A review by minimicropup
Benny Rose, the Cannibal King by Hailey Piper

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Assertive. Vibrant. Hungry.  
 
🇺🇸🎃 Set in Blackwood, Vermont on a stormy 1980s Halloween night. 
A group of teen friends plan to frighten a new classmate using the local legend of Benny Rose at a Halloween party, but they’re in for an unplanned night of scares. 
 
— 
🐺Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags🐕 
🤩 I loved the writing style. It’s atmospheric and subtle. Not in your face but felt all-encompassing as I got drawn into the story. It also captured those real feels from being a teen, hanging out with friends, and all the Halloween vibes. 
 
👍 The characters are each given a voice and we see their perspectives with a mix of third person narration and the observations of their friend, Desiree. The dialogues sounded natural, the way people actually talk, so it was easy to follow since each character had their own style. 
 
😨 I like the way the town legend is incorporated into the story. There’s no cackling, scheming, contrived ‘Big Bad’. Benny Rose has a back story beyond the legend and felt like a real town legend. 
 
😳 I hate to admit I felt for a group of ‘bad’ people. My introvert self often has those “no kids allowed, they’re loud and annoying” feels and I MIGHT have been cheering for them if it wasn’t for the fact that they author wrote teen perspectives in such an authentic way that I remembered what it was like to be  loud and annoying.  
 
🫶 The world-building was perfection for me. I had a sense of the houses and community layout so I didn’t lose where everyone was when thing got intense and action ramped up. It’s show, not tell so the community unfolds gradually depending where the characters are. Like, you know how when you walk into someone’s house for the first time and you notice where a kitchen or bathroom is, and the smells and decorations? It’s like that but not overly detailed, just the natural way someone would observe their surroundings when they first take them in. So I don’t think you’ll be bored to tears by detail if you’re not an imaginations reader. 
 
😱 Initially the suspense is figuring out what’s going on and how to get to safety. Then it’s fight-for-your-life escape, hide, figure out the lore and defeat the big bad energy, but it doesn’t lose the atmospheric immersive quality in the process. 
 
😃 It isn’t a trope-y teen slasher horror even when it seemed to be heading that way. The escape scenes aren’t contrived or convenient, but the creature is cunning and dangerous so it’s truly hard to outwit it. And we find out how the creature is so good at figuring out where they’re hiding. 
— 
 
Mood Reading Match Up: 
  • Small town dark and stormy Halloween night 
  • Creepy retirement community 
  • Escape from a crazed killer, creature-feature slashe
  • Show-not-tell themes and commentary on coming-of-age friendship, the vulnerability of youth, biases against teenagers (especially girls), toxic introversion (😅), and the dark kernels of truth in local urban legends 
 
Content Heads-Up: Natural disaster (flooding). Diverse skin colours and races. Death. Body horror and gore. Cannibalism. Fire. Familial rejection and murder. Loss of a friend, loss of a partner, loss of a parent. Car accident. 
 
Format: Kindle Unlimited 
 
😱 This was one of my most captivating reads of 2023
Expand filter menu Content Warnings