Horrid

Let me preface this review by saying something: This book was not very good. But, in a way, it was VERY good.

When I review, I try to put a little context into my score. For example, an awesome kids' book is obviously not as in-depth as the most generic mystery thriller, but I may give the kids' book a 5 whereas the crapfest gets a 1. An OK autobiography that was clearly written by a non-writer might get a 5 where a classic that seems lame in hindsight or didn't age well may get rated 2. So, let's delve into that as it pertains to this book and why I chose to explain all of this ahead of time.

One thing I absolutely loved about this book was that it was a great throwback to the PG-13 horror movie trend of the late 90s/early 00s. I'm not sure if that's what the author was going for, but that's what I picked up. The cheesy dialogue, minimalistic plot, and token characters made this a perfect quick read for someone in their late teens. It wasn't too scary or too gory, some profanity thrown in but not over-the-top, and some rebellion against parents that had me nostalgic for the days of Jennifer Love Hewitt yelling “What are you waiting for?!”

Now, the writing was decent but not super strong. I feel like the plot meandered here and there at times and there were some head-scratching moments. I also felt like a couple plot points really didn't have any bearing on anything else in the book. Because of this, the ending felt a bit rushed and just didn't land for me. Once again, though, I would argue the same out of 2000s teen screams.

I highly recommend for anyone into cheesy teen horror.