Book Review: Candy Cain Kills Again: The Second Slaying by Brian McAuley

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“Father, don’t forgive them. For they know exactly what they do.”

📚

After surviving Thornton House’s Christmas Eve horrorfest, Austin, Fiona, and Mateo need some answers, and they know exactly who can provide them: Pastor Wendell and his Church of Nodland congregation. Unbeknownst to them, however, Candy Cain isn’t dead, and she’s coming to town to deliver a gift of slashery holiday justice no one will ever forget!

Picking up immediately following its predecessor, Candy Cain Kills Again is a brutal, gore-filled romp in which the level of violence is not only astronomical, but incredibly creative, intensely visceral, and, at times, darkly hilarious, employing deftly sprinkled black humor to balance the unwavering carnage and chaos. And though this is a story of bloody vengeance, it’s much more than a surface-level slasher. It’s a layered, highly affecting account of cruelty, abuse, extremism, vulnerability, and trauma.

It’s also a hopeful tale of absolution, an exploration of loving sibling bonds, and an exercise in change, rewriting the narrative, moving forward, and refusing to enable or repeat past mistakes and weaknesses — an outstanding sequel that builds upon and enhances the original.

Thank you to Shortwave Publishing for providing a free digital ARC of this fantastic novella, the fifth installment in the Killer VHS Series, which releases on November 12th. It’s a wild and unputdownable ride and a perfect wintertime (or anytime) horror read!

🖤Amanda

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