Reviews

Campbell's Curse: The South Pier Slayer by M.J. Edwards

isabelawith1l's review

dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

2.75

This book read exactly like a cheesy B horror movie and I loved it for that

rebeccaelizabeth94's review

tense fast-paced

2.0

booksnakeaaron's review

funny fast-paced

2.0

dark_reader's review

5.0

Charlie Campbell hated going on holiday with his family. Almost as much as he hated going to the foot clinic where his mum worked. Not only was the clinic boring with nothing fun for him to do, but all the customers were doddery old ladies who had feet that looked like chewed taco shells and smelled like rotten beef. Thanks, polio.

Oh [a:M.J. Edwards|20773482|M.J. Edwards|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], I have missed you so. I was pleased and surprised to discover this new title; my alerts for new releases by some authors don't appear to be working. I was even more pleased and surprised that it is a longer piece of fiction than her prior star-makers: [b:Kissing the Coronavirus|54594933|Kissing the Coronavirus (Kissing the Coronavirus #1)|M.J. Edwards|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1595188074l/54594933._SY75_.jpg|85180882], [b:Penetrated by the President's Twitter Feed|55685009|Penetrated by the President's Twitter Feed|M.J. Edwards|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1602809813l/55685009._SY75_.jpg|86838174], and more. In Campbell's Curse, the author shifts from riotous erotica to a riotous homage to a beloved children's series. That's right, it's Goosebumps for adults. And I mean for adults! And maybe snarky teenagers. Because the language is really quite not child-appropriate. Do you really want your kid asking what any of these words mean?: tagnut, cocktrundle,

Stupid, thick, scaredy, nobhead, dickcheese, fucknut, cocktongue, wankteeth, shitty, fucky, wanky

and yes that is a consecutive passage from the book.

It really is a great homage, not just parody. It follows the Goosebumps form wonderfully, and would be a pitch-perfect entry in that series if it ever let you forget who the author is:

Basically, according to Charlie’s pre-trip research it was the worst-rated attraction in Blackpool, and that included the puppet show on the promenade that was presented by an opium-addicted sexist who refused to stop telling kids that Osama Bin Laden had some good ideas.

That is so M.J. Edwards. Terrifically plotted, the story follows 12-year-old Charlie, forced to join his extended family reunion at a British seaside vacation town, including his hyper-bully cousin Jack. A whole pack of tweens find themselves trapped in an abandoned waxwork museum, where the horror mounts quickly.

Suddenly a sharp gust of wind blew out every candle inside the hut. Charlie felt hands grapple him as his cousins screamed and desperately scrambled for the exit. But where was it? Why was it so dark? Whose knee just brushed against his penis?

It is full of genuinely tense and thrilling moments and age-appropriate reactions.

Charlie snatched at the handle and shook it over and over and over, but did it budge? ​Of course it didn’t. ​Which meant only one thing. ​They were fuckered.

But while it observes the form faithfully and provides a damn good story, the author isn't afraid to call out the bad puns and writing formulas.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Holy shitting fuck.

Tension. Terror. Monsters. Drama. History.

Charlie turned, and there, standing beside the operator’s booth, was… No. Surely not. It was Adolf Hitler.

All that and a FANTASTIC ending, although it doesn't quite wrap everything up . . .

So many questions. So much anger and frustration and poos in public spaces that Charlie wouldn’t be able to forget.

I hope the author follows the thread to more books in this series, but if she decides to try writing something completely different I will still gobble it up.