Let me start this off by saying this is not an ARC review. I read this of my own free will. And for that, I am very, very sorry.
This was a TikTok recommendation. One of those viral books that has been painted and chilling and pure horror. I grew up reading Stephen King and horror is still my favorite genre. It's September and I'll be honest that spooky season starts on August 1st for me. I grabbed up the first horror recommendation that popped up on my FYP.
However, this is not horror. It's splatterpunk. We could debate whether or not it's truly splatterpunk but the definition of splatterpunk is descriptive gore that addresses social or political issues. It's a counterculture movement. Think transgressive, pushing boundaries of what is considered moral norms.
And that's what Bluejay does. It pushes the boundaries of morality.
The story follows three friends who share - you guessed it- torture p*rn. One of them trolls another internet troll on message boards, or wherever the depraved hang out online, and the next thing you know... they are gifted the login credentials to hack the person they've been trolling. vxxn, another online scumbag, readily shares information that allows our main character the ability to access the online accounts of the person he's been bullying online and wouldn't you know it... there just so happens to be an invite for 4 to a very elite, and morally corrupt, club.
Our main character has but only two friends. Regardless he scoops up his friends and they head off to engage in their wildest, most disgusting and vile fantasies for the night. They head out to the middle of nowhere and upon arrival are given clothes to change into and they must turn over their phones and wallets.
From here, it turns into the movie Hostel. The three fight for their life and everyone is out to get them.
I read just about every genre so when I realized this was incredibly gory, I prepared myself for that. However, there wasn't a single character that I found likable. I assumed someone would get out alive because, who else would tell the story then? But, I couldn't really root for any of them. At a certain point I knew who was getting out and was like... well, ok, I guess if I HAD to pick. He's the one I would be ok with getting out.
I've certainly read some other true horror and bordering on, if not splatterpunk. I think, for me, one of the key elements of this genre is that you have to like at least one of the characters that is challenging the counter culture or who is trying to get out of the situation.
The movie Hostel messed me up a bit for a while... nightmares and such. But I didn't like anyone enough in this story to feel sorry for them. To fairly rate this, if you do like this genre and the storyline appeals to you, here are the positives:
It's a quick paced story line
It's gory
It's depraved
Probably going to give you nightmares or at the very least the heebie jeebies
The cons:
Unlikable main characters
A few plot holes
The ending is incredibly abrupt
Some of the writing was a bit hard to follow at times
For this genre, I'd give this a 🌮🌮🌮 rating. I can see people liking this but it doesn't stand up to some of the books in this genre that I would consider at the top of the category. Question Not My Salt by Amanda Blake is still top tier for me.
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