All in all, I’ll probably find myself rereading this book at some point in the future. The protagonists can make stupid decisions from time to time, but despite this, I still ended up rooting for Melanie (the main final girl) to survive - which speaks volumes, as poor character development can leave the reader feeling indifferent about who lives and dies.

UtB plays out like a classic slasher movie, but adds a little something extra that you didn’t know you needed which helps to make certain parts of the story much more terrifying. But Serafini makes sure to spice things up by including different perspectives that has the reader guessing if this is the part where that character could die.

And parts of the book, especially around halfway through, dragged on. However, I’d be lying if I said the typos didn’t detract from the reading experience. I did find a few spelling errors here and there, but I’ve gotten used to them (as they can be pretty common in the specific genre). The alternating points of view of the protagonists was a welcome addition that helped keep the pace of the book from becoming too slow. Under the Blade turned out to be much, much more than I thought it would be. And Serafini's final girl should go down as one of the most fully drawn and utterly human final girls of all time. To avoid spoilers, just rest assured that the general theme of the slasher killer being a punisher of teenage sin is taken to new and wonderful places in this book. But what he does with the motifs of horror stories is unique and fairly brilliant. Under the Blade is a non-stop thrill fest which will keep you up late feeling like you are watching a marathon of 80s horror movies. Serafini sets off the slasher movie music in your head from page one, and he never lets up. When Melanie returns to the town from her nightmares, she learns that not only are her fears over never actually seeing Cyrus Hoyt die a little less irrational than they appear, but Cyrus Hoyt may actually be the least frightening monster in Forrest Grove. When her plans for tenure fall through, Melanie finally caves to peer pressure and heads back to Forrest Grove to write a tell-all book.

The Forrest Grove massacre occurred in 1988, and since that time Melanie has struggled to move on in her life in any meaningful way other than her career as a college literature professor. Melanie Holden escaped the clutches of a slasher-style killer and local boogeyman legend, Cyrus Hoyt, who laid waste to a group of teenage counselors at Camp Forrest Grove, which will delight anyone who enjoyed a similar crime spree at Camp Crystal Lake in a certain movie from 1980. Early on in the book, protagonist Melanie Holden discusses teaching the epic and claims that the 'first line is a succinct explanation for the poem at large.' The first line of Under the Blade is 'The killer was coming back.' I'm pretty sure that's no accidental connection.

Under the Blade by Matt Serafini