Be happy you weren’t there. Be happy you’re only reading about it.

PLOT SUMMARY:

1989, Lamesa, Texas. A small west Texas town driven by oil and cotton—and a place where everyone knows everyone else’s business. So it goes for Tolly Driver, a good kid with more potential than application, seventeen, and about to be cursed to kill for revenge. Here Stephen Graham Jones explores the Texas he grew up in, the unfairness of being on the outside, through the slasher horror he lives but from the perspective of the killer, Tolly, writing his own autobiography. Find yourself rooting for a killer in this summer teen movie of a novel gone full blood-curdling tragic.

GRADE: A

REVIEW:

All hail the slasher king. Stephen Graham Jones is to horror books as Wes Craven was to horror movies. Meaning that he absolutely knows the genre and all the tropes of said genre. I love that the book was written in a confessional sort of way, with Tolly, the protagonist, trying to have us understand what happened that summer of 1989. With book is steeped in nostalgia and feelings – but at the same time is hella hilarious. I love that Jones is a huge fan of slashers and that he knows how to deliver unhinged violence, but at the same time truly tug at our hearts.

This book is filled with all the fun of a horror film, but also all the feelings of a coming-of-age novel. I loved Tolly’s friendship with Amber because the friendships of your youth are never quite the same as an adult. Childhood friendships are so intense, and truly ride and die – and I loved how that was presented and explored.

I don’t want to discuss too much about the plot because I think it’s best to jump into this blindly but rest assured, if you loved SGJ’s The Indian Lake trilogy series, you will absolutely love this novel too. This is top-tier horror at its finest and if you’re new to SGJ it’s a good book to start!

*Thank you so much to Saga Press for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

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