Recently, I have been browsing around for new reads. Horror has always been my favourite. I get newer reads from the nominations and wins for the Bram Stoker award where I have been seeing the name 'Stephen Graham Jones' multiple times. That's when I decided to give this book a try. This had many reviews and had won the award. Plus, I loved the name and the relatively simple book cover.
Jade Daniels is a high school senior growing up in Proofrock. She is half Indian and is a hardcore fan of slasher movies. There is nothing special in Proofrock except the Indian Lake, the reserve forest and Camp Blood, which was the site of a massacre years ago. Across the lake, a new residential Terra Nova is coming up in place of the national forest. JD is not the popular girl in town and she hates her life in Proofrock nestled high in the mountains. All she wants is to be a part of a slasher in action and help the final girl to defeat the killer. People are dying in the town and nobody suspects anything except Jade, who keeps on telling this as the act of a slasher killer. Is there really a killer out there? Is there going to be a big showdown in Proofrock? Or is it all a figment of Jade's imagination?
Well! This was a very odd read for me. I liked the concept and how the slasher movies were incorporated throughout the book. A true homage to those movies. I did get a lot of movie suggestions to add to my list. I had difficulty in keeping connected with the book. The story is presented through a first person account of Jade. There are a lot of themes being included in the novel - child abuse, alcoholism, discrimination, neglect, mental health, suicide, etc. I liked how Jade's character is written. She has a lot going on inside her, being sidelined for her weird nature. She had a difficult childhood going through her parents' separation, her father's alcoholism, the child neglect and abuse, chain smoking, staying somewhat dissociated from reality through her love for slashers. She is shown smoking almost throughout the novel, which makes me think she might be dead from her smoking before the story is going to finish. When coming to the downside, the story dd not keep me engaged. I was moving off track so frequently, which tired me out regularly breaking the flow. But, there was something that had me going. This might be the slasher genre being infused. I guess that was what tempted me to see the end of the book even though the story was disoriented. There are a handful of characters who play a good role in the proceedings. The moments of disbelief of her peers and their linking this obsession with her mental trauma are well written. Past halfway, I was able to stay on track with the story. But the scenes towards the climax threw me totally off track. There was a lot of chaos, panic and confusion that you might see in a slasher movie.
In short, this was a messed up read in my view. I did like the notion and characterisations. But, the story did not keep me hooked most of the time. But slasher fans might be able to connect with this homage.
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