Stephen Graham Jones is a living legend of horror - from the creeping folk dread of The Only Good Indians to the meta-slasher brutality of My Heart Is A Chainsaw. And I Was A Teenage Slasher shows yet another side. This one felt raw, bloody, a little intimate as if it was reaching some place private and tearing it open for us to read. Definitely one of the must-read releases for the year!

I have loved all the books I have read by Stephen Graham Jones and this one was no different. The genre is my absolute favourite and this book kept me hooked, I absolutely loved this book.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I love a slasher so I was really excited that this was accepted. I really enjoyed this book, it was unique. This was my first book from Stephen Graham Jones and it did not disappoint, it was gripping, in the pov of the slasher whilst keeping common slasher themes!

really enjoyed this!

Every time I start a new SGJ book I'm like "what more can he do with the slasher genre? Sure he can't have done another totally unique rollercoaster that is both a perfect encapsulation of the tropes and gory AF and also totally breaks my heart?" And every time I finish a new SGJ book I'm like DAMN he did it again and my stomach is turned and heart is wrenched.
What a guy. I hope he never stops.

I will never tire of final girls. Against all odds, they have what it takes to survive. But for every final girl running for their life, there’s a slasher casually walking behind them and I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a part of me cheering the slasher on. (Unless the final girl is Jade Daniels. She’s off limits.)

The body count can never be too high. The river of blood should be cascading. The more organs on show, the better.

I love watching slashers follow and, every so often, break the rules. I search every scene for potential weapons. Horror movie soundtracks tend to earworm their way through my life. (My texts tell me Jason is nearby. The Halloween theme is my ringtone.)

I always want to know what makes the slasher tick, though, and it’s not like they’re the chattiest bunch so a lot is usually left to my imagination. I get the flashback scene so I know what those camp counsellors were up to when they should have been making sure Jason’s lungs weren’t filing with water. Jason now? He’s doing some walking and some killing but he’s not exactly inviting me to sit in on his therapy sessions.

What makes him a slasher and not someone else? Someone like me?

“Schting!”

That’s where Tolly comes in. This is his story.

“Places to be, people to eviscerate.”

This is also Amber’s story. Tolly is writing this for his best friend, who he hasn’t seen for half a lifetime. While Tolly didn’t even know what a slasher was before all of this started, Amber knows all of the rules.

This time, we get to see insides become outsides from the slasher’s POV and with Tolly talking me through it, I finally got the inside scoop (sorry!) I’ve been waiting for. Tolly isn’t quite who I was expecting, though.

He’s a slasher with heart. No, not one he ripped from the chest of one of his victims. One who has the ability to make me tear up, because he’s just so relatable and I want everything to turn out well for him. (Is there ever going to be a Stephen Graham Jones book that doesn’t make me cry?)

These kids are my kind of outcasts. The fact that they’ve been cast in this genre is just a bonus.

Favourite no context quote: “If she’d had sad eyes earlier, then now what she was about to tell me was that the moon was hurtling toward the Earth, and our only shot at stopping it was to catapult all the Earth’s puppies up at it.”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read this book.

I really enjoyed I Was a Teenage Slasher!
It was one of my anticipated reads of the year as I'm a huge fan of the slasher genre. I was especially excited as this was in the point of view of the killer, Tolly writing his own autobiography.
It sounded so unique, and it was!

I really loved Tolly. He was such a great character, and I especially really liked his relationship with Amber, which was the heart of the story.
I did struggle with parts of the book, as the pacing wasn't great at times as there were some slow sections, but other than that, I really did enjoy the book. There were also some absolutely amazing scenes that were just so good that they made up for the slower parts!

I also never thought a slasher could make me cry, but I was bawling by the end of this book.
I Was a Teenage Slasher is definitely a book I will be highly recommending, and i think it is the perfect horror read to read this summer.
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a review.

Initially, I was ambivalent about this novel, primarily because it marked my first encounter with this author's work, and the writing style did not immediately resonate with me. Although the narrative is conveyed through the perspective of our 17-year-old protagonist, I found the style somewhat disorienting at the outset. However, around the midpoint, I began to appreciate the distinctive voice, and my initial reservations dissipated.

This book presents an exceptionally unique approach to the slasher genre. Narrated from the slasher's point of view, it adheres to the conventional tropes of the genre, including the archetypal "final girl." One aspect that initially hindered my engagement was the interspersed episodes of mundanity between the slashing sequences, depicting the protagonist's ordinary teenage life in a small town. Despite these slower moments, the narrative eventually gains momentum, compensating for the earlier lulls with a gripping escalation of action.

Ultimately, this novel's innovative perspective and adherence to genre conventions won me over, and I now eagerly anticipate exploring more works by this author.

‘Some people are just good, aren’t they? I wonder what that must be like.’

It feels almost as if we are cheating as fans of horror by following the works of Stephen Graham Jones. Indeed, the blood had scarcely just dried, and our wounds barely healed after reading the heart-wrenching conclusion of Jade Daniels’ story in ‘The Angel of Indian Lake’, before we were summoned once again to draw our weapons, sharpen our blades, and prepare for more bloodshed with Jones’ latest slasher novel ‘I Was a Teenage Slasher’. SGJ has spoken about the relationship between these two novels himself and so I will simply add that it is a testament to his creativity and master of craft that both novels are individually brilliant in their own right. It is only the slasher genre that loosely ties them together, and in fact the rules that genre stories are typically confined within has never been a hinderance for SGJ. In the works of SGJ the slasher sub-genre has always seemed like a playground of infinite bloody possibilities, and ‘I Was a Teenage Slasher’ offers in my opinion, not just another example of how genre can be subverted and bent to the creator’s will to create something fresh from tired and worn parts, but the greatest example of such in SGJ’s burgeoning catalogue of stories.

The immediate and obvious difference between ‘Teenage Slasher’ and your typical slasher is that the story is written from the perspective of the slasher. Regrettably I cannot make any real comparisons between this and the recently released film ‘In a Violent Nature’, that I know toys with similar concepts to controversial reviews, but what I can say is the idea definitely worked for me on paper. Before we really get to know Tolly Driver and his story we know one thing for certain, he is a killer. In this context the talkative, autobiographical tone of the story is in two words ‘morbidly addictive’. It feels impossible to look away even as Tolly nonchalantly talks about his past killings as if he was recounting any other mundane activity. The writing feels tinged with a scent of insanity, think Joe Goldberg, and this is immediately captivating and terrifying.

Indeed, the tone of the story develops drastically from this strong opening. One of the themes prevalent throughout the whole story is the age-old debate of free will and determinism. What exactly makes a good person? What differentiates a good from a bad person? How much control does anyone really have over that? Towards the end of the novel Tolly describes his autobiographical account of his bloody past as an apology, and the story absolutely carries all the necessary traits of an apology. Our protagonist recounts his past with guilt and regret, but also with sorrow and acceptance. This is not your typical slasher story and Tolly is not your typical slasher. SGJ makes you confront your own moral compass and question the meaning of right and wrong in the most extreme of circumstances. The story batters you with a maelstrom of conflicting feelings and emotions, unapologetic and remorseless in its attack.

Just like a slasher, if there is one thing you come to expect from a new SGJ novel it is bloody, visceral carnage. Fear not, the story does not lack in this department, but I would argue that another strand that I have came to expect from SGJ is heart. Through Jade Daniels and the Lake Witch trilogy, SGJ crafted a cast of memorable characters who we grew to love and care for, making it that much more painful when they were taken from our clutches. In many ways this is story-telling 101 but the way SGJ marries heartless bloodshed with moments of tender human emotion is uniquely impressive. Of course, the story’s unique perspective on the slasher contains all the memorable hallmarks of the genre, but what sets the story apart from the rest is its relationships. The autobiographical nature of the story offers us a level of honesty and intimacy with Tolly that simply cannot be replicated in any other way. Take away the killings and you just have Tolly and Amber, two teenage best friends with their lives ahead of them, and the world right up against them.

‘I Was a Teenage Slasher’ once again highlights Stephen Graham Jones’ unique ability to bend genre to his will to create art that rings both comfortingly familiar and gratifyingly unfamiliar. Trust me, this one will stay with you for a long time, just not for the reasons you might expect.

This was my very first SGJ and despite having three of his books already on my shelves completely unread, because I’m clearly a loser, I couldn’t not apply for an ARC of I Was a Teenager Slasher — it sounded way up my alley and too good to not read in advance!

It was honestly everything I wanted in a book called I Was a Teenager Slasher. I went into it basically unaware of what to expect, but I really loved the confessional storytelling of the main character, Tolly Driver, and how he became what he became. It is very much a homage to being a teenager growing up in a small town in the 80’s, as well as a nod to anyone who loves the horror — slasher — genre. There’s lots of slasher meta in it, that makes it a fun read for any horror lover that knows their shit.

Despite the absurdity of the story, SGJ somehow still manages to make it feel very grounded, very real, and I think that’s because of the characters. I loved them all. Slasher, victims and final girl included. It hits you right in your feelings and by the end of it, you can’t help but feel for Tolly despite everything.

I Was a Teenage Slasher is the perfect autumn read and I definitely wanna re-read it in the near future. I’m also even more excited to finally start the other books that I have by him!

/// Thanks to Titan Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

An absolute juggernaut of a slasher, aka the slashers bible!

Lamesa, Texas 1989.
A group of teens at a pool party. You'd certainly expect some misbehaving and a few minor accidents but you'd never think things would spiral so out of control.

I've spent the 24 hours since finishing reading this book wonder how the hell I can review this and truly do it justice? The simple answer is that I can't do it justice at all, but I'll still share a few words regardless.

This is a slasher with a difference, yes there is pretty of blood and gore as you'd expect but the real standout feature of this novel is the relationship between Tolly (the main character) and his best friend, Amber. Stephen Graham Jones managed to write such realistic, relatable and authentic interaction between the two, it drove the story onwards and pulled me deeper into the narrative. I could whole heartedly relate to these characters and put myself in their shoes. In fact, this is why I'm having such a hard time writing this review, I'm in absolute awe.
Maybe in time I'll add more but right now I don't want to, I don't want to leave any kind of spoilers or lead anyone in any way.

I'd recommend this to anyone and especially to those who enjoyed Billy Summers, The Angel Lake trilogy or even The Colorado Kid.
Book of the year so far, Stephen Graham Jones at the very top of his game.

You know what, I was unsure about this one. It's my first book from this author, and I wasn't overly keen on the writing style. I know it's from the POV of our 17 year old main character, but to start with, I found it a little confusing. However, by about halfway through, I started to really enjoy it, and I was no longer bothered by the way it was written. This was an incredibly unique take on a slasher. Told from the slashers POV, it follows all the usual slasher rules, and we, of course, have our final girl.
One of the reasons it took me a while to get into was the fact that in between the slashing, there was a whole lot of... nothing. It was basically a teenage boy wandering around doing what teenage boys in a small town do. Once the action picks up though, it definitely makes up for the slow parts.
I look forward to reading more from this author.

I've been desperate to read a SGJ book, but I really didn't like this. I had to DNF, which I don't like to do. The writing style was jarring, and it's not just because of an unlikeable main character.

Unfortunately I really struggled with the narrative style and the main character. I also found the premise less interesting as the events were relatively clear from the beginning.

This was an interesting premise and I initially enjoyed the writing and narrative style. However, this became the book’s downfall as it became a real slog to read the steady stream of thoughts. There was no time stamps and no way to determine where exactly this book was being narrated from and the narration felt too mature for being a teenager. A great concept, I just struggled with the writing style.

I Was A Teenage Slasher is a horror novel set in Texas in 1989, as a seventeen-year-old finds himself part of a genre he never expected. Tolly Driver spends all his time with his best friend Amber, isn't cool, and isn't really notable other than having a recently deceased dad, but when Tolly and Amber go to an ill-fated party, suddenly Tolly finds himself the centre of a narrative he never expected. What happens when you're the slasher and you never had an option not to be?

Having read several of Stephen Graham Jones' previous books, I wanted to read this one without really paying attention to the blurb, so I didn't have any particular expectations going in, but I love how Jones takes the concept—what if the protagonist (and narrator) becomes a slasher and the world bends supernaturally to facilitate all the tropes of the genre—and makes it both full of slasher gore and quite emotional. Tolly is telling the story by looking back from some kind of present day, giving the narration a sense of knowing what will happen without revealing too many details (though the twist near the end I felt was set up as I expected it). The narrative follows a particular pattern—it is a slasher, even as Tolly and Amber try to stop it being one—and it's decently paced even with Jones' distinctively detail-packed style (I definitely took a couple of his books to get used to his style, as you can get lost in all the offhand mentions of things).

There's a fair bit of meta-commentary on slashers in horror fiction these days, with writers like Jones and Grady Hendrix exploring how the inconsistencies of slasher films could actually be utilised for interesting storytelling. In this book, the supernatural nature and inevitability of slasher tropes becomes the centre for a fun story of unexpected consequences. If you like meta-horror and know some of the expectations of the slasher genre, you'll probably have a good time with this one.

Another humourous horror in the vein of Grady Hendrix's Final Girl Support Group or SGJ's own Indian Lake books but instead of the final Girl, the emphasis is on the poor unfortunate Slasher.
3.5 Stars

I struggled with the stream of consciousness narrative style of this one. While it captured the almost schizophrenic mind of the killer it made this a hard slog. The narrator was also looking back but still spoke with the mindset of a teenager - perhaps a deliberate choice but it was somewhat off-putting.