A Book A Week

There’s a phenomenon that tends to crop up in long-running horror franchises. After a while, the formula gets stale. Desperate to recapture former glory, the creators throw the rulebook out the window and attempt a reinvention. Think Friday the 13th's Jason X, where Jason slashes his way through a spaceship, or Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, where Freddy breaks through the fourth wall to stalk the cast of a movie based on Nightmare on Elm Street.

Adam Cesare’s Clown in a Cornfield 2: Frendo Lives didn’t quite recapture the lightning-in-a-bottle energy of the first novel, but it ended with a compelling tease that hinted at something bold. Against my better judgment, I dove into Clown in a Cornfield 3: The Church of Frendo, curious to see how Cesare would land this trilogy. Like its cinematic horror counterparts, this final installment takes a sharp left turn into new territory—but does it work?

Picking up where book two’s epilogue left off, we find Quinn Maybrook on a mission. No longer just a survivor, she’s become a hunter, tracking down the violent disciples of Frendo across the country. But what began as vigilante justice becomes something far more ominous as she uncovers just how deeply the cult of Frendo has taken root. Back in her hometown, the clown has transformed from a symbol of chaos into the central figure of a burgeoning religion—one fueled by the same hate and extremism that first sparked the bloodshed.

Clown in a Cornfield 3: The Church of Frendo is Adam Cesare at his most unhinged and ambitious. It’s wild, grim, and over-the-top in a way that pays homage to horror’s most infamous third acts. Not everything lands, but there’s a certain satisfaction in seeing the trilogy go out swinging, embracing the bizarre while still holding onto the raw, bloody heart that made the original so memorable. If nothing else, it proves Cesare is unafraid to take risks—and in horror, that counts for a lot.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2025, 38)

There’s nothing more certain in the horror genre than a sequel following a smash hit. Adam Cesare’s 2020 novel Clown in a Cornfield was precisely that—a slasher steeped in tradition but energized by a sharp commentary on political polarization and generational conflict. It ended with a satisfying conclusion that could easily stand on its own. But when has that ever stopped a sequel? So, with a mix of anticipation and trepidation, I dove into Clown in a Cornfield 2: Frendo Lives.

A year ago, Quinn was just trying to survive her senior year after moving to the small town of Kettle Springs. What she didn’t expect was a group of unhinged adults donning clown masks and launching a murderous crusade against the youth they blamed for their town’s decline. Quinn made it out—barely—and now she’s starting over in college, trying to move past the trauma and look toward the future.

But trauma doesn’t vanish with a change of scenery. Even hundreds of miles from Kettle Springs, Quinn can’t escape the past. She’s become a target for online conspiracy theorists who insist the massacre never happened. The facts are undeniable, but in the age of disinformation, facts don’t always win. And when a clown attacks Quinn at a college party, she realizes the nightmare isn’t over. The only way to end it is to return to where it all started. To the cornfields. To the truth. Because when reality gets drowned out by lies, people don’t just get confused—they get killed.

Sequels rarely live up to their predecessors, and Clown in a Cornfield 2: Frendo Lives is no exception. What felt sharp and timely in the original now comes across as obligatory. The characters are thinner, the horror less inventive, and the political commentary that once gave the story its bite now feels more heavy-handed than insightful. Adam Cesare still delivers a brisk, bingeable read, but it largely rehashes familiar ground. It’s a decent thriller, and perhaps even more enjoyable for those who haven’t read the first, but for fans returning to the franchise, it’s hard to ignore the lessened impact of this story. Like many horror series before it, this one seems to be falling into the trap of diminishing returns. Still, a final twist offers a flicker of intrigue for what might come next. I’ll be reading, but I’m tempering my expectations.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2025, 32)

Stay with me on this train of thought. I find a certain comfort in the thrill of a classic slasher movie. I know what you’re thinking: How do you find comfort in something meant to terrify you? Fair question. But hear me out.

I’ve always enjoyed those formulaic horror films, you know, the ones where an unsuspecting victim is relentlessly pursued by a crazed maniac, hellbent on destruction. Classics like Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Scream perfected this formula, and while modern slashers often follow in their footsteps, there's something undeniably satisfying about watching these familiar beats play out. The predictability isn’t a flaw. It’s part of the fun, a rhythm I can sink into as I let the latest variation work its magic.

In the literary world, I've enjoyed how authors like Stephen Graham Jones and Christopher Golden have made their mark by honoring horror’s beloved tropes while carving out fresh, inventive narratives. Now I can add Adam Cesare’s Clown in a Cornfield to that list. His take on the teen slasher is bold, gruesome, and instantly gripping. It lures you in with its familiarity, only to keep you hooked with its clever twists on a well-worn genre.

Kettle Springs is the kind of small Midwestern town that time forgot. Nestled among sprawling cornfields, it’s littered with remnants of what it once was. The now-vacant Baypen Corn Syrup Factory looms over the landscape, a stark monument to economic collapse and the deepening rift between generations. Even more prominent is the town’s faded mascot, Frendo, a grinning clown in a porkpie hat, his image still plastered on buildings and rusting signs, a ghost of better days. The older generation clings desperately to the past, determined to make Kettle Springs great again. The younger generation couldn’t care less. They’re just trying to have fun and escape as soon as possible.

For Quinn Maybrook and her father, Kettle Springs represents a fresh start, something they both need after the death of Quinn’s mother. Her father has traded his high-pressure job as an ER doctor for the slower pace of life as the town’s primary physician. But Quinn isn’t exactly thrilled. This sleepy, dead-end town wasn’t what she had in mind for a new beginning. At this point, her only goal is to keep her head down and make it to graduation.

But Kettle Springs has other plans.

The town’s simmering tensions reach a boiling point when a masked killer—dressed as Frendo himself—decides that the best way to restore Kettle Springs to its former glory is to rid the town of the rotten kids who live there now. Suddenly, Quinn finds herself caught in the crossfire of a town at war with itself, running for her life in a place she never wanted to call home in the first place. 

With Clown in a Cornfield, Adam Cesare uses the framework of a classic slasher to explore small-town politics, grief, and the inevitability of progress. It’s a story that feels both timeless and eerily relevant, capturing the political divide of our current moment. Sure, it gets a bit over-the-top at times, and the climax ties things up a little too neatly, but I didn’t care. Cesare delivers a brutal, fast-paced horror novel that had me completely hooked. He brings classic slasher tropes into the modern era in a way that feels fresh, subverting expectations just enough to keep things unpredictable. With two more books in the series already out and a film adaptation coming later this year, Clown in a Cornfield is a bonafide hit. It's a fun, clever horror novel that has me eager for more.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2025, 20)