Clown in a Cornfield Book Review

Hi everyone and welcome back to the blog! Today, I am back with another book review. It’s peek summer, the weather is warm, and the vibes are high. Summer always tends to be a heavy thriller reading time for me. I love the summer camp trope and the 80s slasher vibes. It’s the fall girlie in me which is why I love the idea of Summerween. To scratch that fall itch, I’ve been researching summer camp and slasher books. One book that was constantly recommended was Clown in the Cornfield by Adam Cesare, so let’s get into it!

Clown in the Cornfield is a YA horror, thriller. We follow Quinn Maybrooke and her father as they have just moved to a small town in Missouri. Going from a city to a country girl was not on Quinn’s bingo card, especially when she’s still grieving the loss of her mother.

Quinn ends up with a ragtag group of troublemaking kids. Kids who just want to have fun in a town where the adults think society and the internet is slowing corrupting their children and their small town. Both sides are at odds, a standstill, but things change when the town’s mascot, Frendo, the clown goes on a homicidal killing spree. The picturesque small town isn’t safe, and Frendo is playing by his own rules.

Now, I know the title, Clown in the Cornfield, sounds crazy, and I was a little hesitant when I saw this was actually YA.BUT this was really good.

I enjoyed the small town vibes, the adults vs. kids conflict, and the idea of a killer clown. I don’t see that too often, and my only experience is reading It by Stephen King. And this definitely delivered on the slasher vibes, I mean a killer clown going killing people??

I was honestly surprised at how well this was written and how good it was for a YA. I feel like sometimes YA is a little too cringey for me. This had no cringe. I thought the high schoolers were written so well and accurately. I loved the play into the classic high school kid tropes. The star football player, the popular queen bee, the new girl, the troubled popular kid, etc.

Everything was also really well developed. I thought the pacing was perfect. About 1/3 into the book is when the clown starts making his rounds, but before that we get to meet each of the characters, learn about Quinn and her father, we even get some insight into the adult townsfolk which I really liked. It made the story feel more well-rounded.

The ending was so action-packed, and the reveals were shocking. A little predictable, but I thought this book did a nice job of tying all the ends together. Truly.

Now, there are four books total in this series. The fourth one is scheduled to come out sometime this year. I don’t know if I will read the others unless I’m looking for a similar read, but I would recommend reading the first book!

Overall, I gave this 3/5 stars!

Alright folks, that is all I have for this week! Come back next week for another blog post. As always, thank you for reading :)