3.5 Stars
Dee has planned an amazing weekend anniversary getaway with her boyfriend Luke (and, unfortunately, also his brother Mike who has to tag-along in order to keep Luke’s parents from getting suspicious). When their car runs out of gas, the concert becomes their last concern. Instead, the three find themselves stranded on a back road . . .
“Now all we needed was a skinny, pale girl in a bikini, a big guy in a mask sporting a chainsaw, and a sheriff turned zombie and we had the makings for a perfect horror movie.”
Realizing they have about a snowball’s chance in Hades of someone discovering them before they freeze to death in the frigid confines of the truck, the trio sets off toward the town lights they can see in the distance. There they discover . . . well, nothing. No open businesses, no traffic, no people to be seen at all. The only thing indicating anyone was ever there is the blaring emergency siren.
After spending the night in an abandoned house Dee, Luke, and Mike are discovered by a local – a teenaged boy who tells them if they want to make it out of town alive they better follow him. He leads them not down the empty streets, but rather through the nearby fields.
You all know what happens when you go through the crops in a scary story right???? Oh you don’t? Well, it’s general stuff like this . . .
or this . . .
Right. And let me tell you the threesome has no idea what’s in store for them once they meet the town’s leader.
“I knew what to do if the man with razors on his hands attacked me in my dreams. I could tell you which way to run if an awkward kid rose from the lake, fully grown and wearing a hockey mask. I was even prepared to get off the damn plane when seven random kids from some stupid French class went nuts over the fear of it crashing. But I had no idea what to do when faced with a self-proclaimed prophet and his entire batshit town.”
^^^^Awesome quote is awesome
I asked for an ARC of Creed (and was promptly denied, thank you very little NetGalley) a loooooooong time ago. This book stayed on my radar because it was being marketed as a “Young Adult Horror” – a genre which I feel has been done pretty terribly so far, so I marked the release date on my calendar and figured I’d forget about it until the reminder popped up. And then I saw something strange on my Facebook. Someone I went to high school with posted a status update about her upcoming book . . . Creed. First thoughts? Oh shit. This person either knows or will soon figure out that my hobby is reviewing books and there’s always the potential of me hating her product. Buuuuuuut, I’m nothing if not brutally honest and since Creed had been on my radar for a good 6 months before its actual release I had to read it.
Luckily for me, it didn’t suck. The duo of Leaver and Currie definitely have some writing chops and Creed was a fine debut. The development of the creepy atmosphere was intense and although the characters may be considered “stereotypical” for horror story standards (i.e., the taking the backroads that ensure there will be no cell phone signal and the running out of gas), they were believable. Because Creed is geared toward young adults, I also thought it pushed some “no-no zone areas” awesomely (dealing with a potential religious cult and the gore factor in general). Sidenote: For grown-ups reading this story, you might have to remind yourself that you are not the target audience for this book. If you’re expecting an over-the-top slasher type of horror like The Hills Have Eyes or Wolf Creek you’re going to be disappointed. Leaver and Currie (and other YA Scream Queens) are bending the boundaries of YA Horror, they’re not trying to completely break them. As an old lady, I found Creed to be less of a horror and more of a quality suspense story. I also thought the only hope for any escape might be something like this . . .
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