If you ever wanted Saw to take place in the ’80s but also include every horror archetype in existence, this is for you. Carnival Kills by Caesar Daniels is a throwback horror with plenty of gore. I was given this book in exchange for an honest review, and I’m excited to get into it this week. Let’s get started!
What Is Carnival Kills About?
I’ve always said summer is the time for love. And gory Saw-style traps at an inbred circus in the country. Maddie and her friends are on break from school, and she thought her biggest challenge would be navigating her relationship with her cheating boyfriend. Things between her and Jake have been rocky. So when he suggested they take a trip with his jock buddy, the buddy’s girlfriend, the local stoner kid, and Maddie’s awkward roommate, how could she resist?
Maddie’s smart. She’s young. She seems to have a good head on her shoulders, but nothing could have prepared her for what nightmares await her at Carnival Kills.
What I Liked…
This book has kind of been the one to kick off my summer horror reading, and I honestly think it’s perfect for that. The summer slasher vibes are perfect, and even for people who aren’t too into gore, there’s enough story here for you to sink your teeth into. The story is well balanced between sharing the current horror of Maddie’s life and digging into the bloody history of the carnival. The shift of perspectives are dealt with really well, and the pacing makes Carnival Kills perfect for pool-side reading.
This could be a bit of a make or break for people, but the books is very classic horror archetype heavy. Our main cast is comprised of a couple is never not having sex, a couple that’s in the middle of a breakup, a weird loner chick who got invited out of pity, and a stoner that is quite literally Shaggy Rogers. So much so that I was disappointed we didn’t get more Scooby Doo references out of him. The cast is predictable and has been done to death, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing. For me, this meant that the book was a much easier read than other. I wasn’t being asked to imagine something way out of the box or relate to a bunch of new characters. The cast felt very familiar, and that’s part of what made this such a fun and easy read for me.
…And What I Didn’t
One of my biggest gripes ends up being with Maddie and Jake. Obligatory spoiler warning. A large part of the tension in the beginning of the book is supposed to be the instability in their relationship. And while I can totally get behind that, the author throws in multiple times that Jake cheating is Maddie’s fault. And if this was meant to be a way to show how immature Jake is, that did not come across. It felt like I was supposed to use this to vilify Maddie a bit, and it honestly annoyed me throughout the entire book.
And another spoiler warning, but I also felt like the epilogue was kind of weak. In the final scene, Maddie is left alive in the hospital after all of this carnage. And it’s clear they’re trying to pin the murders on her because of her mental instability, but it felt forced. If we were going to go that direction, I feel like that should have been hinted at the entire book. Maddie should have been set up to look like an unrelatiable narrator, or there should have been easter eggs throughout that would end up pointing to her in the end. We should have had a big reveal and the Saw music playing, but it felt like it jsut fell flat.
I will say that if you look up my review on Goodreads and Amazon, I’ve left it as a 4 because I can’t quite justify giving it a 3. This book ended up being a solid 3.5 for me. Typically, I like new twists on old concepts, and that was not this. There was nothing that really jumped out at me or had my clutching my pearls. It’s a lovely little middle of the road read, and to be perfectly honest, that was exactly what I was looking for this weekend.
Final Thoughts
Do not get me wrong: this is the perfect book for the right occasion. I enjoyed reading it, and besides my love letter of criticisms, I had a lot of fun reading it. If you’re looking to kick off your summer horror binge with something easy, Carnival Kills is a great way to do that. And it’s on KU, so I can never complain about that!
Have you read it? What is everyone else reading this summer? Let me know below!