It’s Halloween so what better time than now to talk about the book that’s apparently gotten me into my horror era? That’s probably an exaggeration, but this really is the book that has made me curious about exploring the horror genre more. I am now creating a small spooky TBR for the next couple of months and am really looking forward to trying those books. I like stepping outside of my reading comfort zones and seeing what else is out there that I have been missing out on.
Synopsis
Tyler Kyle doesn’t believe in monsters.
A washed-up thirty-year-old actor and reluctant cryptid investigator, Tyler is used to playing the Scully to his best friend Josh’s Mulder on their stupidly popular YouTube channel. But when Tyler receives previously unseen footage of the B movie bombshell mother who abandoned him eighteen years ago—footage linked to an isolated island in the Canadian wilderness—the mystery is one conspiracy he’s determined to investigate. The fact that following the scent gives Tyler an excuse to run away from the “straight” Josh, whom he drunkenly made out with, is just the cherry on the shit sundae.
But Echo Island isn’t what it seems. Somewhere amongst its pine-clad hills lurks the stalker whose footage lured him to the island in the first place, and behind its eerily scenic veneer hides a twisted secret buried in its roots as a gay conversion camp. As Tyler retraces his mother’s footsteps, he discovers a supernatural connection the residents share with the island—one that calls to Tyler the same way it did his mother.
Face-to-face with the supernatural, he sure-as-shit wishes he hadn’t gay-panicked and left the cryptid-obsessed Josh behind. Pursued by the stalker, searching for his mother, and debating whether it’s possible to queerbait yourself, Tyler comes to realize that it doesn’t matter so much whether you believe in monsters, if they believe in you.
THE ERSTWHILE TYLER KYLE is an adult horror comedy for fans of GHOST FILES, BUZZFEED UNSOLVED, and TWIN PEAKS.
Review
This book was quite the experience for me. I felt a whole range of emotions while reading it. Horror isn’t my usual genre because I get scared easily. It’s mostly the Stephen King type of horror that I struggle with because it’s the creeping, stalking kind of suspense and how realistic it feels that terrifies me. I did feel that here and there with this one too but decided to push through anyways.
There were parts that were REALLY confusing and I honestly think the WTF feeling was what kept me from being truly too uncomfortable to continue. It made me pause regularly and just take a breath while I pondered what the hell I just read. I didn’t read the description beforehand so I really had no idea what I was getting into. I just knew it was queer horror. I didn’t know it was comedy as well or I probably wouldn’t have been as worried.
While the characters were quite out there, I still got really attached and invested. The side characters suffered a bit from the erratic narration and the craziness sometimes took away from the emotional depth for me, but the plot made up for that for me in the end once everything started coming together. I was seriously contemplating DNFing before the halfway mark but was too curious about the potential reveals to actually put it down. And I’m glad I didn’t because the second half had me glued to my kindle every chance I got.
My favorite thing about the book was how consistent the voices of the MCs were. It was clear who was narrating each section, even when things got crazy. I also liked that while some things were a little predictable in the second half, it was still written in an interesting way that made the reveals worthwhile rather than boring. While the final resolution did feel a little easy to me, the overall wrap up was satisfying.
So while I did have some gripes with this, I’m still really glad that I stuck it out. A great mix of fear, laughter, and suspense. It was truly a fun experience for me and has me looking forward to stepping out of my comfort zone more often.
Leave a Reply