Bad Narrator

The narrator often does a "crying voice" or "trembling voice" that is incredibly irritating. The crying/trembling occurs not only in the dialogue (where emotion would make sense) but also in the exposition (where that level of emotion doesn't make sense and is distracting). It makes the book almost impossible to listen to. Overall exhausting.

13 people found this helpful

Not Cesare's Best

There are two problems here.
One, this is not Cesare's best work. Like VIDEO NIGHT and his other "adult" titles, CLOWN is a kind of throwback 80s-horror movie book. The problem here, I think, is that he's trying too hard to be a YA author. The text feels forced and rigid, unlike his other books. The story is fine but lacks the polis and pizzazz of his other works.

The bigger problem is the narrator. Jesse Vilinksy is overly dramatic, overacts, and sucks what little joy there is right out of the book. Many of her male characters sound like tired old men instead of young high school-aged boys. I wish they had stuck with Matt Godfrey and not gone with Vilinsky.

I'm a fan of Cesare but this one was more of a double than a home run.

11 people found this helpful

Teen Slasher

CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD is a teen slasher film on paper. Felt like I was watching a movie as I listened to this excellent audiobook. People will be trying to buy the movie rights to this novel very soon, great read.

7 people found this helpful

NOT Friday the 13th or Halloween AT ALL

This book was one of my most anticipated reads annnnnnd it flopped. BIG TIME. I wonder if I hadn’t sat through those horrible “southern” accents the narrator attempted to achieve that I could’ve fallen into the mindless killing that the nameless, flat characters go through. Probably still wouldn’t have but oh well.

The first red flag was that 7 main characters got introduced in the prologue, then one died to kick off the story, and then got replaced by another new character. Quinn, the narrator, is the only person to get any semblance of agency, though she can’t ever decide on whether she wants to be the shy, traumatized new girl, the mother figure of her friend group, or a gun toting badass (not really a badass since every time she does something brave, she HAS to have her moment of “omg I just brutally murdered someone who was trying to brutally murder me for the 5th time tonight, I’m such a terrible person!”).

I couldn’t tell you who any of the other characters were. Their only personality traits were that they always had a keg on hand and somehow got a party going every single night.

And finally, this book wasn’t one of those better slasher movies I’ve seen so many people try and say it is. This book is Children of the Corn but instead of kids, there’s a bunch of Trump supporters who were the dumbest villains I think I’ve ever read. Even in the epilogue you see even more of their stupidity that’s supposed to be lain out as “social commentary” but completely takes away any semblance of fear you were supposed to have about these people. I would’ve loved this take on our current political situation had it been more thoroughly discussed. Instead it acts as the sole plot point for this story with a bunch of unremarkable characters in the way.

All in all, I regret wasting my credit on this book. I didn’t care for any of the characters and didn’t even know 99% of their names until they dropped dead. One thing I want to also say is that this book only has 2 acts. The build up, then the climax where nameless teens get slaughtered in the middle of a cornfield. No other interesting settings are explored unless you count a single sequence of crawling through a corn refinery, and there is no differentiation between scenes. It felt like I read the first act, then hit the climax, then epilogue. This book would’ve benefited so much if it either slowed down the pacing or gave us some actually interesting scenes. I hate to see such a great idea for social commentary get wasted on a book like this but oh well, maybe I’m the clown for believing this book would be as fun as watching Jason or Michael slaughter people 🤷‍♂️

6 people found this helpful

Bland, Progressive , Shallow

The setting was perfect but hampered by the second half of the story feeling rushed; as if the author needed to blend horror with a fast paced but ultimately half baked action revenge flick.

The progressive, liberal attitude sprinkled in amongst the young characters along with the obligatory gay reveal was both trite and uninspired.

In short, this horror story rushed to the finish line...of the left leaning olympics. The prize: a sometimes entertaining but more often than not “meh fest” that I couldn’t recommend.

4 people found this helpful

Corn is as high as an evil clown's eye

If you have some nostalgia for 1990s slashers films then the audiobook for CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD is a fun diversion. You get the gore. You get the action. You get a group of distinct teen characters whom you genuinely hope survive the night.

If you are a parent debating the purchase for a teen reader and that reader has watched SCREAM or I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER they should be just fine with this book.

I always speed up the narration so for me narrator Jesse Vilinsky was great at 1.7x.

4 people found this helpful

Book was ok, narration was irritating. Political

The story was ok characters were pretty shallow and the backstory wasn't really given to merit what happens in the book. I think it's short length is what makes it better if it were much longer I couldn't have finished with the bad narration. Another review said the narrator does a "crying/trembling voice often" and I didn't listen because usually narration doesn't bother me but oh my I could not stand it. Typical stupid cowardly characters which were not the narrator's fault but her crying voice irritates me immensely. It's a short slasher story with a decent. outline but isn't really explained well.

UPDATE: I'm the last hour of the book it gets pretty political. Lots of talk about making America great again and snowflakes etc gets annoying trying to avoid politics.

3 people found this helpful

Great, fast-paced slasher story!

PROS: Genuinely shocked at how good this book was! Though it has YA undertones, it delivers a brutal 80's-slasher-esque tonality with subtle and not-so-subtle nods at current political commentary. Highly recommended for a quite gory read.

CONS: The almost cartoonic take on Midwest accents. These characters are from Missouri, but some of their accents sound like they grew up in rural Upper Peninsula of Michigan and were raised by caricatures of a stereotypical Canadian parent. The dialogue wasn't bad, but some of the characters having such an outrageous accent took away from the story.

2 people found this helpful

Fun, well-plotted story. Highly recommend

You already know what this book is—a B-movie in book form. If that hasn’t scared you off yet, you’re in good shape. This has all the components of a fun slasher movie, and it employs them well. Though marketed as YA horror, I think it is better described as a thriller written *about* teens more than *for* teens. Though teenaged readers who don’t mind gore will find it to be an easy, enjoyable read.

On the negative side, the narrator isn’t the best (I primarily read the hardcover, but the audiobook was more than tolerable for my commute) and the pacing of the novel is a bit confusing. The events take place over a very short time and are well-paced. The characters’ emotional arcs are surprisingly compelling. And yet the amount of character growth shown in just 4 days of action is insanely unrealistic. Friendships form, blossom, and evolve—all between lunch and dinner! Despite these two tiny gripes, I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the Scream or the 70s and 80s slasher movies it references.

Woke

If you’re bigoted against country people and think parents would kill their own children to make America great again then this is the book for you.