Quinn Maybrook just wants to make it until graduation. She might not make it to morning.

Quinn and her father moved to tiny, boring Kettle Springs to find a fresh start. But ever since the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory shut down, Kettle Springs has cracked in half. On one side are the adults, who are desperate to make Kettle Springs great again, and on the other are the kids, who want to have fun, make prank videos, and get out of Kettle Springs as quick as they can.

Kettle Springs is caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress. It’s a fight that looks like it will destroy the town. Until Frendo, the Baypen mascot, a creepy clown in a pork-pie hat, goes homicidal and decides that the only way for Kettle Springs to grow back is to cull the rotten crop of kids who live there now.

I’d heard that this book was a great slasher and that although it is YA, it was still pretty brutal. I can confirm that at least one of those things is true from my perspective. I really hoped that this one would make my slasher-loving heart extremely happy, but in the end, I found it a little annoying and just okay.

The novel is set in the small town of Kettle Springs, MO, and follows Quinn Maybrook. Quinn and her father have just moved from the city to this small town for a fresh start after Quinn’s mother passed away. The town is smaller than Quinn is used to, and the cornfields are plenty, but the kids seem mostly alright, and it’s not long before Quinn finds a few friends – and then finds herself in detention along with said friends. This is pretty common for this group – mainly because the teens in Kettle Springs are tired of feeling held back by the adults and enjoy pranks and acting out to keep things lively.

Since the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory shut down, the town hasn’t been as prosperous, and the adults really want to revive Kettlesprings to its former glory, and part of that includes ensuring the kids are well-behaved. The teens, on the other hand, just want to have fun, graduate, and then GTFO of town. But when someone dressed as the town’s mascot, Frendo the clown, goes on a murderous rampage, the already tense situation in Kettle Springs escalates into a fight for survival.

On one hand, the writing was strong, and I thought the characters were all relatable and fully realized. I actually liked several of them and rooted for them to escape Frendo’s murderous clutches. I also thought the kill scenes were well-executed and made my slasher-loving heart very happy.

The pacing of the novel was another strength. There wasn’t a ton of setup, and in only a few chapters, Frendo had already claimed his first victim. This was a quick and easy one to get through. I listened to it while doing chores around the house and found myself stopping when the tension was high. Amongst the murders, the novel explores themes of generational conflict in small communities, and this is where it felt a little overcooked. Maybe it’s because, with the current political climate, the whole “conservative family values” message that comes from so many small (and small-minded) communities has chewed on my last nerve, and I am over it.

My biggest problem with this one came with the reveal of who was killing people around the town and why. I realize that the core conflict of this one (and many YA books) is teens against adults and how younger generations think they know better. We’ve all been teens and battled with this in some form or another. I just think the reveal was a little too much on the big, red nose. It ended up being too convoluted and out there for me to get behind. I won’t give away any more because I don’t want to spoil it.

I know a lot of people really love this series, but I don’t think it’s for me. There were some fun kills and several tense scenes, but in the end, I found it to just be okay. If you are into YA horror, you may enjoy this one. For me, it was fine, but I don’t think I’ll finish the series.

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