Five years after Ashley King survived the infamous Resort Massacre, she’s found hanging in her basement by her fiancé, Todd Matthews. She left behind clues as to what really happened that night, clues that may reveal the identity of the killer the press has called The Wraith. With the help of his friends, Todd goes back to the crumbling Hayden Resort, a death-tinged ruin in the Catskills Mountains. What they find is a haunted history that’s been lying in wait for a fresh set of victims. The Wraith is back, and he’s nothing what they expected.
Slash by Hunter Shea. Published by Flame Tree Press, Oct 2019. Netgalley provided me with an advanced readers copy on my kindle, in exchange for an honest review. 288 pages. Possible triggers: suicide, animal death.
Wow! This story had so many great nods to slasher horror movies. It felt like this story was just crammed full of great references and easter eggs. Loved that the cat was named Elvira! 😀 You can really tell how much this author loves horror movies. I always hate when someone writes a horror book or movie when they don’t seem to actually understand the genre. So when I see an author who really, truly loves horror, it makes a story all that much better. I think this is a book most horror movie lovers will seriously enjoy.
The plot of Slash deals a lot with grief and relationships. There was a lot of emotion with the whole story. The beginning starts off a little bit slow as you watch the main characters slowly try to deal with their grief, and sometimes it does feel overwhelming. Not in a bad way, but in a way that makes you feel even more of a connection to the main characters pain. Once the story gets rolling, it escalates quickly. The rest of the story is a run away train of evil.
I really loved what Shea’s take on a slasher villain ended up being. It is a great twist to the killer. What or who the Wraith is, is something you just don’t see much in horror anymore, so I was really excited to see the author use that for his killer. Pretty clever.
There is a lot of great, crazy kills in Slash. Tons of gore and violence. I loved it! Very much in the same vein as the Friday the 13th movie kills. Absurd but epic AF! There is one scene with an animal getting killed, though. It was over quickly, but was a little violent. I always like to make a note of that for all the animal lovers out there.
I had a lot of fun reading this book. It was a quick, fun ride. I felt just like exactly like I was reading an 80s slasher movie! Nailed it! Very entertaining. This author is so good at capturing the hay day of horror movies in modern horror books.
Creature From The Book Lagoon 