Slasher Sam

By: Simon Petersen

Narrated by: Jaye Wilde

Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Beware: this book is not for the faint of heart, the weak of stomach, or the soft of bowels. These are the blog entries of one of the most depraved serial killers of the 21st century - Slasher Sam.

Taking inspiration from several generations of horror films, Sam guts countless victims in creative ways and posts these exploits to SlasherSam.com for the world to see, putting readers so close to the action that they're practically in the splash zone when the blood goes flying.

And is there ever blood - Sam's a savvy killer, too well-versed in horror film lore to make rookie mistakes, which is why the kill count scores well into the double digits.

Visit SlasherSam.com if you dare, just remember: in cyberspace, everyone can hear you scream....

©2017 Simon Petersen (P)2017 Darkwater Syndicate, Inc.

A Cut Above

If you’re a walking horror movie encyclopedia, Slasher Sam is speaking your language. Author Simon Peterson seems to know the genre well, and weaves in references to slasher flicks both mainstream and (relatively) obscure as he brings us into the world of a budding slasher.

We’re taken for a ride through various murder scenarios, in which morally ambiguous throwaway characters are gruesomely dispatched by our morally ambiguous slasher. There isn’t the usual good guy/bad guy, cat-and-mouse dynamic—it’s more like Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer meets Scream, but without a conventional beginning, middle and end. While the mini-episodic, diary-style narrative did keep me from fully investing in the story, Petersen’s fun, quippy prose make the random events feel more cohesive.

I liked the narrator’s energy and tone overall, but she mispronounced a lot of words. And not just place names—as do so many audiobook narrators—but all sorts of words. For a book that’s basically one big inside joke, it’s kind of important to convince us you know what you’re talking about. Still, it wasn’t annoying enough to make me stop listening—which is more than I can say for some narrators.

I would recommend this to horror fans looking for something light, funny and meta. There are plenty of bloody murders, but nothing that would upset the stomach of a hardened gorehound. If you’ve already gone through all the Fridays and Nightmares and Leprechauns a couple times, give this one a try.

Twisty

Where does Slasher Sam rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

a cut above

What other book might you compare Slasher Sam to and why?

not sure I would compare this to any other book, very unique

What about Jaye Wilde’s performance did you like?

excellent inflection and tone, a great reader

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

remember the rules