thank you to the publisher, Bantam, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This gave me exactly what I was looking for!

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Review: How to Survive Your Murder by Danielle Valentine

~ megs14malloy

How to Survive Your MurderHow to Survive Your Murder by Danielle Valentine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡

Alice is the sole witness in her sister’s murder trial. It’s been a year since her older sister, Claire, was killed in a corn maze on Halloween night.

Since Claire’s death, Alice’s life has fallen apart. Their parents divorced in the aftermath, and Alice has given up on her plans for the future. She wishes more than anything that that night never happened; that Claire was still with them.

On the first day of the trial, while taking a moment for herself in the courthouse bathroom, Alice is knocked unconscious by a Sidney Prescott look-alike.

When she wakes up, it’s Halloween night exactly one year earlier, the day of Claire’s murder. Alice has until midnight to find her sister and save her, possibly changing the course of events forever.

How to Survive Your Murder was a super-engaging YA Horror-Thriller that kept me on my toes the entire time. It was way more Speculative than I anticipated, bringing to mind comparisons to Neverworld Wake and Summer’s Edge. Both of which, I loved.

I didn’t know that this story is centered around murderous events on Halloween night, so it’s the perfect time of year to read it. That was definitely a bonus.

I also really enjoyed Alice as a main character. She’s a huge fan of Slasher movies and True Crime. I felt like we had a lot in common, so it was easy for me to understand the events through her perspective.

Overall, I found this whole story fun and creative. I walked away thinking, be careful what you wish for. I feel like this author did a great job of bringing a true love for the Slasher genre to the page.

This is the fourth novel I have read by this author and I enjoy their style of Horror. Most recently I read, Two Sides to Every Murder, which I felt very similarly about as this one. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next. This is absolutely their sweet spot.

Give me all the Slasher Goodness!!

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Review: Heads Will Roll by Josh Winning

~ megs14malloy

Heads Will RollHeads Will Roll by Josh Winning
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars**

Heads Will Roll; phenomenal title and equally phenomenal cover. Sadly, the story inside didn’t quite blow my hair back, but for the most part, I had a good time with it.

This involves a group of characters who have gone to stay at Camp Castaway. Basically, it’s a Summer Camp for adults who desperately need to separate themselves from social media for one reason or another.

Our main character, who goes by Willow, is an actress who has recently been canceled due to an poorly-worded tweet. Something, at the time, she felt was funny, turned out not to be received in the nature she intended. Thusly, she lost her job, her fiance, and any semblance of her regular life.

As she checks into Camp Castaway, she can’t wait to be separated from her phone, to go by an assumed name and to be able to forget about everything going on out there.

The beginning of the book is mostly meeting all the camp residents and finding out a bit about why each of them is there. We also get a bit of history behind the camp and the family who has run it for years.

We also get a few scenes interspersed here or there that show us in no uncertain terms that there is an unhinged killer on the loose, and they happen to be stalking and eliminating the residents of Camp Castaway.

This was a bit of a mixed bag for me. The first 25%, I was invested. I was interested in the concept of this camp and I liked getting there and meeting some of the other campers.

I also enjoyed the very first scenes where we were exposed to the menace stalking the camp. I wanted more of that. Instead we sort of veered into the personal drama sector for way too long for my tastes.

Some may call this a slow burn, and I guess I can see that. I love a slow burn though, but IMO, you have to keep it progressing at a steady clip; keep adding, keep building.

To me, this didn’t really feel like it was doing that. I want that fire to grow. If I’m adding kindling to it through an entire story it should build some nice big flames by the end.

This was like a pile of wood assembled at the beginning, with a tiny flame that around 80% had gasoline and a lit match thrown on it.

I was bored after the first 25% until around the 80% mark. That should be impossible with an ax-murderer on the loose, but here we are.

Luckily, it did really come alive for me in the last 20%. It fact, that last 20% was so good, I bumped it up a full star. I just wish it could have been that consistently off-the-walls the whole way through.

Just because this didn’t necessarily work for me the entire way through, doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. I would urge anyone with interest to give it a go.

I’ve read quite a few other reviews at this point, and many, many Readers are really enjoying it. And like I said, even for me, that last little bit almost made the slog through the middle worth every minute.

Thank you to the publisher, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, for providing me with a copy to read and review.

I enjoyed this more than the other novel that I’ve read from this author, so we’re definitely on an upward trajectory!

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Review: Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay

~ megs14malloy

Horror MovieHorror Movie by Paul Tremblay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

We’re all someone’s bad guy eventually.

Brilliant. I can’t express how much I love this book. IMO, this is Tremblay’s best work yet. A Horror Lover’s dark and heartbreaking dream.

Additionally, one of the best audiobook productions I have ever experienced and trust me, this is an EXPERIENCE.

It’s so funny. I read this book in less than two days over a week ago. At the time that I read it, I hadn’t looked at, or listened to, any reviews yet. The whole way through, I knew this was gonna be a 5-star for me.

Additionally, I seriously thought it was going to be a 5-star for everyone. Now that over a week has passed, and this book seems to be everywhere, I have seen a lot of reviews, and admittedly, some of them aren’t great.

I was shocked. Am I living in my own little Horror bubble? It’s possible. It really is, but regardless, having thought about it more, I can see this might work best for a certain niche market. Luckily, I happen to be a part of that niche.

I’m happy to stake my flag on outlier island and fully anticipate this making my Best Books of 2024 list. I’m already excited to read it again someday.

I loved how it was constructed. From the present perspective, that had a confessional feel to it, to the actual screenplay sections, to the flashbacks of making the movie, I found it all so gripping. It felt like an origin story to me, but was equally a love letter to this oft misunderstood genre.

I loved the idea of the whole low-budget movie-making process and even though, only certain scenes were released, that it still managed to turn into a cult-sensation even decades later. That’s absolutely something that would happen in the Horror community.

I also liked the idea of the movie itself being cursed. Our narrator is actually the only surviving member of the original production. This brought to mind Poltergeist and the curse that is said to surround the making of that trilogy.

For me, Poltergeist, which originally released in 1982, is part of that golden age of Horror cinema. It’s the first movie that genuinely traumatized me as a child, instilling in me an ever present fear of clowns, and I love it so much not in spite of that, but because of that.

In my opinion, this is a good fit for Readers who end up loving I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones, a book I absolutely loved a couple months back.

Basically for me, these two books felt a bit like Tremblay and SGJ had a conversation, maybe about the origins and influences in modern Horror, maybe about why we are attracted to and love Horror, or maybe on how Horror seems to be having a resurgence at the moment…

And then they both walked away from the conversation, inspired to a degree, and wrote books encapsulating those themes. Obviously, I am not saying that’s ACTUALLY what happened, but I felt, as a life-long Horror Lover, seen by these books, validated by them in a way.

They both examine so many different aspects of the genre, or why people may be drawn to it, and they both contained so much heart. They may be dark hearts, but they’re there nonetheless and both books broke mine.

I would recommend this to everyone who thinks it sounds interesting. Give it a shot. Go in knowing as little as possible. The synopsis really says everything you need to know about the plot. I feel like it’s a pretty even mix on opinions right now, so you could end up loving it as much as I did.

Also, I cannot recommend enough reading a physical copy while listening to the audiobook simultaneously. It’s a very unique reading experience and should be attempted if you do have access to both formats.

In summation, (haha) I think Paul Tremblay is a genius.

I love his imagination, his dark humor, his ability to write characters that I care about and the fact that he keeps surprising me. I find his stories smart, gripping and unpredictable. I look forward to whatever he gives us next!!

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