Book Review #130: Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare

 

Kettle Springs is a town that is divided, adults on one side, kids on the other. When Quinn moves there, and the town's clown mascot Frendo goes on a homicidal rampage, she and her friends have to find a way to save themselves before it's too late.

After reading a great book with horror elements last year, I really wanted to get more into horror books as it's a genre that I haven't really explored in this medium. So I bought three horror books to read this year and this was the first.

I absolutely loved this book!

The prologue, while a bit too long for my liking, was enjoyable and set the scene well. Though having said that, I don't think it was particularly relevant to the main story, and probably could have been cut out.

I loved the narrative voice, it made the story really enjoyable and easy to read. Although, it did feel like the characters were being kept at arm's length from the reader. I would have liked to get to know them better and more quickly.

The story is really visceral. Every time I picked up the book I was completely transported into that world. There were points when I was reading this book on the train and just completely forgot where I was, because my mind was in Kettle Springs running from clowns. And because of that, I become really invested in this world.

I was surprised by how scary the story actually was. As a huge fan of horror movies, I was a bit worried that the actual scares wouldn't translate well, but they really did!

The tension in the story is done really well, I didn't want to put it down!

But I think the thing I loved the most was the ending! I'm not giving anything away, but I thought it ended in an unexpected way, which was the best way it could have!

Overall, while there were a couple of things I didn't like, I loved the story overall and I can't wait to read the sequel!

4/5