“1989, Lamesa, Texas. A community driven by oil and cotton – a town where everyone knows everyone else’s business.

Tolly Driver, seventeen, a good kid with more potential than application, exists on the outskirts with his best friend, Amber. They navigate the hellscape of the teenage social scene, sticking together in a place that doesn’t know how to be different.

But when they go to a fateful party at Deek Masterton’s house – a party that ends in a series of gruesome, brutal and extravagant murders – Tolly’s world gets flipped upside-down. Because some slashers are born in violence and retribution, some were born that way – and some were just in the wrong place, at the wrong time…”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to share my review of I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones. I Was a Teenage Slasher was published by Titan Books on 16th July 2024 and is available in paperback, audio and digital formats. I chose to read a free eARC of I Was a Teenage Slasher but that has in no way influenced my review.

Stephen Graham Jones is one of my favourite horror authors. It started with The Last Final Girl a few years ago and now I devour every new book with uninhibited glee! Particularly the slashers. Gotta love the slasher genre! When I first laid eyes on I Was a Teenage Slasher I may have let a small, undignified squeak of happiness. A new slasher from an author I know will never let me down. And what an incredible book it is. Divine characters, an impossible situation, all rolled up in SGJ’s distinctive storytelling. Smitten. That’s what I am with this book. But I have one massive regret (MASSIVE REGRET!). I actually read this book towards the end of last year. By that point, my ‘books of the year’ post had been written. I wanted to add this to my top ten and make it a top eleven. But what with Christmas being a busy time at damppebbles HQ, I completely forgot to do so. It should have been on the list. It is, without doubt, one of the most memorable, most emotional novels I read in 2024. And I failed to give it the credit, the massive fanfare with added glitter cannon, it was due. But I have a plan. I’m going to add it to my ‘top books of 2025’ list in December. It’s the first and only book on there at the moment and seeing as I’m reviewing it in 2025, I feel that gives me all the permission I need!

Tolly Driver is quite possibly my favourite character ever. Seventeen-year-old Tolly is not one of the popular kids, he’s more of an outcast hovering on the outskirts. He’s tolerated. Tolly lives in a small Texan town, Lamesa, where everyone knows your business. He’s recently lost his father, which still really hurts, and he has a pretty intense peanut allergy. He and his ‘best friend forever’, Amber Big Plume Dennison, end up at Deek Masterson’s party where, almost out of the blue, a slasher appears hellbent on revenge. Amongst the bloody carnage something happens which sets Tolly on a completely unexpected path. With Amber as his guide, Tolly has a lot to learn. Because, as the blurb says “some slashers are born in violence and retribution, some were born that way – and some were just in the wrong place, at the wrong time…”

I Was a Teenage Slasher is a bloodthirsty, emotional, character-driven tale which stole my heart. I adored this book from start to finish. I was gobbling up the pages, all the time wishing that the book would never end. That my limited time with Tolly and Amber would go on forever. I was drawn into their story. Could this end well for either of them? Well, you’ll just have to read the book and find out for yourself!

Would I recommend this book? Hell, yeah! I love this book with my very bones. I Was a Teenage Slasher is, for me, a perfect piece of fiction. Tolly Driver is an unforgettable character, his friendship with Amber gave me all the feels and the end of their story left me sobbing my heart out. I loved the nostalgia, I loved the small town feel, I loved the complete and utter reluctance from Tolly regarding his brand new destiny and I love how he just got on with the job he’d been given (even if that meant killing six high schoolers!). I loved how much I believed in this book. I could picture the scenes in my mind with ease, forgetting often that I was reading a book and not actually watching a movie. I loved the emotion it invoked and I love that I’m left wanting more (highly unlikely to happen). I miss the characters. I miss Lamesa, and the more I think about this book, the more my love for it grows (it seems impossible!). I don’t know many authors who can affect their readers the way SGJ does. Totally sublime. Beautifully and intricately paced. A highly immersive coming-of-age tale with a reluctant teenage slasher at the helm. Gory and gruesome. Heartfelt and multi-layered. I absolutely bloody loved it! Can’t wait for more from SGJ soon. Highly recommended.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of I Was a Teenage Slasher. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones was published in the UK by Titan Books on 16th July 2024 and is available in paperback, audio and digital formats (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | bookshop.org | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop | damppebbles amazon.co.uk shop | damppebbles amazon.com shop |

Stephen Graham Jones is the NYT bestselling author thirty-five or so books. He really likes werewolves and slashers. Favourite novels change daily, but Valis and Love Medicine and Lonesome Dove and It and The Things They Carried are all usually up there somewhere. Stephen lives in Boulder, Colorado. It’s a big change from the West Texas he grew up in.