Customer Reviews

Friday the 13th: Carnival of Maniacs

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is by far the best in the series from Black Flame...whereas all the books had their moments where Jason shone brightly...none moreso than this one! This book starts, moves and finishes??:)) in Crystal Lake, where the movie's series elements all come into play. Stephen has captured in the most distrurbing way, the relationship between Jason and his mother....probably one of the closest to the series there is ....yet. I bid Stepehn hand to write more for Black Flame about jason...he is a true master in his element.

Stephen Hand takes his turn at the BlackFlame novels with F13: Carnival of Maniacs. I've got to give it to Hand, here's an author that finally knows something about the whole Jason franchise and what to do with it. He includes details and characters from the movies, introduces new characters, and gives us a decent story on the attempted reunion of Jason and his mother Pamela. Hand pokes a little fun at some of the old characters but remains fairly true to the whole F13 ambience.

Quick rundown: Pamela Voorhees is seeking to come back from the great beyond by psychic manipulation of a young goth girl (hey no worse than the whole of Jason Goes to Hell demon story). Meanwhile, Jason is rediscovered by some of the local Crystal Lake hillbillies (in New Jersey???) and ends up as a immobile carnival attraction (due to massive injuries from the Freddy vs Jason story, he's only functioning when moonlight strikes the remains of Pamela's head). Back story of Jason-memorabilia collectors and an FBI agent whose mom was purportedly killed by Jason and you got a convoluted story but one that seems to work.

This book takes place after Freddy vs Jason, and was actually fairly interesting to read as the author actually knew what he was doing with the F13/Jason history. While I found the author got downright crude in some parts and drops far far too many F-bombs throughout the book, I still liked this story, especially after that fiasco of F13: The Jason Strain. Overall, one of the better books and worth reading for the fans. I say BlackFlame should get Simon Hawke to take a crack at the next one (he novelized the movies).

When publishing company Black Flame decided to get the further adventures of Jason going, I was curious to see how it would work out.
The first two books in the series were decent(Church of the Divine Psychopath), to garbage(Hell Lake), and I skipped the next two.
With THIS book, however things get back to where they should be.
Hand, who also wrote the solid FVJ adaption, does his homework here.

He has references to Tommy Jarvis(whose current occupation is pretty funny), Tina Sheppard, Ginny Feilds, and other F-13 characters.
He brings back Mrs. Voorhees in a clever way, has people in the book you really care about, and, best of all, loads on the gore.
He has a funny sense of humor, and effectively ties all the subplots together, despite the fact there are sevral of them.

Carnival of Maniacs reads just like you are watching any of the great classic Camp Crystal Lake mass murder movies which make up the Friday the 13th series. In fact happenings from those movies are constantly referred to as historical facts throughout this novel. In Carnival of Maniacs new victims and villains get their comeuppance from Jason or his mother Pamela Vorhees as they continue to do what they've been doing for years, initially within the surrounds of Camp Crystal then into the wider New Jersey countryside. Throw in a dated mobile horror freak show who see Jason as their salvation attraction, cannibal copy cat killers, an FBI agent life has been obsessed with tracking down Jason, dim serial killer fan witted teenage goths, a rock star whose songs glorify the Camp Crystal killings and whose latest album is a flop as well as a collector of Jason memorabilia who wants the ultimate piece, ie Jason, and you've got one hell of a good read! I don't doubt one day this book will be another movie in this legendary saga, it's that good.

The main plot in this book was pretty good, though at times stretched to absurd limits (the inbred family of cannibal hillbillies in New Jersey; the two millionaire Jason fans who take their obsession to ridiculous lengths even for fans). Also, one of the (non-supernatural) villains gets away and seems to live happily ever after; not something that's supposed to happen in the Freddy/Jason universe.

However, Stephen Hand writes his characters pretty well, especially Pamela Voorhees resurrected. The kill scenes were very nice and gory, with the very last kill being, perhaps, one of the most poetic in the entire history of the series.

And what really makes this book are all the little bits of homage to the previous movies in the series. The prologue retells the climax of the original movie; and before the book is over, every movie in the series (with the exception of JASON X, which takes place in the future) has been referenced. Very nice tip of the hat.

Is this "Gone with the wind"? "To Kill a mockingbird"? Of course not. But is this the best "Friday the 13th" Novel put out by Black Flame so far? OH YEAH!!!!!!!
After good ideas got screwed up in "Hell Lake" and "The Jason Strain", "Carnival of Maniacs" by Stephn Hand gets it right! It's a good, quick read. The stories all come together, and as other have said, the book takes place mostly at Crystal Lake. The 'return' of Jason's mom is a bold stroke and it works well.
I hope that Mr. Hand writes another one, and soon!!!