The Scarecrow – Samuel Small

3/5 stars

The Scarecrow does something pretty interesting in its setup. Instead of going through in chapters as one story, it’s separated as chapters for the victims with subchapters in each to break them up a little. While this is different from most books that I’ve read, it does lose a bit of the cohesion that it would have if it was laid out in the traditional way.

It took me a little bit to warm up to this story. The first part seemed to be completely unconnected to the rest of the story, and it isn’t until much later that I found out how it connects. I felt like I was missing a lot of context in the beginning, and that confusion carried over pretty far into the rest of the story.

The characters were a bit boxy since there wasn’t a lot of development for them overall. Kyle seemed really inconsistent in his reactions to certain things and the actions that he took throughout the book. I don’t feel like I got to know him or the rest of his friends as much as I’d have liked to before they were gone.

I did like the way that everything was resolved, though. It wasn’t necessarily a happy ending as you’d think of one, but it was a unique way of handling the killer. It made me consider what would happen in other slashers if a similar resolution was done or even attempted. And we didn’t get a Final Girl, as I don’t think Sally counts in this situation. A very interesting take, indeed!