I Was a Teenage Slasher

 

I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones

245 pp

“I Was a Teenage Slasher” is told via a letter from Tolly to his best high school friend Amber, not unlike other books by Stephen Graham Jones.  It seems that if the blood of a reanimated corpse bent on revenge mixes with your blood, it turns you into a “slasher” bent on vengeance.  This is what happens at popular kid  Deek’s party who also happens to be one of the kids who accidentally killed Justin Joss.  Tolly and his friend Amber (who are not popular) decide they are going to the party.  Unfortunately, the popular kids aren’t done picking on unpopular kids like Tolly and Justin.  Tolly gets raging drunk at the party because people keep giving him mixed drinks.  Once Tolly is incredibly drunk to the point of vomiting, the band kids decide to have some fun and strap Tolly to a lounge chair with their belts.  Then someone gives Tolly a drink with a few peanuts in it and force him to drink it.  Despite vomiting, Tolly has a bad reaction to the peanuts because he is violently allergic to nuts.  Fortunately one of the girls at the party who used to babysit for Tolly knows about his allergy and goes and gets his EpiPen.  Once Stace uses the EpiPen on Tolly, his condition improves, but then Justin Joss shows up at the party.  Several of the kids at the party were responsible for Justin’s death and he wants his revenge.  During the melee in which Justin kills several of the kids, two drops of “blood” from Justin drop onto Tolly.  When Tolly rubs his forehead to remove the blood, Justin’s “blood” gets into the cut on his forehead.  The book continues on with Tolly becoming a “slasher” killing the kids that had wronged him.

I really enjoyed this story.  It was different from the Jade Daniels books in that Tolly himself is not a “slasher” fan, although his friend Amber and her brother are.  The way that Tolly becomes a “slasher” is different from any other thing like this I have read.  It was an incredibly creative idea.  As a “slasher” fan from the 1980’s, I understood a lot of what Tolly and Amber were discussing and I think people who know the film genre will enjoy the storyline. I give this 4 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to Saga Press for allowing me to read the book in advance of publication.