I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book from Netgalley and Viking Books for Young Readers, Penguin Books. This has not impacted my rating and this review is voluntary.
- Genre: Young Adult
- Published by: Viking Books for Young Readers
- Publish date: September 12, 2023
- Number of pages: 416 pages
- Author’s website: https://www.adamsassbooks.com/
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Scream meets Clueless in this YA horror from Adam Sass in which two gay teen BFFs find their friendship tested when a serial killer starts targeting their school’s Queer Club.
Dearie and Cole are inseparable, unlikeable, and (in bad luck for them) totally unbelievable.
From the day they met, Dearie and Cole have been two against the world. But whenever something bad happens at Stone Grove High School, they get blamed. Why? They’re beautiful, flirtatious, dangerously clever queen bees, and they’re always ready to call out their fellow students. But they’ve never faced a bigger threat than surviving senior year, when Mr. Sandman, a famous, never-caught serial killer emerges from a long retirement—and his hunting ground is their school Queer Club.
As evidence and bodies begin piling up and suspicion points at Dearie and Cole, they will need to do whatever it takes to unmask the real killer before they and the rest of Queer Club are taken down. But they’re not getting away from the killer without a fight.
Along the way, they must confront dark truths hidden beneath the surface of their small desert community. When the world is stacked against them and every flop they know is a suspect, can Dearie and Cole stop Mr. Sandman’s rampage? Or will their lonely nights soon be over . . .
Via Netgalley
Rating: 4.5/5
Queer, campy, and sassy are a few words I would use to describe this horror YA novel by Adam Sass. Horror mixed with comedy and snarkiness is my favorite genre. As a girl who watches the Scream franchise every year, I loved this slasher environment Sass created. The serial killer is truly unique and terrifying.
Mr. Sandman had a rash of murders back in the day and has returned. His MO is targetting heartbroken and lonely people by leaving a calling card that their “lonely nights are over”. I felt this premise to be truly spooky and if I got into the mind of “Sandman”, I’d think he could justify it as having some warped idea that he was motivating people to be together. The premise of this story is that he’s back but now seems to be targeting members of the queer club.
Any interesting side effect of serial killers, or certain crimes in general like scams, has been how society adapts to them. For example, we have home security systems, we don’t leave our doors unlocked, we rarely answer unknown numbers, and we have different routines. In this case, one side effect was the increase in marriages and babies because people didn’t want to be alone. I found this fact included in the novel interesting!
Told in dual viewpoints between best friends Dearie and Cole, we follow these two as they navigate high school, dating, oh, and trying to not get killed. I don’t want to give away the ending but I enjoyed it and only correctly guessed one part. Coming in mid-September just in time for spooky season, I loved this book and hope you will too!
Have you read this book? What are your thoughts? I’d love to know!
Musings by Michelle 