Alyssa Black

A Summer Camp tale with a ghost story

Revisado: 03-22-25

I honestly thought this was gonna be a summer camp slasher like a few recent YA books I checked out, but was pleasantly surprised it wasn’t. While there are some scary moments where preteen girls face serious injury, it doesn’t turn into a Friday the 13th knockoff. The ghost story element was sort of dropped as a hint in the synopsis, but it was an interesting take on the idea though a bit clumsy in execution.

The hardest part outside of knowing what happened to “Gory Tori” is the bullying that the main character, Parker, also endured. Having been bullied myself in pre-social media days, a lot of the nasty things said and done to Parker hit a bit close to home especially at 12 when girls can really become the cattiest and meanest beings on Earth; major experience dealing with that. So be cautious if you’re sensitive to the topic or the idea of self-harm resulting in death.

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Creepy & Engaging

Revisado: 02-15-25

I randomly came across this title on Goodreads and it peaked my interest though it sounded like maybe I would end up disliking it.

While our main character isn’t the most sympathetic individual (clearly displaying psychopathic behavior and some anti-social tendencies in addition to a disturbing obsession/fixation), I felt some empathy for Chandler who was raised by an abusive distrustful mother (yeah feeling the Ed Gein influence there) and just needed an understanding friend or relative along with copious amounts of psychiatric treatment.

While the death scenes in the story aren’t overtly graphic, they’re still uncomfortable to read/listen to & you sort of cheer two of the deaths since they’re pretty despicable people. However the ending really caught me off-guard as I expected a nasty end for our lead, but the author throws a dark curveball at us that kinda makes me want a follow-up story to see what happened afterwards.

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A Mix of Friday the 13th & The Burning with Modern Commentary

Revisado: 02-07-25

I was curious about this story after coming across it following “You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight” & thought the idea of an urban legend possibly coming to life was an interesting premise. While cancel culture has gotten pretty tiresome in the real world, having it be the set-up for why our characters are at an isolated camp setting didn’t knock my enjoyment off as they are fairly vague on why everyone is there until it’s pertinent to the narrative & unraveling the layers behind our cast. Our main heroine gets the stereotypical “cancellation” due to an out-of-context Tweet & she heads off to Camp Castaway to do damage control, but Willow (as she’s known thanks to a sitcom likely in the vein of “Blossom” or maybe “Full House”) doesn’t inherently seem like a bad person; just misguided & needing a helpful hand especially when we learn more about the trauma she carries regarding her late brother.

Most of the other characters are kind of the stock archetypes you’d find in slashers, but they do reveal more layers to them as the story goes on; except for really the first victim as he exits the story within 1-2 chapters. Keeping a majority of them as red herrings helps to make the mystery around who the killer is quite interesting & having the POV of the victims who meet their end in a certain chapter allows us to be part of their horrific demise. The deaths are fairly graphic, but still unsettling in its visceral brutality.

The urban legend in the vein of Cropsey from “The Burning” also lends a creepy undercurrent surrounding the future onslaught as it sets up our possible antagonist, Knock Knock Nancy. The lore about her is the classic ghost story about a revenant avenging their death, but when the true depths are uncovered it becomes a more realized horrible tragedy regarding her actual identity.

While I have a few minor gripes with how the relationship between our villains is portrayed, it possibly makes sense when considering how warped the perspective is. It doesn’t ruin the reveal & I like that there is some justice that will be served and our survivors are going to grow from what they’ve done.

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An Interesting Hitcockian-style Thriller

Revisado: 10-24-24

Now I’m a huge a fan of Hitchcock’s films and it’s clear the author knows her Hitch trivia and lore. Having a character who gives off a Norman Bates tone (thankfully sans Mother’s stuffed corpse ) in a hotel modeled after one of horror’s most famous locations along with a housekeeper who is similar to the stellar Dame Judith Anderson’s Mrs. Danvers in “Rebecca” really gave an unsettling start.

Then you meet the pretty terrible sextet of “friends” that are invited to the titular hotel. You’ve got the two married women who are clearly unhappy (one even going so far as to be an unfaithful spouse), the alcoholic, a wealthy black sheep who actually is the catalyst for the entire series of events in their shared past & then there’s the guy running from bad people cause he did something incredibly stupid. I really didn’t care for most of the group though Julius (the wealthy black sheep) actually had the most humanity to him because he actually felt guilty for what his past actions reverberated down to where we begin.

The mystery does quite a while to get going due a lot of info dumps, but it is purposeful since it leads to the unraveling of why our host has invited his former “friends” to his hotel in order to punish them for was done to him in their final college days. However once the evils start being uncovered and dirty laundry is aired, things really ramp up as you try to find out who the true villain really is. I know a couple reviews say they pegged the bad guy, but I was genuinely shocked to find out who it was and their connection to the dark secret that set this whole story in motion.

If you’re a Hitchcock fan or just enjoy a solid mystery, stick with this as it gets engaging and you’ll love noting the references to the Master of Suspense’s work

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Chilling, but a little too repetitive

Revisado: 07-31-24

On the whole this was a creepy closed circle horror where you don’t want to see anything bad happen to the characters as they’re chased down by their psychotic former manager. However the book runs a bit too long with the constant running through the closed mall and the constant flashbacks to our narrator’s traumatic past got a bit grating by the climax when the author could’ve only sprinkled a bit of info along the way and then eventually tell us what happened to Jo’s dad instead of beating us over the head with it. I do like that Jo does overcome her past experience and takes charge to save her colleagues/friends, but it was a neat twist on who actually saved the day at the end but is still tinged in sadness as you know that three innocent people are dead for something that could’ve been avoided had the truth been told. The audiobook reader was a bit too monotone in her delivery outside of a few scant sections once the terror ratchets to 11 near the climax where she did add a bit more emotion, but it could’ve been better given the situation the characters are set in. If you’re at all triggered by gun violence or themes of abuse or grooming, you may want to avoid this book but if you can handle it, then maybe check this out

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Strange yet Entertaining

Revisado: 07-23-24

Finally got around to listening to this story. The premise is quite compelling as it takes off running without too much exposition dumping. We can follow the story pretty well & learn basics of our quintet of main characters, but mostly about our narrator and confirmed psychopath, Sawyer Grimes. Sawyer is convinced the mannequin he and his friends used for one last prank has come to life and is after them all so Sawyer takes matters into his hands. Your tolerance for him will likely waiver since it’s clear he’s an unreliable narrator and the actual villain, but the author does his best to show Sawyer doesn’t want to hurt his friends, but his psychosis causes him to do the terrible deeds he does. The execution is quite strong, but it does a bit repetitive since Sawyer dispatches his victims in the same manner instead of much more gruesome and creative ways (I don’t mind no gore, but still)

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Creepy Slow Burn

Revisado: 07-23-24

I didn’t know what to expect going into this outside of maybe a Friday the 13th knock-off. Yeah it does sort of have that, but the slow burn to the horror was worth the investment. The twists aren’t amazing, but two of them really did catch me off-guard at the finale

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One of my Favorite King collections

Revisado: 05-09-23

I never get tired of listening to these chilling tales. The eerie sound design & excellent narration from John Glover always draws me in

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Eerie and Well Crafted

Revisado: 03-17-23

I didn’t know what to expect going into this, but I wasn’t disappointed. I like the mystery surrounding the mineral water & its mysterious origin along with its founder’s past. Limiting the villain until our protagonist delves deeper into the mystery & truly unveils the monster Campbell Bradford was. The background sounds and the beautiful violin track really immerse you into the story & ties into various elements unveiled throughout the twisting narrative. Definite recommendation

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