The Summer Is Ended and We Are Not Yet Saved

Disappointing.

The story starts off ok, we learn about Martin and his mother, who have an odd relationship revolving around horror as Martin's mother is a makeup artist specialising in horror effects. She takes a job and Martin decides to go to Bible Camp near his grandparents house.

The action shifts to the Bible Camp and thats where the story really starts to go downhill in my opinion. Father Tony, the camp leader just randomly decides to start killing 12 year olds in increasingly violent ways. This starts almost right away, within days of them arriving. We don't really get to know any of these kids - it happens so quickly - so while it was awful that they were killed, the impact wasn't as great as it might have been had we grown to like any of the kids.

The carnage at the camp is interspersed with letters to Martin from his mother, talking about her job and some strange things that are going on. It seems clear that the mother has some mental health issues. But the letters never seem to have anything to do with the story and the last letter doesn't really make sense in the context of what has happened in the story at that point.

But the biggest issues are that there was no character growth, the main character doesn't overcome any obstacles, the story itself didn't really seem to follow any kind of story structure, it just meanders along. I can think of many, many ways that this story could have been improved, if only this, if only that. At least it was a quick read.

A solid 4 stars for me.

This is an old fashion slasher (it even has two very, VERY soft sex scenes; and yes, the people involved all die!).

The writing is very good. The author knows how to keep you engaged even though it can be a little repetitive (it is a slasher after all).

I particularly loved the villain in this one. The killer is having so much fun with it. I mean, he's having the time of his life. And it just happens to. I mean, in a split second, just like that.

I also loved the fact that, to my knowledge at least, there is no other reason for that switch other than he felted like it. No rage, no past trauma, no revenge... just ‘cause. And this is not because of a lack of deepness of character. It's just how he is (you will see in the end, God I love that part, the last scene with the killer is just... ART).

I will definitely pick up more of Joey Comeau's books. He got me hooked.

I recommend it to any and all slasher movie buffs out there.

Extreme horror. Straight slasher. 
I watched a YouTube video where Hailey Hughes recommended this book, and talked about how it's out of print and super difficult to come across now days. 

So naturally my curiosity was peaked and I had to find it and read it.  Sprinkle in the fact that I love anything summer camp themed and this was a recipe for success. 

It feels wrong to rate this book highly because of how horrific the subject matter is but it was a wild ride from start to finish and  I enjoyed the journey. Not for the faint of heart. But definitely for me.