I Was a Teenage Slasher

by Stephen Graham Jones

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

If you've been hitting rewind on your favorite summertime slashers, this is your next gloriously gory read, from the author of The Only Good Indians and The Indian Lake Trilogy.

A USA TODAY Bestseller

From New York Times bestselling horror writer Stephen Graham Jones comes a classic slasher story with a twist—perfect for fans of Adam Cesare and Grady Hendrix.

1989, Lamesa, Texas. A small west Texas town driven by oil and cotton—and a place where everyone knows everyone else’s business. So it goes for Tolly Driver, a good kid with more potential than application, seventeen, and about to be cursed to kill for revenge. Here Stephen Graham Jones explores the Texas he grew up in, and shared sense of unfairness of being on the outside through the slasher horror Jones loves, but from the perspective of the killer, Tolly, writing his own autobiography. Find yourself rooting for a killer in this summer teen movie of a novel gone full blood-curdling tragic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781668022245
Publisher:	S&S/Saga Press
Publication date:	07/16/2024
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	10,591
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Stephen Graham Jones is the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians. He has been an NEA fellowship recipient and a recipient of several awards including the Ray Bradbury Award from the Los Angeles Times, the Bram Stoker Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, the Jesse Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters, the Independent Publishers Award for Multicultural Fiction, and the Alex Award from American Library Association. He is the Ivena Baldwin Professor of English at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Editorial Reviews

05/20/2024

Bestseller Jones (the Indian Lake trilogy) again riffs on 1980s slasher movies in this indulgent bloodbath. Tolly Driver witnesses a massacre at a high school party at the hands of Justin Jones, an undead classmate who died during a vicious prank gone awry. Having gotten infected with a couple drops of Justin’s blood, and reeling from a near-death experience stemming from his peanut allergy, Tolly finds himself driven by the urge to go on a murder spree of his own. He dons a mask and slashes his way through his small Texas town. Only his childhood friend, final girl Amber Dennison, serves as a tether to the scared and fragile kid he was before the killing began. Will she be able to stop the slaughter once and for all? The story has a clear love for the splashy slasher films that inspired it, and Jones does a great job of landing the plot’s gorier excesses as the bodies pile up. Unfortunately, chaotic plotting undercuts the story’s tension and narrator Tolly’s many tangents make the pacing somewhat start-and-stop. Still, fans of meta horror will find a lot to love as Jones remixes well-worn tropes with glee. Agent: BJ Robbins, BJ Robbins Literary. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"A playful, self-aware and remarkably gory horror novel."

—The New York Times

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.

 starred review —Booklist

"Stephen Graham Jones’s viciously clever, over-the-top, genre-skewing new novel turns a gruesome murderer into 'your friendly neighborhood slasher'...spectacularly engaging narrative voice, which is imbued with a street-smart lyricism that makes even the loftiest observations glitter like knife blades."

New York Times Book Review

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.

 starred review Booklist

★ 07/01/2024

Tolly Driver is 17, lives in Lamesa, TX, and is a slasher who has committed multiple murders. Awkward and already an outsider, Tolly faced challenges, including bullies and the death of his father, before transforming into the titular killer. This novel in the style of an autobiography pays homage to the slasher flicks of the 1980s and '90s while creating something entirely new. Fans of Bram Stoker Award winner Jones's other books about growing up in West Texas (like Not for Nothing) will find the same rich detail and sense of place. Grimly humorous and filled with surprising turns, this novel is poised to become a summer-reading hit and a book club favorite. VERDICT Even those well versed in slashers and their tropes will be surprised by the directions Jones takes. Readable both as representative of slasher films and book and as an exploration of the rules of the genre, this novel will have wide appeal to readers who are new to Jones's work as well as established fans. Recommended as a contrast for fans of recent "final girl" books like the ones by Grady Hendrix and Riley Sager and readers who enjoyed The Pallbearers Club by Paul Tremblay.—Lila Denning

Library Journal

Texas-born and raised, narrator Michael Crouch draws on his roots to bring the title character of this audiobook to life. In mournful tones, Tolly Driver recounts the events of the summer of 1989, when a peanut-infused Coke nearly kills him (he's allergic) and ultimately triggers a gruesome revenge rampage against the bullies who forced it on him. Crouch makes sure listeners understand that Tolly is the most reluctant of killers--and is totally aware of the ridiculousness of the setup--but he's caught in the inexorable grasp of the slasher genre's conventions. There's vomit and blood aplenty, but Crouch's light touch leaves listeners remembering the love: for the small West Texas town Tolly can never return to and for his best friend, who tried to save Tolly from his fate. Unexpectedly sweet. V.S. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2024 - AudioFile