The Kill River books are great eighties slashers full of nostalgic eighties vibes, summer vibes and full of fun until the water turns red from the killer’s victims. This is how it starts.
- Entertainment factor: ★★★★★
- Slasher factor: ★★★★★
- Summer factor: ★★★★★
- Gore factor: ★★★★☆
The Kill River Trilogy is about 13-year-old final girl Cyndi who first encounters a ruthless killer in an abandoned waterpark after escaping summer camp. When she survives, the fight is long but over. The killer follows her home and so does the waterpark. This slasher trilogy offers gore, gruesome deaths, a strong final girl and background mythology behind the killer. This is only the beginning.
It consists of 348 pages.
Plot
It’s 1983. Cyndi is a thirteen-year-old girl who is not good at socializing and listens to music on her walkman instead. Her parents worry about her not having any friends and decide to send her to a summer camp. Cyndi is reluctant because she is only interested in music and is just happy with herself being shy and introverted and on top of that she would be the oldest child there.
On the bus ride to Camp Kikawa she meets three others, slightly older than she. Stacey, Brad and Zack know each other for a long time and go forever together to Camp Kikawa, because their parents are shareholders of the company that owns it. They are rich spoiled kids and have gotten themselves into lots of trouble the past years. But Stacey is really friendly to Cyndi and treats her like a little sister.
When they arrive at camp they find out that Sheeran is the new camp leader, and Brad and Zack have a strained history with him. With Stacey Cyndi has a good time and thinks camp is not so bad. Until Brad and Zack get themselves in very big trouble and instead of being send home they have to do all the shores the whole summer camp time.
So Brad comes up a plan to escape with Zack and Stacey. When Cyndi finds out she wants to go with them, dreading to be left with all alone with the younger kids. The plan is to take a raft. Peddle across the lake to the small river that supposedly ends up alongside the main road where they can catch a ride to town and call their parents.
But a fork in the small river sends them away from the road without them knowing and they get lost. To their surprise they end up on a wild river that leads them through a tunnel, eventually ending up in a huge waterpark with different waterslides. First they think it’s strange, a waterpark that is fully working but abandoned. But then they think it’s great to have it all for themselves.
However, they are not alone and soon one of them goes missing. It’s the start of a gruesome night of survival, where Cyndi has to play cat and mouse to escape a psychotic killer.
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Short Review
The story takes its time to introduce Cyndi to the reader and her meeting Stacey, Zack and Brad. It has a real summer camp vibe which turns into a full summer vibe when they reach the waterpark. It also takes its time to build the story and characters and to finally come to the killings. When we finally arrive at the point where it turns into a brutal slasher, the kills are graphically violent and brutal, especially while it’s 14-year-old kids that are brutally being murdered.
The killer is a typical boogeyman that reminds of Michael Meyers. The killer also wears a black overall and a white mask with the face of a smily in it. This smiley face is the logo of the waterpark. He is very strong, doesn’t run, but is very fast and creeps around. He doesn’t speak and injuries don’t really seem to bother him. He is the ultimate eighties boogeyman, slasher killer.
The whole story is drenched in the eighties vibe, enhanced by the mixed tapes Cyndi has made and listens to. But also the clothing, the inexistent social media bring back that nostalgic slasher feel of the eighties.
Although the main characters are teenagers, it’s not a novel for the younger young adults. It’s too violent and bloody.
As befitting of a good eighties slasher Cyndi is a natural final girl. She is the only one of her group who gets into trouble by proxy and is a good girl. However things will change as her story continues in the sequel.
Read more reviews of the Kill River Trilogy:
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