 Gleefully violent and wildly entertaining YA horror which With a title like Clown in a Cornfield you might be forgiven for thinking you had stumbled upon a glorious ‘straight-to-video’ release from the 1980s heyday of lurid but wonderful horror films. Hell, with a killer title like that a younger version of myself would be snapping up this film from the video shelves in a heartbeat! However, you would be mistaken, as this is a Young Adult (YA) horror novel and an impressive teen debut from Adam Cesare who has been making a name for himself in the adult horror scene over the last decade or so. One of Adam’s previous novels was called Video Night and the wildly entertaining Clown in a Cornfield, especially the second half, reads like one of those slasher films many of us watched on video in the 1980s and 1990s which there is much nostalgia for. This is not a typical YA novel and I applaud Harper Teen for getting behind such a retro story which does not play by many of the normal rules of teen fiction. It is not deep, the characters neither ‘change’ or ‘grow’ and it does not have a heavy underlying serious message. This observation should not be taken as any form of criticism; it is wildly entertaining and once the clowns start slashing it is non-stop action until the final page. In recent years there have been decline in the sales of YA fiction and one of the main reasons is the fact that it takes itself too seriously and kids have been put off by too many books with ‘messages’ which often come across as patronising or worthy. Although Clown in a Cornfield does have a dash of social commentary it is cheerfully very old school horror and is all the better for it. Let the blood flow and prepare to be drenched instead of patronised! I do love a ‘Final Girl’ and although the story is told in the third person, taking in various characters, Quinn Maybrook dominates the book and she is an excellent Final Girl (okay, other characters survive too) when the body count spirals in the second half of the story. Depending on where you look Clown in a Cornfield is listed as either for kids 9-12 or 14+ and for a YA novel it is violent, featuring decapitations, head explosions and other cinematic style kill scenes. I would suggest the 14+ rating is a bit too prudish, many horror fans of that age would have already graduated to adult horror, so I would mark it as 12+, note also it does feature a large amount of swearing. However, unlike the 1980s slasher films it might have been inspired by, it features no sex scenes. This truly is a book of two halves in which the first sets up the plot and in the second the story explodes. The set up was handled very well, my only concern might be that some readers might be frustrated by the lack of action in the first 50%, however, Quinn Maybrook and the other characters were varied enough to keep the reader invested in how the story would play out and intrigue in what part the clowns might have. Interestingly, the book is set over a very short time of a couple of days, after Quinn and her father Doctor Glen Maybrook arrive in the sleepy and very remote small town of Missouri town of Kettle Strings. Once the action kicks off, like many of the horror films it is inspired by, the action takes place over a single night. Quinn and her father are after a fresh start, moving at short notice from Philadelphia after the recent death of her mother, and is in her final year of high school. The novel frames Quinn as the ‘new girl’ in a tiny rundown town which has struggled since the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory closed and upon arrival at school we meet many of the other teenage characters who populate the novel and will be stalked by the clowns. Quinn is surprised to find that many of the other kids are involved in making video pranks which they load onto their You Tube channel and soon she meets the local ‘bad boy’ who is the son of one of the town’s richest men. Quinn was an engaging main character and both her backstory and relationship with her father were convincing as things went from bad to worse. What of the clowns? I will drop no spoilers on how they are factored into the story, however, this part of the plot is inspired by ‘Frendo’, the Baypen mascot, a creepy clown in a pork-pie hat which has been connected to the town for three generations. This is all part of the effective small town atmosphere Adam Cesare creates, almost time-warping us back to the 1950s, but in the background there are never-ending cornfields which surround the rural community, with the corn rustling in the wind, all of which is disconcerting for city girl Quinn. If you have watched many of the slasher films Clown in the Cornfield plays homage to, you’ll realise these films were all about the kill sequences and in this regard the novel does not hold back on the gore which involves chainsaws, shotguns and crossbows. The clown action sequences were outstanding set pieces and are guaranteed to nail any teenage readers eyes to the page as the body count spirals with the kids trapped and being hunted in the cornfields. I hope this highly entertaining novel is taken in the spirit in which it is intended: old fashioned gore, unrelenting action and gleefully violent fun which is played out with a nice group of teenage characters. There is no need for librarians to be prudish and hide the book away, let the kids who want to read it have fun with Frendo. YA horror does not take up a large slice of the overall YA book market and there are very few novels like this in the bookshops. We desperately need more teen horror novels like Clown in the Cornfield to remind us that first and foremost teen fiction is a form of escapism which is supposed to be fun and in that respect this novel is an absolute winner. And if you dig deep enough you will smile at the theme which lurks at the back of the novel “Make Kettle Springs great again!” (ring any bells?!?) Adult readers will undoubtedly find the rationale behind the core story rather weak or far-fetched, but then again, in a slasher film that was usually the case also. Although Quinn Maybrook was a great main character is was a shame to see the two main boy characters playing second fiddle. Dark YA fiction is positively teeming with great and inspirational female characters, whereas the male lead has virtually disappeared. However, this is a book which is written in a style which will be equally enjoyed by both boys and girls. The number of authors who successfully move from adult to YA fiction is incredibly small and Adam Cesare deserves to make a splash with this entertaining and over the top kill fest. I am very happy to recommend Clown in a Cornfield and hope it ends up in the hands of as many teenagers and school libraries as possible. This is an excellent gateway novel for young teenagers not quite ready to make the jump to adult horror. I have heard on the horror grave-vine that Cesare is working on a second YA horror novel. This area of literature badly needs new blood and I am hoping we have found a new voice. Tony Jones  In Adam Cesare’s terrifying young adult debut, Quinn Maybrook finds herself caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress—that just may cost her life. Quinn Maybrook and her father have moved to tiny, boring Kettle Springs, to find a fresh start. But what they don’t know is that 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.   THE HEART AND SOUL OF HORROR REVIEW WEBSITES |
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