Candy Cain Kills - Review

Author: Brian McAuley

Genre: Horror

Format: Paperwork

Pages: 140

One of the taglines for this book says it's an adult Goosebumps book, and that's a pretty good description of it. I would say it also has a mix of slasher movies in there with the way people day left and right in this one, but I do see the Goosebumps vibes it's talking about. This story has a level of cheese, though I'm not mad at it. 

This book came to me thanks to the lovely ladies over at Night Worms. It was part of the December book box last year. I saved it to read this year over the holidays, and it was without a doubt worth the wait. I knew this was going to be a wild ride between the cover and the title. What I didn't realize was how unhinged this was going to be, and it was completely unhinged. Honestly, I think the absolute craziness of this plot is what keeps you reading because you have to know what's going to happen next.

The plot itself is a pretty well-used plot that McAuley stretches to its full potential. I love that he chose this book with multiple points of view because it always the reader to start piecing together the story as everything unfolds. It also allowed the readers to get to know the characters without adding to the bulk of the book and weighing it down. I was rooting for Austing and Fiona throughout the whole book, I wanted them both to survive because, at the end of the day, they were good kids stuck in between their parent's bad marriages. 

Between the bad marriage stress and learning the backstory of Candy Cain, oh, and everyone dying, it sets the book up nicely for the plot twist. Which I will admit I did not see coming because I was too big trying to will Austin and Fiona to get out of the house safely. There is a small twist halfway through the book I kind of called it because the introduction of the character seemed a little coincidental. At least I caught that one.

Overall this book moved at such a quick pace it was hard to put down to do things like: sleep, eat, and go to work. It's also one that if you read in public your face will do things because some of these deaths are gross, lie GROSS. One of them definitely had my face doing things because while it was cool was super nasty. Still, I'm glad I waited to read this because it was a really good Christmas horror read. And the ending was so good. It sets up the sequel so well, and by waiting now I can jump into the second book without waiting!

HAPPY READING!!