I’m an unabashed Candela fan, have been ever since I read his book the Oz Files. He dishes out some crazy stuff, but he does it with such reverence (check out Little Women with Big Guns, Ether Bunny, Night of a Thousand Wings, Imp, and Sinbad and the Argonauts) that you can see his love for the things he is writing about with ease. Now, while this story is inspired by a real place, it is not based on real events. Somehow that part makes me a little sad, because (aside from John Wayne Gacy) I’ve never seen any evidence of evil clowns doing things. This is my Moby Dick, so to speak, because evil clown sightings have been happening since I was a kid, and people panic over them for some reason, and I always want some ol story to come out to be true just so there is some validation to all the hype.
Candela gives us not one, but three naughty monsters in greasepaint to terrorize a group of meddling kids who trespass onto the grounds of an abandoned amusement park. Naturally, bad things happen as they go deeper into the “funhouse”, and one by one they all start getting cacked off in spectacular ways. The story is NOT a straight up slasher book, nor is it an It homage. Nope. Nope. Nope. Candela has something a bit trippier and deeper at play here, something that involves time travel and regret, and hopefully the possibility of redemption for at tleast one of the characters. So, in a way you get it all, crazy deaths, evil clowns, odd happenings, a dark secret that will not stay buried, and some time travel thrown in for kicks. Stephen King sucks. Just going to put that out there. You want a real clown story, stop here. There are a lot of characters, and the lead perspective changes as they all go ever so gently into that good night, so don’t get too attached. Some make it out, but probably not who you expect.
Bennet hits the ground running with the narration, and plays each characte to a tee. You really feel his inner jerk coming out, as well as his shy introvert. He gives each character a voice of their own, even the ones that don’t talk. He fits with this story, and is easy to listen to. Even though I did receive a promo code for this review it in no way influenced my considerations of the material, and in fact, inspired me to be more honest. In fact, getting a code generally makes me harsher as a reviewer as I am more often concerned what someone like Me will decide based on my review.
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