This is a 2024 book release from Stephen Graham Jones, the NYT bestselling author of over thirty books. He’s a recipient of many prestigious awards, including the 2021 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award, the Los Angeles Times Ray Bradbury Prize, and four Bram Stoker Awards. Stephen grew up in West Texas but now lives in Boulder, Colorado, working as an English professor.
It’s 1989 in Lamesa, Texas, a small west Texas town driven by oil and cotton and a place where everyone knows everyone else’s business. Tolly Driver is a seventeen-year-old underachieving kid who’s been a bit lost since his father died a year ago. On July 17, 1989, Deek Masterson holds a big party at his house, complete with the marching band kids and lots of alcohol. Tolly shows up with his best friend Amber, and after way too many drinks and an ill-timed cannonball into Deek’s pool, Tolly finds himself tied to a lawn chair by the marching band kids and struggling to breathe. Tolly has a life-threatening allergy to peanuts, and someone has slipped one into his drink. As he is unable to free himself, a horrendous-looking predator, resembling a boy who was killed in town, bombards the party on a revenge killing rampage. Tolly’s life is saved when Stace, one of the nicest girls around, saves him with his Epipen. Before Tolly and Amber are able to escape, the predator’s blood sprays onto Tolly’s open wound, mixing with his own blood.
The next day Tolly feels himself changing, and he has a sudden urge to kill. After he goes on his first killing spree but can’t remember all the details of what happened, he realizes he’s become a slasher, and Amber, a devoted fan of slasher movies, is all too eager to explain the rules to him. As Tolly’s urge to kill becomes stronger and the bodies pile up, the suspicions about him begin to grow. With time running out before his identity is revealed and for him to kill the “final girl,” Tolly must come to terms with his new identity and that his life in Lamesa is forever altered.
This captivating and thought-provoking book is an extremely unique take on the slasher horror trope. Told as a memoir from the slasher’s point of view, there is a great deal of self-reflection and insightful discussion from the protagonist.
Aside from the blood and gore, the story is filled with 1980s nostalgia and many accurate references to life in West Texas at the time. The heart of the story is in fact nothing sinister but instead the remarkable friendship between Tolly and Amber. The ending is especially emotional, with a wonderful depiction of the love and loyalty between them.
It should be noted that the chapters are very long, with each going into great detail about the events of a particular day or situation. The book could have benefited from more dialogue between the characters, as there’s a lot of rambling from Tolly about his predicaments and his mindset at the time—some of which is extremely compelling and some of which feels very repetitive.
Narrator Michael Crouch does a phenomenal job elevating this story. If you haven’t listened to his work before, you’ll likely believe that his West Texas accent is genuine. In reality it’s not, but Crouch delivers it with such authenticity and in a tone so suited to Tolly’s character that you’ll be immediately transported and transfixed into Tolly’s world. Crouch never wavers in his performance, and he effectively increases the emotional intensity towards the end.
Overall, this is not a book for everyone, especially with its long chapters, gore, and some repetitive monologues from Tolly. If you’ve picked this book up and are struggling to get through the first few chapters, it’s important to know that the audiobook is a fantastic alternative for a more digestible and compelling experience. The Acknowledgments chapter, narrated by the author, is also definitely worth a listen, as he gives some very interesting insight into his background, writing habits, and how this book came about. If you’ve enjoyed Jones’ previous books, especially those involving other slasher characters, then you’ll likely devour this one. For those new to Jones’ work or his writing style, definitely give this one consideration and reserve your judgments until the very end of the novel. This is definitely a book that will spark discussion amongst readers afterwards!