Deputy Tom Bailey was a teenager when a massacre happened in 1983 at the local Summer Camp by the lake, which his girlfriend was the only survivor of. It was the event that lead him to become a cop and re-shaped the small texas town forever. Now, in 1992, it’s the night before the Summer Camp is finally being re-opened, and the teen counsellors are all ready for the kids to arrive in the morning. Acting on a hunch, Tom decides to check on the camp, and finds all hell has broken loose once again…

Craig DiLouie is a writer of innovative horror novels, several of which I’ve reviewed here, like Episode 13, and most recently My Ex The Anti-Christ, amongst others. I really like his books because they always play around with traditional horror genres and tropes, and tend to combine and explore these ideas in new ways. This book is a little thinner than some of his others, but is part 1 of a duology, titled Slasher Season, which will conclude with Yule Day Slaughter later this year. Though this is a two part story, it doesn’t end half way through the story, but is complete at the end.

The cover of the book, if you look a little closely, is styled at the edge to look like a VHS tape, and the cover design is reminiscent of 80’s horror films. The book is structured around the idea of telling the story of a slasher movie from a new perspective, that of the local cop. It’s Scream from the perspective of Deputy Dewey, or more accurately, Sleepaway Camp or Friday The 13th from the perspective of a young local officer. Deputy Tom Bailey grew up in the small Texas town and knows the local stories about a creature in the woods, but he’s a logical man, so the plot functions a bit like a mystery, with him following leads and trying to find out more, while his boss hopes it all goes away quickly, because it’s an election year. And they keep finding body parts. I really liked this. Though there are times towards the end where you might wish that Tom would at least consider the supernatural, it does allow the story to develop in a way that allows for us to find out more about the local legends and secrets of the town, and I felt like it allowed for the killer to be evil from beyond the bounds of human understanding… or a serial killer, and either would have worked as a resolution.

When I saw this cover, and especially when I saw that there was another season to follow, a Winter book following Summer, it reminded me a lot of the covers of Point Horror or Fear Street books from the 90’s, and I wondered if this was going to be the start of a series that all revolve around seasonal things, and to be honest, I felt a little sad that there was only going to be two books. Maybe I just need to dig out some old paperbacks from my shelf!

The story takes us from the night of the killing and what Tom Bailey needs, and then onto his investigation of the case. Over the course of the book, it takes us back into past events at times, and it explores and what he finds, to him chasing down the clues of the case, so the Summer Camp of the cover and title are a motif or focus of the book, but most of it doesn’t take place at the camp. It does take us into the lives of Tom, and all the different people in his department, all of which feel rounded and different, which I love. And we also have two final girls, both of whom are written to be more than just victims, and I love that they can swing between terrified and strong.

The pacing in this book is so good. I read it in almost one sitting, just sinking into the small town atmosphere and going along for the ride. There’s lots of different characters and plot threads and little pieces of the puzzle that slowly come into play or fall into place, keeping the pages turning, and there’s also some quite gruesome kills and crime scenes that are horrific enough for any 80’s VHS horror. It’s quite a cinematic read, on the whole. This book is such a good time, for classic horror lovers, and I for one, can’t wait to read the next book when it comes out.

Read It If: you love 80’s or 90’s over the top slasher horror movies or paperbacks. It’s got all the right tropes, but feels fresh and new as well.

Thank you to HBG Canada for the ARC of this book for review.