What I'm Reading: Candy Cain Kills by Brian McAuley in Booklist

After having 4 reviews in the 10/1/23 issue of Booklist, I have just 1 in the 10/15/23 issue, but it is a good one. Below is my draft review With bonus appeal info.

Candy Cain Kills

by Brian McAuley

Nov. 2023. 172p. Shortwave, paper, $13.99  (9781959565192). 

First published October 15, 2023 (Booklist). 

Shortwave Publishing’s series of novellas entitled, “Killer VHS, '' feature characters finding an old VHS tape that summons a monster. Film professor and screenwriter, McAuley, sleighs it with the second book in the series. It's Christmas Eve 2005 and teens Austin and Fiona are headed from LA to a remote cabin in the mountains, with their parents. But little do they know, that this house was the site of a grisly disaster 10 years previously, when an entire family died on Christmas morning. With great characters, including authentic LGBTQ and disability representation, multiple points of view, original, bloody, and cinematic kills, a fresh and twisty story with just the right amount of nostalgia, and a perfect dose of dark humor, this book is exactly what it claims to be, “Goosebumps for Grown ups,” and oh, what fun that is for Horror readers. An early holiday gift for fans of slashers in any format but specifically The Last Final Girl by Stephen Graham Jones, Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare, and Ten by Gretchen McNeil

YA Statement: With its teen protagonists and tongue in cheek dark humor, this bloody slasher is a great choice for older teens who have graduated from Goosebumps and love the slasher subgenre either to read or view.

Further Appeal: You will be able to read this book and single setting which is good because you will not be able to stop once you start. It is way too much fun for how bloody it is. Do not miss this, or the entire series. A Holiday treat for all slasher fans from YA and up.

I loved the early internet and cell phone stuff. 1995 home movies. All the nostalgia. Authentic and fun.

A bit campy but on purpose. Lacks the social commentary of a Clown in the Cornfield but that is not the point of his book. It is what is sets out to be and that is a GREAT THING.

And LOOK AT THAT COVER!!! Sells itself.

Three Words That Describe This Book: slasher, well drawn characters, bloody fun

Readalikes: So many great slasher readalikes (some listed above). This one also reminded me of Brian Keene's Castaways. Very violent and yet you have so much fun reading it. A lot of that has to do with the excellent characterization and perfectly rendered setting.

Since reading this novella, I also read and reviewed Midnight on Beacon Street by Emily Ruth Verona. This is also a great readalike. 

And then there are all the Christmas season Horror readalikes, like I discussed in my review of Ellen Datlow's anthology, Christmas and Other Horrors earlier this month.