HOW TO SURVIVE A SLASHER

There’s a new murderer in Satterville, Ohio—better known as Slasherville thanks to the fictionalized accounts of the town’s two massacres by a pseudonymous author.

CJ Smith, a white-presenting, bisexual, genderqueer teen, abhors Moon Satter’s novels because their own life is so entwined with the actual events. Their dad survived the first massacre, perpetrated by a killer who donned a wolf mask at a summer camp in 1996, but he was killed in the second attack, six years ago. CJ survived by hiding in a closet. When an unpublished manuscript for a third Moon Satter novel shows up on CJ’s doorstep, they think it must be a prank…until elements of the story, which recounts new Wolf Man killings, start to come true. When the final girl in Satter’s unpublished novel instead winds up being the first victim in real life, CJ must step into the main character role to stop the killings. This metafictive work plays with horror tropes in entertaining and exciting ways and keeps the suspense up with twists aplenty. CJ is a captivating lead, figuring out how to stand out and take charge and when to ask for help and accept support. Secondary characters, including CJ’s Costa Rican American classmate and new friend, Nadia Martínez, and Sebastián, Nadia’s cousin and CJ’s crush, are equally dynamic. These relationships add warmth and humor to a story that’s not afraid to dabble in the dark.

An engrossing slasher story that honors the genre while feeling fresh.