I Was A Teenage Slasher
*USA TODAY Bestseller * Alex Award Winner *
The “viciously clever, over-the-top, genre-skewing” (The New York Times Book Review) classic slasher story with a twist from Stephen Graham Jones, the master of modern horror and bestselling author of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, The Only Good Indians, and the Indian Lake trilogy.
1989, Lamesa, Texas. A small 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, and shared sense of unfairness of being on the outside through the slasher horror Jones loves, but from the perspective of the killer, Tolly, writing his own autobiography. Find yourself rooting for a killer in this “playful, self-aware, and remarkably gory horror novel” (The New York Times).
The “viciously clever, over-the-top, genre-skewing” (The New York Times Book Review) classic slasher story with a twist from Stephen Graham Jones, the master of modern horror and bestselling author of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, The Only Good Indians, and the Indian Lake trilogy.
1989, Lamesa, Texas. A small 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, and shared sense of unfairness of being on the outside through the slasher horror Jones loves, but from the perspective of the killer, Tolly, writing his own autobiography. Find yourself rooting for a killer in this “playful, self-aware, and remarkably gory horror novel” (The New York Times).
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Readers say *I Was a Teenage Slasher* defies typical slasher expectations, blending horror, memoir, and a poignant coming-of-age love story. Most agre...
As I’m finding with most fiction books that explore the slasher and final girl tropes, this story was very meta. What I mean by this is that the characters always reference the tropes outright and use this knowledge to inform their decisions. I love it.
This novel goes heavy on exploring horror tropes with characters that are well aware of them. This has obviously been done many times in horror movies and novels, but what makes this one a little unique is that we are in the mind of a teenager who is cursed to become a serial killer.
It’s an intriguing premise and it’s interesting to be in the viewpoint of a teenager who really doesn’t want to kill. Also, some of the murder scenes are really gruesome. I loved the discussion of victims, what makes a final girl a final girl, and the main character transforming into this scary slasher killer who’s mask is made from belts? There is some humor mixed with the horror that made this a very enjoyable read.
I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book from Netgalley and S&S/Saga Press. This has not impacted my rating and this review is voluntary.
This novel goes heavy on exploring horror tropes with characters that are well aware of them. This has obviously been done many times in horror movies and novels, but what makes this one a little unique is that we are in the mind of a teenager who is cursed to become a serial killer.
It’s an intriguing premise and it’s interesting to be in the viewpoint of a teenager who really doesn’t want to kill. Also, some of the murder scenes are really gruesome. I loved the discussion of victims, what makes a final girl a final girl, and the main character transforming into this scary slasher killer who’s mask is made from belts? There is some humor mixed with the horror that made this a very enjoyable read.
I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book from Netgalley and S&S/Saga Press. This has not impacted my rating and this review is voluntary.
I feel like I put this book firmly in the horror slasher genre, and that did a disservice to myself and to the book. I judged it really harshly before I realized it was more of a memoir than a slasher. A love story and life story. It wasn’t until I was ready to cry I realized I really enjoyed it. Thank you Stephen.
I had sympathy for Tolly in the beginning because he seemed really remorseful about what he had done and the story he was sharing. And I admit that Amber and Tolly's relationship is the clear anchor for this story.
But boy can Tolly talk himself in, out and back into a paper bag. He was downright annoying to me at the 30% point. The schting gag stopped being funny after the first two times 😒. And for Jones to take the long way around to get to the point of things ends up giving away key plot twists in my opinion.
That night at the party was horrible and if readers remember that IWATS plays into the slasher genre, the absence of a lot of logic beings to make sense. It's possibly 100 pages too long? 🤷🏾♀️
But boy can Tolly talk himself in, out and back into a paper bag. He was downright annoying to me at the 30% point. The schting gag stopped being funny after the first two times 😒. And for Jones to take the long way around to get to the point of things ends up giving away key plot twists in my opinion.
That night at the party was horrible and if readers remember that IWATS plays into the slasher genre, the absence of a lot of logic beings to make sense. It's possibly 100 pages too long? 🤷🏾♀️
This reads like lesser King and that’s not a compliment. Lesser King is like…the story never leaves second gear, very slow and/or there’s cool ideas there but! the focus is on something else??
I thought of a lot of films that remix the slasher genre that are more my style than this book but I think people who didn’t or did enjoy this book would enjoy these movies:
Cabin in the Woods
Friday the 13th Part VI (this is when Jason Voorhees transformed from human slasher to superhuman slasher)
In A Violent Nature
Scream
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 4 stars
I love how good horror leaves you feeling uncomfortable and creeped out. I Was a Teenage Slasher is definitely one of the good ones.
The slasher's first person perspective was an incredible way to tell the story. It's got a sort of coming-of-age feel with a gorey and violent twist.
I love how good horror leaves you feeling uncomfortable and creeped out. I Was a Teenage Slasher is definitely one of the good ones.
The slasher's first person perspective was an incredible way to tell the story. It's got a sort of coming-of-age feel with a gorey and violent twist.
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