★ Kubrick's debut opens with an apology that hints at the cheeky story to come: “To the furries: Sorry.” There’s plenty to love in this campy, slasher mystery, from tongue-in-cheek dialogue to a well-propelled mystery enmeshed with the challenges of grief to a fantastically queer cast (with pleasantly effective disability representation of hypermobility), not to mention plenty of small-town cult antics behind it all.
Description
Two starred reviews!
The teen daughter of an infamous serial killer must prove she isn’t the one behind recent copycat murders in this “tongue-in-cheek” (Booklist, starred review) graphic novel that’s a campy, feminist send-up of slashers that both celebrates and subverts classic tropes.
In the cozy town of Clossdale, a serial killer rampages! Five girls missing in as many weeks! Bodies turning up on the forest floor! And all fingers point to one vile fiend: Ash Hargreeves.
Except Ash didn’t do it. She may be the daughter of the infamous Clossdale Killer, and these copycat killings aren’t exactly convincing proof of her innocence—and okay, she’s kind of a weirdo who has two friends total, but when the murders strike a little too close to home, Ash decides to take a stand.
With the help of her besties, Ash is going to hunt down the killer, clear her mother’s name, and stop there from being any more dead girls—now and forever. After all, WWJLCD: what would Jamie Lee Curtis do?
Reviews
The themes are dark and the violence is heavy, but the characters’ defiance and self-discovery offsets the gloom and manages to keep the story moving quickly. Ash is a final girl, but she thankfully diverges from the trope by relying on her family and friends...to ensure that she is not the only survivor. Witty and engaging, this is a solid recommendation for all horror readers.
