The Con Season

A Novel of Survival Horror

By: Adam Cesare

Narrated by: Joe Hempel

Length: 4 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

Horror movie starlet Clarissa Lee is beautiful, internationally known, and completely broke.

To cap off years of questionable financial and personal decisions, Clarissa accepts an invitation to participate in a "fully immersive" fan convention. She arrives at an off-season summer camp and finds what was supposed to be a quick buck has become a real-life slasher movie.

Deep in the woods of Kentucky with a supporting cast of B-level celebrities, Clarissa must fight to survive the deadly game that the con's organizers have rigged against her.

A demented, funny, bloody, and strangely poignant horror novel from the acclaimed author of Tribesmen, Zero Lives Remaining, and Mercy House.

©2016 Adam Cesare (P)2016 Adam Cesare

Gripping, Edge of the Seat-Thriller

What did you love best about The Con Season?

A fascinating story full of horror and strong characters. It kept me wanting more and the story was solid and full of surprises.

Have you listened to any of Joe Hempel’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Great, stellar performances by Joe as always. Loved the narration.

Any additional comments?

"This review copy audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost."

Mostly filler, a little thriller, and some killer.

The Con Season: A Novel of Survival Horror by Adam Cesare is an enjoyable short novel which doesn't quite live up to the promise or expectation based around its core idea. Gathering a bunch of B-list celebrities in the middle of the Kentucky woods for a fully immersive fan convention and forcing them to fight for their lives to survive should make for an exhilarating read.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much exhilaration in the book, even once we reached the climax. The beginning of the book sets up the pieces by exploring the motivations behind the protagonists and antagonists. While the running commentary about conventions, fandom, and life as a B-list celebrity is entertaining, its not the reason folks are picking this book up. Cesare spends too much time on the commentary and tries to pass it off as building characters. Since the majority of the B-list cast of characters is in the same position, their commentary runs together making them feel less like individuals and makes them run together.

The team of principle antagonists I felt were the strongest characters in the novel. Rory was the stereotypical sadist murderer, Teeks was the mastermind behind the whole operation, and Kimberly was an enjoyable in a Harley Quinn type of way.

Once all the pieces are setup and the action is about to ramp up into the actual survival horror situation, the book unexpectedly closes out to a rushed conclusion. The epilogue was an interesting idea leaving the reader to make up their own mind about what happens at the end.

Deliciously twisted

Adam Cesare is a brutal cold-blooded killer. He creates wonderfully wicked characters, then scares the sh*t out of them. And you.

Fan Con with a Deadly Twist

Any additional comments?

This book is pure fun. From the characters themselves, to the setting (fan cons), to the plot as a whole, this story is survival horror at it's best (with a solid dash of silliness to even it all out). I was at times surprised and always interested to hear what came next. Hempel does a tremendous job, as always, and Cesare is masterful.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Survival Horror at it's Best!!

Where does The Con Season rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is in my Top 20 for all the audio books I have listened to so far. It was a great short story with an excellent narrator.

What did you like best about this story?

The story was very well done and you kept guessing through out the whole thing as to what could happen. Some parts were obvious and meant to be and others were not to and kept you guessing and made it really fun.

What does Joe Hempel bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Mr Hempel really brings a story to life. He is just an amazing narrator and doe a super job with all the different characters.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Fan Conventions taken to the extreme

Any additional comments?

"This review copy audiobook was provided by the author/narrator/publisher free of charge via Audiobook Boom."

3.5 stars to the story, awesome narrator!!

After having read two other books from this author in the past and fully loving them, I was excited to give this one a go as well. I honestly didn't enjoy this one as much as the other two. I am impressed by how much gets packed into these shorter stories. The reader is given a good bit of information about the characters, which is something that usually gets lost in shorter books. Yet somehow, I still managed to get a bit confused towards the end about who was who. Joe Hempel was the narrator of the audiobook version, and was perfect as usual. Anything that this man voices is automatically more much more enjoyable!
Although this one wasn't my favorite, I will certainly be checking out more of Adam's work in the future. If you are a big fan of the "b movie" horror I recommend this book, and highly suggest the audiobook version.
*This audiobook was provided at no cost. These are my thoughts regardless of that fact.

Wonderful twist on The 80s Slasher

Wonderful twist on The 80s Slasher, Horror Cons, and Summer Camp. Adam Cesare obviously knows his horror and subverts the genre in a very fun way.

Joe Hempel is a blast to listen to as always.

Gripping!

Very good book!. Well written, you won't want to stop listening til the end

The narrator does an excellent job reading

I received this book free of charge from the author, narrator or publisher in exchange for an honest unbiased review

attend a camp of psychos

Odd book.
what do you do, when you get tricked into Convension, err I am a camp of horror, and your a old Hollywood scream Queen? Well you go for the money that you so badly need, even f the price it your life.

This is a fast paced book. almost to fast. it jumps around a lot, almost to the point where I was lost at some points. I had to check and see if I missed a few chapters.

It ended open, I am not sure if there will be a part two maybe? but the story didn't wrap up at all, left me going HUH?
I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

A Cheeky Wink at Slasher Films

Yeah, so the title to this one isn't my best, but it really sums up the book. The Con Season takes a simple premise (what if someone held a horror fan con where the B list film stars were hunted by a slasher?) and turns it into an enjoyable ride. The premise is simple, the narrative is compelling, the characters are all diverse and believable... I dare say my favorite was the poor director who got ambushed in the beginning. Poor guy, but his thoughts on watching the whole thing were almost like breaking the fourth wall. I get ahead of myself though.

The book follows several B-list horror film stars as they are approached by a gentlemen recruiting them for a horror con taking place at a summer camp. It also shows the killer's POV from time to time too, but unlike most stories when they show the killer's POV, it doesn't take away from the tension. Instead, it ratchets it up so that it's almost like you're watching a slasher film as you're reading it. It cleverly keeps the audience in the loop, so you're free to scream at the book, "NO WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU STUPID CHARACTER?!" In that sense, it's really like the slasher films that I love from the 80's, complete with the sly wink-wink at the camera.

However, it takes so long setting up the characters, the setting, and the narrative... when it comes to actual bloodbath? It seems like it's over in a blink. I would have loved to have given it five stars, but it almost feels like the end is just... too rushed, too fast, without enough of the slasher hunting his intended victims. I did love the ending, but it just came too soon, IMO.

Joe Hempel's narrative is spot on. It's what I've come to expect from him, and while I hate to be like, "Oh yeah, he hit it out of the park again, ho-hum"... he hit it out of the park again. His narration is NOT ho-hum. He infuses a lot of life and character into the prose, making the characters come alive and painting the scene and action with the words of the author. And the prose itself is pretty good. I loved the story. I loved the ending. I loved the characters. I just wanted more of it. Definitely worth picking up!