Armed with makeshift weapons and Jamie’s extensive knowledge of what NOT to do in a horror movie, the remaining speed daters try to find an exit while the killer adds to their body count. As the night progresses and Jamie comes face-to-mask with the murderer, she begins to suspect he is committing the slayings to woo one of the daters and turn her into his real-life Final Girl. But Jamie has a different love story in mind, and as she fights for her life, she can’t help but find herself ensconced in a love triangle with two of the other speed-daters. Will she survive the bloodshed to find her happily ever after? Or does this machete-wielding psychopath have another Final Girl in mind?"
What Worked for Me:
This is pretty much my perfect slasher read. I love the amount of character development we get before the bodies start dropping so that all of the characters are more than just a name. Once the bodies start dropping, they keep dropping and I loved the creativity of the kills. This was a single POV read which really opened up the whole cast of characters to potentially be the killer. The ending reveal was very well done and was probably the most cinematic section of the whole read - I could 100% see this being played out on the big screen.
I think the tone of this read could be hit or miss for readers, but I loved it. Jamie doesn't speak directly to the reader, but she has the sort of encyclopedic knowledge of slashers and thus the 'rules' for how to survive one. At times, it felt like she was so close to breaking the fourth wall, but then something would happen or another character would interrupt her. I enjoyed that some of the characters were more skeptical and could be used as stand-ins for more skeptical readers.
I don't entirely agree in marketing this book as a horror romance, and I think doing so is a slight disservice. As an avid romance and murder-book reader, I absolutely adore the 'two sides of the same coin' dialogue where the same plot could be read in two very different ways, just depending on the framing. That being said, this did not read like a horror romance to me. It read much more as a straight forward slasher with a heavy romantic subplot which I think is much more successful. I really enjoyed the way Thompson intertwined the genre expectations of both, but if any reader is coming to this for a romance plot against a horror backdrop, I would say you may be disappointed. Does it hit the beats for both a slasher and romance - sure. But the slasher is much more of the focus and the romance elements do feel like they are off to the side a lot of the time until it is convenient for the slasher plot for the characters to have a little break.
What Didn't Work for Me:
I think Thompson did as good a job as she could with describing the location and movement of all the characters - but there were so many hallways that I had a hard time picturing where our characters were (dead and alive). Now, there is a map in the front of the book but I read the ebook so it wasn't quick to flip back and forth. Now, I don't feel like I was completely lost and Thompson did a good job so I could follow the events and knew the general locations of things, but I think if I had an easier time checking the map, it would have been a bit more fun and interactive of a read.
Overall, this was a really fun read and I loved the tone and characters. We get plenty of body drops and some good moments of tension and suspicion.
Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC. Publication date was February 3, 2026.
No comments:
Post a Comment