Whisper House Press

Book: I Was a Teenage Slasher

Author: Stephen Graham Jones

Publisher: Simon & Schuster / Saga Press

ISBN: 9781668022245

Publication: 16 July, 2024

Capone’s Rating: 5 of 5⭐

Warning: This review contains Potential Spoilers, but I tell nothing explicitly herein.

When I pick up a book from Stephen Graham Jones, I have high expectations. So far, I’ve devoured his My Heart is a Chainsaw and Don’t Fear the Reaper from the Lake Witch Trilogy, inhaled The Only Good Indians (one of the best books I’ve ever read—leave aside the “horror” qualifier), experienced The Babysitter Lives, and absolutely demolished several short stories. None of these has missed the mark in exposing me to new ideas—new terrors—in a true-to-the-artist form. So SGJ has a high bar to clear for any new releases. He is among the group of newish horror writers who re-introduced me to the genre in my adult years once I learned to stop worrying and love what I love—horror fiction.

Always writing character-strong stories and never mere plot points alone, Jones hits this one out of the park. Set out as an exercise in found fiction, the story of Tolly Driver’s becoming a teenage slasher—much to the protagonist’s chagrin—told by the executioner himself. Can the narrator be trusted? No. Is he a good kid? Yes. Is he a slasher with a body count? Also, yes. This one surprised me in Jones’s ability to make me care about—to worry about—a mass murderer. This isn’t an ode to IRL slashers but is absolutely, 100% love letter to slasher-fiction and -film genre. And it’s done so well! Jones grabs us with an explosive origin story, motivating the character emotionally (he’s got an internal wound, and this drives much of his decision-making through the story) and specifically (for hit-list targeting purposes). We see the character fight his awful fate, and we observe his best friend (he loves her in the most endearing way) Amber try to save him (multiple animals are saved throughout the tale, both by Amber and our slasher hero—note, not antihero but true hero). Stephen Graham Jones pulls off some impressive storytelling gymnastics in developing I Was a Teenage Slasher, and his work deserves your precious life minutes. Five stars.