Benny Rose: The Cannibal King - Hailey Piper
There are plenty of horror books written mostly during the ‘80s and ‘90s that are able to transport you back in time and make you feel as though you’re sitting in a movie theater watching an ‘80s slasher horror film. While modern horror usually takes a different look at the horror genre, there are a few titles that still remind me of ‘80s slasher horror in the best way possible. Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke does it, so does Brian Keene in pretty much everything he writes and Hailey Piper does it too in her new novella Benny Rose: The Cannibal King.
This book clocks in at just over 150 pages so it’s a quick read but it sure as hell packs a punch and doesn’t take long to get to the good stuff. Of course there is a little bit of set up before the action. In this case we learn about the urban myth of Benny Rose in the small Vermont town of Blackwood. Everyone who lives in town knows the legend of Benny. Everyone in town has their own version of the Benny Rose story and they aren’t afraid to share the story with others.
But there is a new girl in town, Desiree, and she hasn’t had the chance to hear the stories yet. Her friends decide to play a prank on her and scare her on Halloween night, Benny Rose-style. The prank doesn’t quite work out the way they intend it to. A storm hits the small town and the group of girls find themselves being chased down by the real life Benny Rose: The Cannibal King. i don’t want to give you much more than that because the end is good, very good, and I don’t want to spoil it for you but this one is definitely worth the read.
The setting for this story is perfect and really makes it in my opinion. I lived in New England for many years and have family that lives in small-town Vermont. While the town of Blackwood, Vermont is fictional, it has the feel of a real life small town lost somewhere in the green mountains of Vermont. There is a stretch of I-89 in Vermont headed north where you find yourself driving along the side of a mountain if you look to your right, you see another mountain and on clear days when you look down in the valley between the two mountains, you see a small town-center planted between the two hulking behemoths on their side of it. I don’t know if that is what Piper envisioned when she created the town of Blackwood, but it was that town that I had in my minds eyes while I was reading.
The setting is perfect and Piper’s ability to write action is displayed throughout the book. From the time the rain really starts to come down on Halloween night, the action doesn’t really let up, and Piper is able to keep the action moving forward at a pace that jerks the reader through page after page until you get to the end. Hailey Piper creates the perfect ‘80s slasher horror novel with Benny Rose: The Cannibal King. It doesn’t let up on you from beginning to end. Piper is going to be one of those new writers to watch out for as she continues to push the boundaries and take horror into different and awesome directions. Solid 4/5 on this one.
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