A review by bex_knighthunter
I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

A horror thriller coming-of-age story, sold as a memoir from Tolly who was a Teenage Slasher. I've been excited to read this author for a while, but unfortunately this fell kind of flat for me. It is told in a stream-of-consciousness style, which worked reasonably well on audio and made this pretty readable, even if some parts did feel a little repetitive. However, I just didn't find myself drawn in by the events, especially in the second half after the main idea was revealed, when it felt like it dragged on way too long. After this, it all became a little too predicable for me, with only minor deviations from what would be expected from the genre. Or maybe the issue is that while I've seen a few slasher films, it's far from my favourite genre, and maybe I was missing some subtle references (although there were plenty more obvious calls within the text so I don't think that was it). While I sympathised with Tolly, at least to begin with, I never felt very connected with him. I did like his (platonic-ish) relationship with Amber, but maybe would have liked more from her in the story. The atmosphere was pretty good, with a strong sense of Texas in the 1980s. Overall, it was fun as a pretty straightforward action horror with lots of violence and gore, but just maybe not my kind of horror!