What I'm Reading: I Was a Teenage Slasher

The May 15th issue of Booklist contains my STAR review of the 2nd Stephen Graham Jones novel of 2024. I cannot express how much I love this book, but I will try. 

STAR
I Was a Teenaged Slasher
Stephen Graham Jones

Hot on the heels of the conclusion to his Indian Lake Trilogy which introduced the 21st Century’s Final Girl, Jade Daniels, Jones is back with Tolly Driver, the yin to Jade’s yang. Narrated from 17 years in the future, Tolly recounts in an engaging and brutally honest narration, the summer he was 17, 1989, in Lamesa, TX, when he killed 6 (or 12 or 14) of his high school classmates. Beginning with the fateful night he and his best friend Amber attend a house party, and leading readers through Tolly’s transformation from skinny kid with a peanut allergy to an inevitable killer, this novel lays down new ground rules for the Slasher, deeply rooting it in its established tropes, moving it in a new direction, while still making novices feel welcome. Readers will watch something original emerge before their eyes, realizing why everyone needs to be as obsessed with the Slasher as Jones is himself. Suggest to every reader who loves a perfectly rendered time and place or just wants a chilling, captivating, and thought-provoking story where every detail matters and every page is worth their time, but especially those who recently enjoyed The Pallbearers Club by Tremblay and The Eyes Are the Best Part by Kim or have missed Deaver’s seminal sympathetic killer, Dexter.

Three Words That Describe This Book: strong sense of place, dark humor, engaging narration

Further Appeal: The hardest thing about talking about this book is that you cannot talk about any of the amazing specifics. There is a twist early in the book that begins the process of how this book changes the entire Slasher genre in the VERY BEST way. It explains the entire trope as it appeared before this book, in books and movies, and move it forward. It provides the information we never knew, but it makes so much sense and you can never unknow it.

Watching this book all unfold was a joy. I bolded the word "every" as it repeated in my review when I turned n the draft and gave this note to my editor-- "please keep the 'every' repeating. I did that on purpose. I cannot stress enough how there are no wasted words here and even more, how they all matter. To the final page. It is remarkable to have something so entertaining be so well written."

Throw out every slasher you have ever read and just put this novel next to the Indian Lake Trilogy and you have the definition of the slasher genre in the 21st century. I cannot stress enough how well Tolly Driver pairs with Jade Daniels as opposite side of the same coin. Standing alone they are great and can be enjoyed without the other, but together they are masterful, informing each other and enhancing the enjoyment of each other.

The setting is also perfectly rendered-- 1989 which was the year I entered high school, so I felt the time in my bones. But also, Jones set it near the place he lived as a High Schooler in West Texas in 1989. He writes in the acknowledgments about the real spaces and how hard he worked to get it all right. You can feel that. Also the music! All the hair bands.

Tolly's narration was intimate and engaging. You knew he was going to be a teenaged slasher-- the title tells you, he tells you over and over again of the number of dead left in his wake. It is clear he is narrating from the future, in a place where no one knows who he is-- he tells you this. But you come to love Tolly, you want to protect him, you want it all to be okay-- despite knowing it will not be okay. That is masterful storytelling. Jones's unique cadence in how he has Tolly share his story will grab you and keep you hooked for the duration- even when you want to look away and not see what is about to happen.

And not only does every detail matter, but the ending was perfect-- heartbreakingly beautiful-- done

with love and care.

Amber and Tolly-- BFFSs 4EVER! That should be spray painted in the Lamesa graffiti wall. Someone in TX get on that.

Readalikes: The above books made the cut into the review. But I do need to say people who are not as obsessed with Jones or Jade Daniels should read this BEFORE starting the Jade trilogy. Maeve Fly by CJ Leede is also a good readalike here. My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite an even better one though.

And here is a wildcard suggestion but one I think is a great way to introduce a wide range of readers to the brilliance of Jones as a writer-- Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Zevin. All of your readers who loved that book despite the "video game" frame because of the amazing boy-girl friendship, this is the same. Despite the "slasher" frame if you loved the friendship in that one, read this SGJ novel now. As I said in my review of the Zevin when I first read it:

It is ultimately the story of a friendship. A brutally honest portrait of a complicated friendship from the age of 12 to adulthood between a boy and girl. There is NO sexual tension...

These readers-- of which there are many including a few I have told to read Zevin for this exact reason-- will love I Was a Teenaged Slasher.