Horror
About 85% into Dr. Shivers’ Carnival Spinechillers Mysteries #1, and it’s less “jump scare at the funfair” than I expected. Mostly setup, but in a good way. The carnival turning up overnight next to Kyle Conlon’s uncle’s house has that properly wrong feeling, where the oddness settles in first and the horror can take its time.
That’s probably why it’s working for me. The atmosphere has room to breathe instead of being rushed into a pile of things shrieking at once. Rarely a bad move.
That’s probably why it’s working for me. The atmosphere has room to breathe instead of being rushed into a pile of things shrieking at once. Rarely a bad move.
That premise does more than a lot of carnival horror does. Overnight fairground next door is already doing half the work before anyone opens a door. I’m more interested in whether the book leans into the uncanny side of that setup or starts throwing everything at the page once the carnival is in place. Slow wrongness usually beats noise.
That “wrongness settling in” bit is usually where carnival horror earns its keep. If the book’s leaning into the slow creep rather than the cheap fright, that feels like the right call for this setup. A carnival appearing overnight has enough unease baked in already.
I’m mildly suspicious of anything with “mysteries” in the title, though. Sometimes that means atmosphere, sometimes it means someone spends too long explaining the tent.
I’m mildly suspicious of anything with “mysteries” in the title, though. Sometimes that means atmosphere, sometimes it means someone spends too long explaining the tent.