I was also kind of expecting a supernatural twist, perhaps for the adults in town to have summoned the spirit of evil Frendo the Clown to avenge his reputation being tarnished by ungrateful teenagers. The writing was a bit too sparse to really double-down on the atmosphere and get me in a spine-tingly mood. But while plenty of characters died, I was a bit underwhelmed by the execution (of the story, not the murders. I definitely judged this book by its cover, and I was hoping it would be some ridonkulous teen slasher fest. But though it has all the markers, this, surprisingly, isn’t a sex-laden horror romp.

She also has some passing interest in her good ol’ boy neighbor, Rust, who likes guns and is Cole’s ex-best friend. Quinn is instantly attracted, despite herself, to rich-kid and suspected-arsonist Cole Hill, the quarterback and tragic figure who’s sister fell to her death the year before. Quinn is the perfect scary-story ingenue: she’s got her own melancholy baggage, she’s easy-going and curious about the locals, and she gets plenty of Scream Queen moments.

This is not a story that prizes characterization, so I can’t even fully bring myself to “nay” anyone because I simply don’t care about them. Most of the story is from Quinn’s fairly innocuous point of view, but every so often we’ll jump into the brain of another character (usually right before they kick it). When Quinn heads off to a late-night party at an empty barn in an abandoned cornfield, her night of booze and boys is about to get a helluva lot more bloody. And despite wanting to be anonymous, Quinn ends up befriending these “cool kids”, which unwittingly paints a target on her back. But a certain group of influential teenagers in town are restless and pull one of their stupid pranks for their live-stream that almost accidentally kills innocent bystanders. The adults in town try to bury their woes by having fun during Founders’ Day weekend, a time to celebrate the factory (and town) mascot, Frendo, a clown who once gave them all job security.

That quiet place ends up being the midwestern, podunk town of Kettle Springs, where things aren’t going so great for the local economy after the corn syrup factory closed and then was burnt down…intentionally. father look for a new place where they can be incognito and just get through the next school year. After her mother overdoses and dies in a very public way at her varsity track meet, she and her M.D. My clown-hating husband has really disliked seeing this book lying around the living room the last few weeks. I mean, with a name like Clown in a Cornfield, how can I NOT read this? Kudos for one freaky-ass cover.

I had to double-check this was YA and, also, not a joke book. Talky Talk: Horror Mish-Mash, It’s A BloodbathĬontent warning: This is a slasher-book, so be prepared for plenty of horror-movie worthy death scenes.

Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare