Clown In a Cornfield: Adam Cesare

We meet again!

It’s been a hot minute since I picked up a thriller book and got lost in it. So, here we go :)

Brief Synopsis:

Welcome to Kettle Springs, where all is not quite as it seems. Quinn and her father, a doctor, relocate to this tiny rural area following her mother’s death. They both need to restart, and when her father is offered a doctor position there, complete with a house and all, they jump on the opportunity. Almost instantly Quinn falls in with what seems to be the popular crowd, but something bad happened to them all last year. At a party that wasn't supposed to be happening, the “leader” of the pack’s sister died. Now Cole (the brother) and the rest of them are just trying to fight the oppression that seems to come from all of the adults in the town.

Though the teens are “banned” from the local Founders Day event, they don masks and attend anyway. While there, it becomes glaringly apparent to Quinn that everyone seems to be kind of obsessed with a clown named Frendo, who is known as the town mascot. Cole explains that his grandfather supposedly drew the clown ages ago and possibly made up a story about him being a hero and the founder of the town. This clown’s ugly mug is EVERY where, including on the mill that’s across the corn field from Quinn’s house. From her attic bedroom window, she could swear that Frendo watches her all the time.

In the meantime, the adults of the community have been hosting “emergency meetings” where the well-meaning mayor is often overshadowed by the larger-than-life Sheriff that does not seem to have very good intentions set in store for the youth. When Cole and co. play a prank at the Founder’s Day parade that goes wrong, the adults are fed up and the sheriff finagles a way to get the mayor literally kicked out of his own town’s meeting. While the mayor is leaving, the first murder happens. The poor mayor is murdered in cold blood by someone in a Frendo costume in the parking lot.

From there, things really begin to take off. There’s going to be a massive cornfield party (I know, will these kids never learn? It’s like they’ve never watched a horror movie before) and one of Cole’s good friends, Tucker, wakes up from a nap and realizes that the party is about to begin. His mom has grounded him because of the parade prank, but he knows if he can just find a ride out there she isn’t going to do anything about him being gone. While he was napping, it seems that his mom ducked out, so he’s home alone. What seems to be another prank from his rowdy friends turns into a pretty gruesome attack by Frendo, and the body count just rises from there.

On the way to the party with Cole and Janet, Quinn has been deciding to just try her best to let go and be a teenager for a night. An ACTUAL prank has them careening off the road, but they all make it and head to the party. At first, things are just fine and everyone is dancing in the mostly-abandoned barn with a silo on the side, but when Quinn decides that she needs air, she finds someone that’s been pretty brutally attacked. This seems to be Frendo’s grand entrance, and he starts attacking everyone at the party with a bow and arrow, seeming pretty hell-bent on getting Janet herself.

The group gets broken up, with Cole, Matt and Ronnie hiding in the abandoned silo, though Cole doesn’t feel very good about leaving people out to fend for themselves. Janet and Quinn make a run for the cornfield, but not before Janet is hit in the shoulder with an arrow. Once they’re in the corn, Quinn’s neighbor Rusty finds them and vows to help them out. He had guns in his truck and he said that the clown tried to get to them, but they were locked up. They try to treat Janet’s wound as well as they can and then leave her armed to try and help the others. They discover that Frendo’s locked a bunch of the kids in the barn and set it on fire.

Rusty and Quinn take matters into their own hands and work to free the rest of the teens from the barn, which is a successful mission, but as the kids are running away, Frendo kills one of them and has a pretty epic showdown with Quinn, who shoots and kills him. She finds out that Frendo was one of their nut-job teachers, which is pretty mind-blowing for them, but what is even worse is the discovery that the terror isn’t over.

Janet comes roaring out of the cornfield and tells everyone that he isn’t the only one, that this is a revenge mission, and that there are more Frendo’s. Pretty much as soon as she warns everyone this, another Frendo cuts the poor girl’s head off with a chainsaw. I know. Like 10 Frendo’s come out of the cornfield with a bunch of awful weapons, and the fight is on. Rusty and Quinn make it to the silo, and even though Matt’s an asshole and doesn’t want to open it, Cole overpowers him and lets them inside.

Rusty finds some dynamite (used for fishing, of course) and while he tells the others to escape on the production belt under the silo, he stays behind and fights the other Frendo’s while also blowing the silo and some of them up. The others get out and make a run for it, finding the sheriff. But we all know the sheriff isn’t a friend, and he “arrests” Cole and knocks out Quinn. It’s then that Cole finds out that stupid Ronnie and stupid Matt haven’t been on their sides this entire time. Cole and Quinn are separated and the sheriff tells him that by taking out all of the teens of this generation, it’s like a cleansing and a way to start over. Freak.

Meanwhile, Ronnie and Matt plan to take Quinn back to the barn and kill her, pinning all of the murders on her. Luckily, she wakes up before they can enact this plan and pretty much kicks their asses before taking off. She makes it to the house of the people that own the field, who are out of town, and when she gets inside she finds the keys to the truck, but is ambushed by Ronnie, who is honestly just hell bent on killing Quinn at this point. However, Quinn’s done playing games and she gets the best of both Ronnie and Matt before taking off for where they took Cole. Which is, of course, his family property by her house.

Her dad has also been taken by the other adults and they’re pretty much forcing him to be the doctor for them while they hunt down his teen daughter and her friends, which is a whole other level of sick, if you ask me. Cole finds out that his dad is the brains behind this operation and he just hates Cole ever since his sister died. They’re going to have Cole hung, making it seem like the guilt of his sister and being an accomplice to the other murders got to be too much for him and he ended things.

Quinn shows up and fights ensue. Though things really do seem like the adults are going to win after all, Rusty comes barging in, in the stolen truck, and pretty much saves all of their asses with the help of Quinn. The story ain’t over yet, folks, because Cole’s dad got away and he’s figured out that if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.

My Rating:

Guys, 9.5/10. It was a really fun ride. At first it started out just about the same as There’s Someone Inside Your House and I was getting a little discouraged, but man does the story really change up on you. Definitely spooky, pretty gory deaths. Like I said, a fun ride.

Gore Rating:

C’mon, self-explanatory. I have devastation rating, spice rating, and now this one. Gore rating solid 8.5/10 on this.

I would say what a book I read with similar vibes was, but I already explained that one!

Check out my Goodreads (Traci Bishop) and/or my Storygraph (bookishmamabish) to see what I’m currently reading and to see a good chunk of the books I have already read. My Instagram can be found on the home page and I will share whenever a new post is up as well!

Until next time <3