Clown in a Cornfield

Adam Cesare

Aug 2020 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

Bram Stoker Award Winner for Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

In Adam Cesare’s terrifying young adult debut, Quinn Maybrook finds herself caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress—that just may cost her life.

Quinn Maybrook and her father have moved to tiny, boring Kettle Springs, to find a fresh start. But what they don’t know is that 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. 

YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults Nominee

Ratings and reviews

Definitely a good enough story that kept me atleast interested in how things would end but the twist were almost too easy to see coming. Alot more action and suspense then true horror in my eyes. Things felt rushed halfway through the book.

The first half is good, but then you start wondering where the horror is. I ended up skimming through the second half, which eads like a half-baked script for a slasher flick by Uncork'd Entertainment.

I'm really not even sure how this book came into my life. Probably I stumbled upon the cover and just had to have it. There's not telling. Either way, I'm really glad that I did. It has a bit of a slow burn. There were also parts that kind of jump a bit. I'd love to see this turned into a movie in all honesty. Even if I would wind up watching the movie alone. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel once I get my hands on it. (More on blog: Star's Books & Tea)

About the author

Adam Cesare is the author of the Bram Stoker Award–winning Clown in a Cornfield series, the graphic novel Dead Mall, and several other novels and novellas, including the cult hit Video Night and the YA psychothriller Influencer. An avid fan of horror cinema, you can watch him talk about movies on YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, and the rest of his socials.