Blog Tour: Camp Death – Jim Ody

*I received a free copy of this book with thanks to the author and to Zoé of Zooloo’s Book Tours.  The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*

Blurb: The place had a gruesome past that nobody wanted to talk about…

Camp Deathe is now a great place to spend the summer. Ritchie soon finds a group of outsiders like himself. Teenagers who ignore the organised activities, and bunk off in the old abandoned cabins deep in the woods. The cabins that have a history.

The campfire monster stories were meant to just scare them. Nobody expected them to come true. Then one of the teenagers disappears in the middle of the night.

Something is watching them. It hides in the woods and hunts at night.

Ritchie will have to uncover the secrets of the camp and understand his own problems in order to survive.

This is the first in Question Mark Press’ new YA horror series – Question Mark Horror – which older fans who remember Point Horror and Goosebumps will love just as much as new YA readers!

Jim Ody takes a very familiar horror format – teens isolated in cabins in the woods, and campfire stories of an old massacre and a monstrous beast – and presents a creepy campfire horror tale, full of the terrors of teendom (hormones, bullying, impending independence from childhood innocence) and the more visceral fear of being eaten by monsters in the dark.

Ody’s characterisations and the relationships between the characters work really well, and the plot is really well-written too and had me hooked from beginning to end.

In fact, my only criticism is actually something of a strength! There is so much fantastic material here – Ralph and the urban ‘criminals’; the strange hotel vs. cabin set-up; Ritchie’s dad’s investigation; the legend of ‘crazy’ Oscar and his killing spree – that I felt there was enough for a larger novel. I loved everything in this book, but felt it had had to be pruned and squished down a bit to accommodate the restrictions of this format… a large story zip-tied and locked in a smaller box.

I thoroughly enjoyed the chills of watching Ritchie and his friends being terrorised by someone, or something, stalking in the woods, and got a special thrill from the nostalgia it conjured as the YA horror books of my own teenage years got a modern update into the world of texting and diversity. But I would also read the hell out of a version of this book that was double the size, with more of the fascinating details from the behind-the-scenes action.

Actually, I will just happily read whatever Jim Ody writes next! And I can’t wait for more from this QMPHorror range.

Happy reading, guys, and, look, just close the curtains and go back to sleep; I’m sure there’s nothing out there, in the dark, waiting…

“Of course,” Toby began, “in these woods there have been sightings.” He looked over at his captivated audience. “Some sort of snarling beast.”
“What sort of beast?” Carl asked with a hint of suspicion. Every camp had a legend of a beast.
“The rumour is that it stands like a man but looks like a wolf… but nobody knows for sure as no man has seen it and lived to tell the tale.”

– Jim Ody, Camp Death

Jim writes dark psychological/thrillers, Horror and YA books that have endings you won’t see coming, and favours stories packed with wit. He has written over a dozen novels and many more short-stories spanning many genres.

Jim has a very strange sense of humour and is often considered a little odd.  When not writing he will be found playing the drums, watching football and eating chocolate. He lives with his long-suffering wife, three beautiful children and two indignant cats in Swindon, Wiltshire UK.

Follow him at:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/JimOdyAuthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jimodyauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jim_Ody_Author

Amazon : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jim-Ody/e/B019A6AMSY/

Camp Death is available on Amazon right now! And don’t forget to stop by the other blogs on this tour (see the poster below for details) for more great content and reviews!