Kill Hill Carnage by Tim Meyer
Sinister Grin Press (July 2018)
288 pages; $12.59 paperback; $3.99 e-book
Reviewed by Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann
Kill Hill Carnage is the quintessential Halloween book for any seasoned horror fan or avid reader looking to make an October TBR (to be read) list. The story covers a lot of ground for the genre; easily shelved under several horror sub-genres, which makes it appealing for a wide audience. There’s a little bit of everything here: Teen Drama, Creature Feature, Disaster Horror and Comedy Horror.
The raucous volume of the sex and violence immediately upon opening the book definitely got my attention but also cooled my blood a little because teen-scream-queen stories tend to skim the surface, relying too heavily on shock and cheap thrills to keep readers interested.
However, Meyer impressed me earlier this year with his book Switch House, so I kept turning the pages to see how Meyer was going to to turn the tables on me and get me invested. I could have guessed it would be through cleverly written dialog, well developed characters and an intricate plot weaving together several different narratives.
My favorite narrative was the present day drama of a group of “just out of high school” college age kids venturing out to explore the scene of Christian Camp massacre that happened thirty years prior. I thought the twenty-something year olds would be stereotypical meat puppets for the grindhouse horror, but Meyer goes a little deeper and fleshes out their thoughts, feelings and relationships. This emotional investment on my end proved to up the ante as the story started sprinting towards its violent conclusion.
Another engaging narrative was the story in the story involving the Christian Camp back in the 1990s, the “Interlude” chapters. I loved these! My hope is that Tim Meyer could develop a Kill Hill series with maybe a prequel, developing the Camp story further and then a sequel to Kill Hill Carnage! I’m getting excited just thinking about all the directions Meyer could take with this and he definitely left the door open! My suggestion is for horror fans to get in on this potential franchise now instead of later.
