Barbie Meets Slasher Review Edition

Horror is a genre that has a season devoted to it. Like most genres nowadays, you could find a time of year for it, but what if you lived in horror since you were a child? In Lindy Ryan’s new book, Dollface, Jill witnessed a tragic event as a child and, years later, writes horror novels. So what happens when weird things start happening around her?

Jill, now a horror author, has just moved to suburban New Jersey, hoping to fit in with the new PTA moms and maybe not weird everyone out with her Final Girl coffee mug. She just wants to make some real friends. However, her attempt at a normal life unravels when a plastic face-masked serial killer begins slashing their way through town, targeting overly made-up moms one by one. The police are incredulous. The moms are indignant. And Jill is slowly drawn into the killer’s spree—until she might just be the last woman standing. Equal parts scathing and salacious, Dollface delights with gossip and gore, one body at a time.

I am a huge fan of slasher movies and have suddenly gotten into reading slasher books. I have read two books this year that could be considered slasher. Usually, though, when I dive into the horror genre, I want to read about a possession or a haunted house. However, when this book came across my screen, I felt like it would make a good movie. So I decided to give it a shot. I think I was hooked after chapter one. All the horror references made me so happy. I loved the horror shirts that Jill wore throughout the book. I also really enjoyed the PTA aspect. I figured out the ending pretty early in the book and was happy to be right, but I still enjoyed every minute of it. The other thing that stood out to me was her relationship with her husband. They were so in love that at times I thought I was reading a romance, but then you would remember the previous killing or something else that would bring the creepy factor back in. I think the romance part could have been left out, as it wasn’t a major part of the story, but it was still adorable. I just don’t think the story needed it. It would have been more implied. Overall, I would still recommend this book!