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A review by fearnerd
Malignant Summer by Tim Meyer
4.0
Malignant Summer is described as "coming-of-age epic," and it definitely lives up to that promise with a huge page count and multiple character POVs and a setting (1998) that I could get behind with all the various pop culture references. This felt like I was living through my own childhood at times with our core trio of Doug, Grady, and Jesse.
Obviously, this book will get the requisite comparison to King's It, but Malignant Summer feels closer to Dan Simmons' Summer of Night, in my opinion. While I enjoyed and many times loved both books, they were a tad bloated in length as if trying to earn that "epic" designation instead of trimming parts for a more effective novel. Our baddie here is a seemingly unstoppable entity that haunts the dreams of Hooperstown's children and infects some with cancer that most of the community assume to be caused by the town's chemical plant. So, you get a little real-world horror mixing with the supernatural.
I can't say that I fully understood everything surrounding the book's villain, as there didn't seem to be any sort of rulebook of what she could do or couldn't do or why she needed minions in some situations. There were many creepy moments and also some sad ones as well. The book strikes a good balance with its humor, scares, gore, and serious moments. It's definitely a great staple of summer horror and especially coming-of-age horror.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5. Fear Nerd says, "Check it out!"
Obviously, this book will get the requisite comparison to King's It, but Malignant Summer feels closer to Dan Simmons' Summer of Night, in my opinion. While I enjoyed and many times loved both books, they were a tad bloated in length as if trying to earn that "epic" designation instead of trimming parts for a more effective novel. Our baddie here is a seemingly unstoppable entity that haunts the dreams of Hooperstown's children and infects some with cancer that most of the community assume to be caused by the town's chemical plant. So, you get a little real-world horror mixing with the supernatural.
I can't say that I fully understood everything surrounding the book's villain, as there didn't seem to be any sort of rulebook of what she could do or couldn't do or why she needed minions in some situations. There were many creepy moments and also some sad ones as well. The book strikes a good balance with its humor, scares, gore, and serious moments. It's definitely a great staple of summer horror and especially coming-of-age horror.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5. Fear Nerd says, "Check it out!"