Mercy House by Adam Cesare

 

Mercy House by Adam Cesare - 255 pages

Welcome to Mercy House, a state-of-the-art retirement home that appears perfectly crisp, clean, and orderly . . . but nothing could be farther from the truth. In Adam Cesare’s thrilling novel, the residents will find little mercy—only a shocking eruption of unfathomable horror.
 
Harriet Laurel notices the odor at Mercy House as soon as she sets foot inside, brought there against her will by her son, Don, and his wife, Nikki. In the early stages of dementia, Harriet has grown resentful of Nikki, blaming her daughter-in-law for failing to supply grandchildren. Yet even Harriet must admit that her mind becomes clearer as soon as she crosses the threshold. If it wasn’t for that annoying smell.
 
Arnold Piper is an eighty-five-year-old ex-Marine, a proud man who has cared for himself his whole life. But no longer. Betrayed by his aging body, Arnold is learning that the trials he survived long ago in war-torn Korea pale beside the daily indignities of growing old. Little does he know that his greatest nightmares are still ahead of him.
 
Sarah Campbell is an idealistic nurse whose compassion has been stretched to the breaking point at the chronically understaffed facility that is Mercy House. But now Sarah’s list of unpleasant duties is about to take a terrifying turn. For something wicked is brewing in Mercy House. Something dark and rotten . . . and deadly.

This wasn't bad, it's an interesting premise that something in the old folks home makes all the elderly turn into monsters.  The chapters alternate different characters' perspectives, including those that have changed.  It's pretty gory, which is fine by me but heads up in case it's not your thing.

Lights! Camera! Frendo! (Clown in a Cornfield #4) by Adam Cesare

 

Lights! Camera! Frendo!  (Clown in a Cornfield #4) by Adam Cesare - 400 pages

Let the killing continue in Lights! Camera! Frendo! It’s the fourth installment of Adam Cesare’s Bram Stoker Award-winning series, and this time Frendo goes Hollywood – with all the blood, guts, and mayhem you’d expect from the series that spawned the blockbuster motion picture.

Sabrina Alvarez is pretty much a nobody—until she lands the starring role in the big budget film based on the Kettle Springs Massacre. Sabrina knows she should be on top of the world. She’s going to be THE Quinn Maybrook, Final Girl of Final Girls, national hero and certified badass. But as soon as Sabrina gets to Kettle Springs, she just can’t quite shake the feeling that something’s off. A spate of deaths, an out-of-control director, a town decimated by loss and divided by anger, and a movie designed to glorify it all. Something bad is brewing, and this time, it’s all on film.

A meditation on the villains inside us all, it’s the latest installment of Adam Cesare’s Bram Stoker Award-winning series, Clown in a Cornfield.

This was better than the third one and was alright.  I didn't hate it but didn't love it.  I liked the blending of old characters with new.  

The Church of Frendo (Clown in a Cornfield #3) by Adam Cesare

 

The Church of Frendo (Clown in a Cornfield #3) by Adam Cesare - 448 pages

Quinn has just survived yet another bloody run-in with the murderous clown Frendo, but somehow still she knows this won’t be the last. Tired of being hunted and seeing innocent people hurt, Quinn believes the only way to beat the horror is to take justice into her own hands--and stop the Frendo followers herself. Little does she know that this path will take her across cornfields and state lines, to where she will have to face the most dangerous and bloody menace yet: True believers.

It’s an all-new tale in this terrifying trio series about the villains inside us all.

This one wasn't bad..I liked the first one the best.  This one was just "OK".  It had action and all that, I'm not saying this was a bad book, I think I'm just done with this series.

Clown in a Cornfield 3: The Church of Frendo by Adam Cesare

 Clown in a Cornfield 3: The Church of Frendo by Adam Cesare-448 pages

⭐⭐⭐1/2

I really liked the first two books in this trilogy (so far). In this latest installment, Quinn Maybrook is on a vengeance trip against many of those who perpetrated the previous attacks in Kettle Springs. She is on the run across states as she seeks vengeance and answers. She hasn't actually killed anyone, but people she's tortured and/or targeted for torture keep turning up dead. Who's killing Quinn's targets? Is Arthur Hill somehow still alive or is it someone posing as him? What and where is this New Kettle Springs settlement devoted to Frendo? The story ends with a clash, although I thought the ending could have been better. After finishing, I was wondering if this book was really needed. The story could have finished just fine after the first 2 books. Overall, it was pretty good, but not nearly as good as the previous two. 

Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare

 

Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare - 346 pages

Quinn Maybrook just wants to make it until graduation. She might not make it to morning.

Quinn and her father moved to tiny, boring Kettle Springs to find a fresh start. But ever since the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory shut down, Kettle Springs has cracked in half. On one side are the adults, who are desperate to make Kettle Springs great again, and on the other are the kids, who want to have fun, make prank videos, and get out of Kettle Springs as quick as they can.

Kettle Springs is caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress. It’s a fight that looks like it will destroy the town. Until Frendo, the Baypen mascot, a creepy clown in a pork-pie hat, goes homicidal and decides that the only way for Kettle Springs to grow back is to cull the rotten crop of kids who live there now.

For those that like action and a little bit of gore this book is for you.  I really liked that this book didn't fit the typical horror story, it is absolutely different than every other horror book.  There are twists and turns that will make you put the book down and say "Whaaat?"

Clown in a Cornfield 2: Frendo Lives by Adam Cesare

 

Clown in a Cornfield 2: Frendo Lives by Adam Cesare - 406 pages

Set a year after the first book, it looks at how the surviving characters are dealing with fame and infamy when a new threat, wearing an old clown mask, reaches out to upend their lives.

How are Quinn, Cody and Rust handling things a year after the massacre that forever changed their lives?  Things are going well until a new threat enters.  What harrowing ordeals could they possibly go through next?  

This book was just as good as the first Clown in a Cornfield.  The action, the drama, the gore; this book has it all. 

Clown in a Cornfield 2: Frendo Lives by Adam Cesare

 Clown in a Cornfield 2: Frendo Lives by Adam Cesare-406 pages

In the sequel, we find Quinn Maybrook in Philadelphia beginning college and Cole Hill and Rust Vance still in Kettle Springs, Missouri trying to make things work. Quinn's father, Glenn, is now mayor of Kettle Springs and is trying to make it better and move past the massacre in the Tillerson's cornfield last year. However, Eli Duvall and his family, entertainment tycoons from Branson, Missouri, have opened a haunted park at the exact site of last year's massacre. Arthur Hill survived the aftermath of the massacre and is seeking revenge on Quinn, Cole, and Rust. There are new videos circulating the internet and social media saying that Quinn, Cole, and Rust were responsible for massacring the adults and had orchestrated the whole thing. One such video is called "The Baypen Hoax." It has echoes of current events, especially deep fakes and conspiracy theories not based in reality. Mayor Glenn Maybrook is attacked by someone in a Frendo the Clown costume and this leads to a new threat of massacre and unrest. Cole and Rust are visiting Quinn at college in Philadelphia and are attacked at the same time as Glenn by someone in a Frendo mask. Quinn learns of the attack on her father and she and Cole and Rust rush back to Kettle Springs. On Halloween, a mass of people wearing Frendo masks descend on Kettle Springs and bring unrest. They're seeking to arrest and bring to justice those they (mistakenly) believe perpetrated last year's attack, Quinn, Cole, and Rust. They want vigilante justice because they believe in the conspiracy theories and lies circulating the internet and social media. Will Quinn, Cole and Rust make it out alive again? What about Quinn's father, Glenn? Who else will make it out? I really liked this one and there were some interesting, surprising plot twists. I would recommend this to any horror fan, especially anyone who liked the first Clown in a Cornfield. 

Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare

 Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare-368 pages

Quinn Maybrook moves with her father to Kettle Springs, Missouri, a rural town near I-44. She and her father previously lived in Philadelphia until a year after her mother died of an overdose. Kettle Springs has a mascot, Frendo the clown, that represents the town's history. It was the mascot for Baypen corn syrup which was made in a factory on the outskirts of town until recently. The town's teenage population, especially Cole Hill, Janet Murray, Tucker, Ronnie Queen, and Matt, are pranksters. The town's older population, including the teens' parents, long for "the good old days" and loathe the teens. A year earlier, Victoria Hill, Cole's younger sister had died in a diving accident and Cole was held responsible by many of the town's older generation, including the Sheriff, George Dunne. A prank that ruins the town's Founders' Day Parade goes too far and is the last straw for many. Cole and his fellow teen friends plan a party on a remote farm outside of town. People clad in Frendo the Clown costumes show up and start murdering teen partygoers in gruesome fashion. Who is killing them and why? Who will survive, if anyone? I really liked this and found it to be a good read. I'm reading the sequel next for the monthly challenge.