Alex Rush is ready for the trip of a lifetime.
She and her friends have made some creepily awesome films together throughout high school, so with only a few months left before they go their separate ways for college, they’re determined to make the best one yet: an epic short film that reimagines the story of Dracula, filmed on location at a remote castle in Romania.
But when they get there, it’s not quite the majestic setting they planned for. Menacing weapons line the walls, the twisted halls are easy to get lost in, and with no connection to the outside world, the group is unexpectedly off the grid. After just a few hours spent under its roof, Alex and her friends have no trouble imagining how this dark, terrifying castle inspired one of the most enduring horror novels of all time.
Only soon they no longer have to use their imaginations to understand the location’s terrifying history—just as they get the film’s first shot rolling, one of Alex’s friends disappears, and she’s nearly certain she saw a cloaked stranger lurking in the shadows. As more members of the group begin to meet an untimely demise, Alex is desperate to stop the bloodshed, even if it means facing a monster she never thought would be let loose.
The blurb for this book sounds amazing. Horror! Dracula! Spooky houses! Cahses! Scares! Video!
Sadly, for me, the story didn't live up. I didn't feel like we got to know anyone apart from Alex, and I didn't think much of her - she kept letting her boyfriend walk all over her because he was so *nice* and *perfect*. It takes a long time to get to the haunted castle, and once we get there everything is breakneck with no breaks at all.
I'm not a big fan of a media res setting like the one we had here; I find it lessens the tension, as we know certain characters survive or don't, and cutting back to it tends to lose all the tension we're building up in scenes. That's just my opinion though, I know that other people will have other opinions.
Not for me, but I'm sure others will enjoy it.
Go Hunt Me publishes on the 14th June, 2022. I was sent a free copy and am voluntarily reviewing it.
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