Slash

This underwhelming homage to slasher films from Shea (Antarctic Ice Beasts) delivers plenty of gore, but fails to bring a fresh take to the genre. Five years before the book opens, Ash and her friends, a group of urban explorers, broke into the abandoned Hayden Resort and were massacred by a killer known as the Wraith. Ash alone survived the attack, and manages to live a fairly normal life until her memories of what happened come flooding back, and she commits suicide. Her grief-stricken fiancé, Todd, follows the cryptic clues that Ash leaves in her suicide note to piece together what really happened five years ago. With the resort scheduled to be demolished, Todd races to learn more about the monster that lurks within its walls and avenge Ash’s death. The violence is visceral and unnerving, but the villain’s backstory lacks the novelty inherent to the best of the genre. Though suspenseful, this grisly horror story is a retread of familiar tropes. (Oct.)