e-ALC, 09:29:12
Narrated by: Cameron Bernard Jones, Shin-Fei Chen, Margarita Valderrama, Hunter Johns, Georgie Sadler, Austin Yang, Griffyn Bellah
Release Date: June 23, 2026
Published by: Books on Tape (Crown Publishing)
Read from: June 11-15, 2026
Stand-alone
Source: PRH Audio App (I received this ALC from the publisher and Netgalley. I also received an ARC copy of this from the publisher. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Gore, Murder, Blood, Bullying, Drug Use, Toxic Relationship, Child Abuse, Panic Attacks/Disorders, Vomit
For Readers of: Adult, ARC, Audio, Horror, Sparkly Covers, Most Anticipated, Multiple Narrators, Multiple POV, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Realistic Fiction, SlashersIn this campy love letter to the slasher films of the 1980s, seven friends reunite for a weekend of fun—only to be hunted down by a cold-blooded killer. But the real horror is not being able to escape who you were in high school…
The sleepy town of Cedar Lake Falls is best known as the shooting location of the campy ’80s horror flick Slasher. In high school, preppy Patrick, jock Jason, cheerleader Tiffany, stoner Freddy, goth Jennifer, and nerdy Michael had played the cast of Slasher during midnight showings, with virginal Carrie as the Final Girl, of course.
Years later, the friends reunite at the remote cabin where Slasher was filmed. They’ve changed since high school—Patrick came out, Mikey bulked up, and, well, Freddy’s still stoned—and they’re looking forward to a weekend to catch up. But when night falls, and the eponymous masked killer is spotted, the reunion takes a deadly turn. The friends discover their tires deflated and the phone line disconnected, and soon they’re being stalked by a mysterious assailant. Is someone trying to make their Slasher experience as authentic as possible?
One thing is for sure. Before the night is over, they each will have to take on the role they thought they’d left behind.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I saw the title and immediately knew I had to have it. Then the cover released and I needed it even more. And then I saw the audio was a full cast audio and I knew I had to listen to it. This was definitely one of my most anticipated of the year.
Ok so for this to be one of my most anticipated of the year, it lived up to some of my expectations. Most of them. What I didn’t love was the amount of POVs there were. It just was kind of weird giving a back story for all of them. They all had their own chapter and it dragged the story out. I mean, I hate to say this but this is what they story was after all, no one died until Chapter 14. And the book isn’t that long. It was a bit boring before then. I could have done without most of them. Or even if some of them were like mashed together for a bit? Idk I just think for stories like this it would have been better without so many POVs.
For the rest of it, I thought it was actually well done with what it set out to do. I read it was a love story to the 80’s slasher films, and as a slasher film connoisseur, I can honestly say she nailed it. This is legit how those movies used to be. This weird array of kids, they hang together because of some weird thing that connects them, and then they all start dropping out of nowhere. And even through it took a minute, it finally got to the crazy plot twists. Once it started going, it got going. After that I couldn’t put it down.
The plot twist was crazy. I didn’t guess because I had no idea lol Again I attribute this to the amount of POVs. I feel like there was just too many people lol I was confusing some people and others I just forgot about. I guess that’s a good thing about it. I took off my detective hat and just tried to enjoy the story. But I can say there aren’t that many people that will actually get it either so there’s that lol
This was fun, but I was just expecting more. On the one hand I was annoyed at having to learn so many people and the way they would help the story, but on the other hand, it DID actually fufill what it was said to. How do you rate something like that? I think it would be amazing as a movie or tv show since the “stereotypes” would be easy to portray, but it was just weird as a book.
Overall, I give this
