e-Audio, 09:50:45
Narrated by: Mark Sanderlin, Griffin Puatu, Torian Brackett
Release Date: September 12, 2023
Published by: Simon & Schuster Audio
Read from: September 12-14, 2023
Stand-alone
Source: PRH App (I received an early copy of this book from the publisher. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Death, Murder, Violence, Racism, Emotional Abuse, Gun Violence, Gaslighting, Vomit, Hate Crime, Bullying, Injury/injury Detail, “Bury the gays” trope (but this is a horror book and all the characters seem to be queer)
For Readers Interested In: Dual POV, Horror (Slashers), YA, Mysteries, Sparkly CoversScream meets Clueless in this YA horror from Adam Sass in which two gay teen BFFs find their friendship tested when a serial killer starts targeting their school’s Queer Club.
Dearie and Cole are inseparable, unlikeable, and (in bad luck for them) totally unbelievable.
From the day they met, Dearie and Cole have been two against the world. But whenever something bad happens at Stone Grove High School, they get blamed. Why? They’re beautiful, flirtatious, dangerously clever queen bees, and they’re always ready to call out their fellow students. But they’ve never faced a bigger threat than surviving senior year, when Mr. Sandman, a famous, never-caught serial killer emerges from a long retirement—and his hunting ground is their school Queer Club.
As evidence and bodies begin piling up and suspicion points at Dearie and Cole, they will need to do whatever it takes to unmask the real killer before they and the rest of Queer Club are taken down. But they’re not getting away from the killer without a fight.
Along the way, they must confront dark truths hidden beneath the surface of their small desert community. When the world is stacked against them and every flop they know is a suspect, can Dearie and Cole stop Mr. Sandman’s rampage? Or will their lonely nights soon be over . . .
*MY THOUGHTS*
One thing you should know about me…. My favorite sub-genre of horror is slashers. So when I heard this was coming out, I knew this was going to either be a hit because it was amazing….. Or a miss because I had built it up so far in my head. And let me just tell you, it was EVERYTHING I wanted it to be. This was so good! I binge read this by reading the physical hardcover (from the publisher SERIOUSLY, THANK YOU!) while reading the audio while I was doing other tasks. It was seriously a good time and i really can’t wait for more of you to read it.
Ok so boom, this book starts with the main characters being accused of cyber-bullying. It’s said that they sent out some texts copying a retired killer from back in the day. They’re in the midst of trying to make sure they clear their name during a meeting when the first two people are found dead. And listen the way they’re found is crazy. This whole book was crazy. I could not stop reading it. I literally put down one format just to pick it up in another. I don’t know what Adam Sass put in this, but I really hope we get more of it lol And the crazy thing is, I read his author’s note, and it was like something along the lines of he had been wanting to write this but he thought it was too out there and I was like, WTF I NEED MORE. So if you see this Adam Sass, you had no reason to doubt yourself. This book was so much fun. (Can I say that? People were murked………. Well, y’all know what I meant lol)
The characters were what I really liked about this tho. Dearie and Cole made a hell of a duo. Cole was the realist who thought of literally everything and Dearie was the dreamer. He was in relationships and living in his own world, but he never once stopped paying attention to what was happening around him. I was happy that they both had completely different personalities but they still were friends and they were still both on top of everything. I was hella impressed on how they handled this mystery and I loved that they solved it the way they did. Both of them were hella impressive.
[SPOILER JIC?] I don’t want to give anything away, but I did guess who the killer was. But I still was so into the story I didn’t even care. I STILL was like “OH SHIT” when it was revealed. Now the real surprise was one half of the duo. I was not expecting THAT. Now that, I got that especially wrong. Loved that for me. Definitely another favorite part of mine. Idk what it is, but reveals in thrillers and horror books are really important to me. And this one was bad ass. And like when they realized the other thing that happened while they were doing that…. Yeah, it was LEGIT. And for this to be a YA, I realized it at the same time they did.
And this performance of the audio? I feel like I should mention it since I did listen to some. Y’all know I’m a sucker for an audio that has a full cast or with the sound effects and stuff. And this one has a full cast. I found myself listening to the audio at the same time I was reading the physical book. It really was entertaining and they did a great job.
This book was so good! Definitely my fave of last month. I knew there was only 2 ways for this to end and I’m happy it was this way. I really hope this isn’t the last slasher Adam Sass writes because this was a TRIP.
Overall, I give this
