★I Was a Teenage Slasher. Stephen Graham Jones. S. & S./Saga. Jul. 2024. 384p. ISBN 9781668022245. $27.99. HORROR

Tolly Driver is 17, lives in Lamesa, TX, and is a slasher who has committed multiple murders. Awkward and already an outsider, Tolly faced challenges, including bullies and the death of his father, before transforming into the titular killer. This novel in the style of an autobiography pays homage to the slasher flicks of the 1980s and ’90s while creating something entirely new. Fans of Bram Stoker Award winner Jones’s other books about growing up in West Texas (like Not for Nothing) will find the same rich detail and sense of place. Grimly humorous and filled with surprising turns, this novel is poised to become a summer-reading hit and a book club favorite. VERDICT Even those well versed in slashers and their tropes will be surprised by the directions Jones takes. Readable both as representative of slasher films and book and as an exploration of the rules of the genre, this novel will have wide appeal to readers who are new to Jones’s work as well as established fans. Recommended as a contrast for fans of recent “final girl” books like the ones by Grady Hendrix and Riley Sager and readers who enjoyed The Pallbearers Club by Paul Tremblay.