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I Was a Teenage Slasher

By: Stephen Graham Jones
Narrated by: Michael Crouch, Stephen Graham Jones
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Publisher's summary

A USA TODAY Bestseller

From New York Times bestselling horror writer Stephen Graham Jones comes a classic slasher story with a twist—perfect for fans of Adam Cesare and Grady Hendrix.

1989, Lamesa, Texas. A small west Texas town driven by oil and cotton—and a place where everyone knows everyone else’s business. So it goes for Tolly Driver, a good kid with more potential than application, seventeen, and about to be cursed to kill for revenge. Here Stephen Graham Jones explores the Texas he grew up in, and shared sense of unfairness of being on the outside through the slasher horror Jones loves, but from the perspective of the killer, Tolly, writing his own autobiography. Find yourself rooting for a killer in this summer teen movie of a novel gone full blood-curdling tragic.

©2024 Stephen Graham Jones (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

Editorial Review

The sweetest little slasher in Texas
Our patience has been rewarded, because they’re finally here: summer, and I Was a Teenage Slasher! The bloodlust is real for Stephen Graham Jones’s new novel, an extra-personal work based on the horror legend’s West Texas upbringing and a love letter to outcasts and slasher films. Our antihero is 17-year-old Tolly Driver, who lives with a plot-pertinent peanut allergy in the podunk town of Lamesa, Texas, and is about to go on a murder spree that will see six of his classmates dead in the summer of 1989. (That’s no spoiler: Driver, typing out his memoir years in the future, says so at the outset.) The trick is how Graham Jones unspools the story, drawing you into Tolly’s voice and his world of hair metal, Dr. Pepper, bullies, unrequited love, tragedy, and a surprisingly sweet friendship you’ll root for. Texan native Michael Crouch is the PERFECT narrator for the story, which goes down like a gory yet heartbreaking coming-of-age—and don’t miss the blood-red cherry on top when the author reads his acknowledgments at the end. — Kat J., Audible Editor

What listeners say about I Was a Teenage Slasher

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Disgustingly good!

Another great horror novel by a great author. Ever wonder why a slasher becomes a slasher? Look no further! An interesting look at slashers. Makes you feel sympathy for the killerwhile experiencing visceral dread at the acts he's committing. I couldn't help rooting for the killer hoping he could control his instincts.

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Drips with as much empathy as it does blood

Just finished SGJ’s newest, and as always, I’m blown away. Mfer really knows how to make me tear up at an ending. If you’re somebody that hasn’t gotten too into some of his other stuff, I’d still recommend giving this one a shot. It’s one of his best, and maybe the most accessible. The man just doesn’t miss.

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My Favorite so Far

It was such a different take on the genre; the dynamic between Slasher and Final Girl. I loved the friendship between Amber and Tolly throughout. Well written, engaging, and heartbreaking.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Are you supposed to cry at the end of a horror novel?

Love love loved this book, the characters and the narrator.
SGJ does it again. And so well.

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Softer side of a slasher

I love all his books, but I loved this new POV and lore that was introduced in this book. Narrator was great :)

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kept me listening

I liked it. it's hard to understand if he's Having mental break from hitting his head or the allergy recovery. or did his friend take wakeup a zombie? or his horror fan best friend encouraged him to see revenge on people who hurt him also her like he was her puppet. it's confusing at times. hated the ending. why would he kill himself after an that time. why wouldn't he just hide until he left

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Here is the deal.

The story was fine. It didn’t really hold my interest. But here is the weird thing. I loved the acknowledgements. I want book of just that. I typically enjoy this writer’s work but not this.

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Great idea and concept that just fell a little flat for me

I have to give the author a lot of credit here, this is a really cool idea for a book. It’s told in a confessional style with the killer and his best friend realizing he’s fitting into tropes of an 80s slasher movie. I got lost a lot, though, when they kept referring to different kinds of machinery. It was mentioned many times, and I just found myself having a hard time envisioning a lot of the settings and background. I think I expected this to be scary, and I enjoyed the fact that it was kind of its own genre. It just wasn’t for me.

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