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Clown in a Cornfield Hardcover – August 25, 2020
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Bram Stoker Award Winner for Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel
In Adam Cesare’s terrifying young adult debut, Quinn Maybrook finds herself caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress—that just may cost her life.
Quinn Maybrook and her father have moved to tiny, boring Kettle Springs, to find a fresh start. But what they don’t know is that ever since the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory shut down, Kettle Springs has cracked in half.
On one side are the adults, who are desperate to make Kettle Springs great again, and on the other are the kids, who want to have fun, make prank videos, and get out of Kettle Springs as quick as they can.
Kettle Springs is caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress. It’s a fight that looks like it will destroy the town. Until Frendo, the Baypen mascot, a creepy clown in a pork-pie hat, goes homicidal and decides that the only way for Kettle Springs to grow back is to cull the rotten crop of kids who live there now.
YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults Nominee
- Print length352 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarperTeen
- Publication dateAugust 25, 2020
- Grade level9 - 12
- Reading age14 - 17 years
- Dimensions5.5 x 1.13 x 8.25 inches
- ISBN-100062854593
- ISBN-13978-0062854599
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“This party starts early, and it does not stop until all the bodies have hit the floor.” — Stephen Graham Jones, author of Mongrels and The Only Good Indians
"Adam Cesare's CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD starts as a fun and scary retro-slasher but then cleverly twists and bloodies its way into being a very new kind of beast. Rejoice horror fans new and old, and be terrified of Adam's everyday clowns." — Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World
"Tense, modern and gory, Cesare's Clown in a Cornfield is simultaneously classic and fresh. This is thrilling, old school horror for a new generation." — Madeleine Roux, author of the Asylum series
"There’s a lot to love about Adam Cesare’s new novel, Clown in a Cornfield. First, the title. Holy crap. Then the front cover. Double holy crap. Also consider it’s already received blurbs from people like Clive Barker, Stephen Graham Jones, and Paul Tremblay? Triple holy crap. People are going to be talking about this novel all year. Get ready for it." — Lit Reactor
"The immersive atmosphere, nail-biting action sequences, and satisfying social commentary results in a thoughtful, campy, and just-plain-fun read for horror fans, especially those who crave a retro feel but still want a story set firmly in the present." — Library Journal (starred review)
"A pulse-pounding thrill ride for retro-horror fans who are not faint of heart (or stomach)." — Kirkus Reviews
"This pitch-perfect horror experience can be enjoyed as pure entertainment for its fun retro slasher style, but teen readers will also fully appreciate the sly underlying social commentary." — Booklist (starred review)
"With this novel, Cesare is going to create a new generation of life-long horror fans." — Signal Horizon Magazine
"Cesare’s cinematic eye means the set-pieces are loud, brash, and dramatic (it’s no surprise that there’s a film adaptation in the works). Given what we are all experiencing now, there’s something wonderfully pleasing, nostalgic, and even therapeutic spending several hours cheering on Quinn – smart and brave -- as she takes on [...] killer clowns." — Locus Magazine
"Clown in a Cornfield delivers everything the title promises--and more. More carnage, more mayhem and a sly social commentary that cuts to the bone. A must-read for horror fans." — Riley Sager, New York Times bestselling author of Final Girls
Clown in a Cornfield is a true-to-form classic horror story, complete with blood and gore, chainsaws and crossbows, and abundant deaths. This is a truly fun piece of escapism for teens who are okay with slasher-flick violence. — YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults Nominee
This debut horror novel has all the trappings of a good, popcorn-scented slasher flick. Reluctant readers will find this a quick and fun read. They will definitely appreciate the stress-relieving escapism. Suggest it to readers looking for Stephen King read-alikes and fans of the Friday the 13th franchise. — YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers Nominee
About the Author
Adam Cesare is the author of the Bram Stoker Award–winning Clown in a Cornfield series, the graphic novel Dead Mall, and several other novels and novellas, including the cult hit Video Night and the YA psychothriller Influencer. An avid fan of horror cinema, you can watch him talk about movies on YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, and the rest of his socials.
Product details
- Publisher : HarperTeen (August 25, 2020)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 352 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0062854593
- ISBN-13 : 978-0062854599
- Reading age : 14 - 17 years
- Grade level : 9 - 12
- Item Weight : 14.9 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 1.13 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #121,261 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #384 in Teen & Young Adult Thrillers & Suspense (Books)
- #791 in Teen & Young Adult Horror
- #6,608 in Teen & Young Adult Literature & Fiction
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Adam Cesare is a New Yorker who lives in Philadelphia.
He is the author of the Bram Stoker Award-winning Clown in a Cornfield series, the graphic novel Dead Mall, and several other novels and novellas including the cult hit Video Night. An avid fan of horror cinema, you can talk movies with him on YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, and the rest of his socials.
www.adamcesare.com
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Clown in a Cornfield is billed as a slasher, which carries with it a set of expectations. Listening to Cesare's recent interviews, however, it's clear that he approaches the slasher less as simply a genre and more as a storytelling form, a structure that's been codified since its inception and is as malleable as the drama, the tragedy, the romance, etc. This is important, because it allows Cesare to tap into the slasher-as-form before the slasher-as-genre, which is a roundabout way of saying that the novel avoids the pitfall of relying exclusively on reference or pastiche to set itself up. Cesare's earlier work relied (though never in a detrimental way) on a sort of genre shorthand that his characters (and presumably his readers) were invested in. With Clown, his characters are not horror-movie nerds, so they're never relying on identifying tropes as a way to assess a situation. Instead, they're simply in the moment, reacting to the horror not as some genre-savvy nostalgia-pawn but as real people trying to survive a harrowing situation. Indeed one of Cesare's strengths here is his ease of characterization. All of our teens pop and feel true, with each one constantly scrutinizing the other's motivations, dissecting every gesture or snide comment or silence. It all feels very high-school-y and is laced with angst-ridden drama and jealousy, and I mean that as a mark of achievement, considering both its characters and Cesare's audience.
But even though it's billed as YA, Cesare never talks down or belittles; nothing in the novel feels pandering or smoothed over. The violence and bloodshed feel considered, and each set-piece moment feels carefully crafted. Cesare displays a mature hand here, relying on matter-of-fact prose and idiosyncratic details to drive the terror home, preferring subtle dread punctuated with flashes of the extreme over gore-slicked prose and vivid descriptions of knives entering skulls and brains spattering and flesh tearing. As for the titular clown, Frendo, I think Cesare has crafted a worthy entry into the slasher-villain canon, and he even throws in some unexpected twists that had me tearing through the pages just to see what other wrinkle might be added. As with many slashers there is a tragic past sequence, and I found myself wanting to go back and read this section for clues as to who the killer might be, a testament to how propulsive and compelling Cesare's narrative is.
I don't want to get too much into the plot, but Clown ultimately stages an ideological conflict between the older citizens of small-town Kettle Springs and its burgeoning rebellious youths, with their social media and their phones and their disrespect for their elders. "Make Kettle Springs great again," we read at one point, Cesare making no qualms about who he's targeting and the worldviews he's condemning. Horror as a genre is fertile ground for political critique, with a venerated history going back decades, and Cesare carries that tradition forward. This is a distinctly modern tale that's anchored in the contemporary debates of today, but, as I mentioned earlier, its foundation built upon intergenerational conflict will continue to keep the novel fresh. Clown is an ode and a balm for every young adult who has found themselves frustrated and stymied at every turn by an older elite that refuses access and instigates oppressive policies, to the point where they might feel as if they're literally being targeted for death. Had I read this novel in my own teen years I would have loved it and felt like someone understood. Reading it now, I still love it, and I find myself populating the villains with the people in my own life who exemplify those same bigoted, stagnant positions, even if I don't quite identify with our lead characters. Indeed if I were to offer a critique, I wish that our protagonists had more ideological or philosophical weight than they do. If the killer clown in a cornfield comes to represent a hate-fueled resistance to change, what do Quinn and her allies stand for, aside from an abstracted notion of the future? I wanted Quinn and Cole and Rust to actually articulate themselves more fully, to know more deeply what they were about and what they believed. Of course another reading might argue that they function as ciphers for the reader to project their own beliefs onto, that any young person will be able to identify with the almost primal desire for difference in a culture that idealizes a discriminatory past. This is a small point of contention and probably highly personal to my own reading tastes, because none of this prevented me from fully enjoying the novel.
I came to Cesare through his Youtube channel, where he reviews horror films and pairs them with a horror book, and I've really enjoyed some of his other works, particularly Con Season. Clown in a Cornfield was high on my list of anticipated titles, and it did not disappoint. This is a fun, thrilling ride that somehow pulls off the magic trick of feeling like a throwback while also delivering a story and characters that feel decidedly contemporary. Clown feels new, and it's a great object lesson in how a novel can utilize archetypes and forms that engage with the past without becoming its subject. This book was a pleasure and joy to read. Go check it out!
Upon arriving in Kettle Springs, the family, and us, are introduced to the locals, from the friendly teen-outsider next door who collects guns, the intimidating Sheriff of the town, to a group of prank-loving, truble making teenagers that Quinn, our protagonist reluctantly, but eventually got mixed in with.
Right from the first day that Quinn arrived, she, and us, arr informed about the history of the town of Kettle Springs. We know right away that the town is currently struggling.
It once thrived as a producer of corn syrup. But the big corn syrup factory, which is called Baypen which has a clown character as its mascot, was closed and was recently burned down. So, a lot of people in the town whose income and livelihood were previously, directly and indirectly attached to the factory, from corn farmers to basically everyone else, are now struggling.
The youth of Kettle Springs on the other hand, seemed to be unfazed by this condition. In fact, there is a group of teenagers in town that are infamous for doing dangerous pranks, and throwing parties at people’s houses when the owners are away. This group consists of Ronnie, Matt, Trent and Janet, they are led by this rebellious rich boy named Cole whose family owns the Baypen corn syrup factory.
Our protagonist, Quinn, somehow got mixed in with this group on the first day of school. In fact, she got into detention with them that day. From that point on, we got the sense that this gang considers Quinn to be cool enough to hang with them. So, they invited her to a party that is going to be held late at night, in a farm house, a middle of a corn field.
Now, as many horror fans know, when you have party or some sort of gathering in a horror story, horrible things are bound to happen and frankly, for me, that’s when the fun starts.
Immediately after Quinn arrived at the party, she met many of her classmates. It’s as if every young people that live in Kettle Springs, were at the paty. They were dancing, playing games and drinking the night away. However, of course all the fun and games didn’t last because someone in a clown mask, which everybody knows, is the mascot of the corn syrup factory, decided to crash the party and kill all the teenagers.
From that point on, the book never stops. People are just slaughtered left and right, in various ways. Heads got decapitated, eyes got punctured, bodies got blown to pieces. The killer clown used various kinds of weapon to kill his victims, from a crossbow to a chainsaw, a pitchfork to a machete, an ax to a shotgun.
Now, as any horror fans know, ultimately what makes a slasher story thrilling and enjoyable is not the body count or the slaughter, or watching people die. What horror fans enjoy is the suspense, the chase, the hunt, and characters fighting back.
It is also always interesting to see the dynamic between the characters when they are trapped in life-threatening situation. It is always thrilling to see characters trying to help each other, or help themselves, and do absolutely everything in their power to survive and ultimately fight back.
Now, I found all of those things in this book. The writer has successfully created a group of characters that we care about, even the ones that behave like jerks, because, for me, I see them as kids being kids.
What I also like about this book is that, while the kills are violent, the book does not go into torture territory. It does not linger in the characters’ suffering or agony. It moves quickly so that my attention is directed not towards people dying, but towards the core characters who are trying to survive. That’s why, for me, the book is thrilling without ever being deeply disturbing. But of course, this is all subjective.
Ultimately though, what makes this story works, for me, is the protagonist, Quinn Maybrook. Thus character is in the same mold as the final girls from slasher movies, in that she’s incredibly resourceful, very rational, and quick on her feet. Even though she has her own things to deal with, like losing her Mom, and having to leave her hometown and friends behind, she still cares about other people. She cares about her father so much that she didn’t tell him that moving to a new town has been difficult for her. And when the slayings and the killings start happening, she risks her life to safe othes. She’s an awesome character to root for and her bravery, resourcefulness and selflessness I found inspiring.
So, yes, I enjoy this book very much. This is what consider as “fun horror”. It is not depressing, it is not deeply disturbing, it will not haunt your dreams, it just wants to give the readers that adrenaline rush, much like what you would get from riding a roller coaster.
I gave this book a four out of five stars. If you don’t mind a bit of gore, and you want to read something in the horror genre that is thrilling, exciting and fast paced, I highly recommend you to read this book. It’s quite fun.
Top reviews from other countries
Also Clive barker has given this a seal of approval. Go for it .
Reviewed in India on December 25, 2022
Also Clive barker has given this a seal of approval. Go for it .
I will not enter into spoilers but the story take ihis sweet time to start taking momentum, then if fooled me, to later reveal it's true colors. I wish the last twist wasn't a twist and it had happened before. It felt a little shoehorned
Will definitely be waiting for more from Adam! And looking up his past work!