High school meets classic horror in this groundbreaking new series.

It was a dark and stormy night when Tor Frankenstein accidentally hit someone with her car. And killed him. But all is not lost–Tor, being the scientific genius she is, brings him back to life…

Thus begins a twisty, turn-y take on a familiar tale, set in the town of Hollow Pines, Texas, where high school is truly horrifying.

I’m a fan of horror, but for me classic horror is hard to appreciate. For some reason, I just am not the kind of person who could fall in love with Dracula. However, when I saw this cover of book one, of the High School Horror series, I couldn’t resist requesting it to see if it was any good.

This is the kind of young adult fiction I would have really enjoyed as a teenager. Hell, I enjoyed it as an adult. The author does a great job creating a situation where even though you might think Tor is weird and a bit demented, you can’t help but appreciate her as a character. She’s a young, mad scientist in the making, who at 17, is determined to reanimate rats as part of her science project. But when she accidentally hits and kills a boy in the middle of the night, she finds herself moving her project from animal testing to human testing.

It’s an interesting story because the boy, Adam, is like a huge teddy bear and without his memories, he’s also extremely childlike. Watching him try to assimilate into Tor’s high school was a fun experience to read about and there were times I found myself just laughing at some of the things that happened to him along the way. I felt there was a lot of development for a relationship between him and Tor, but she ultimately pushes him towards another girl in his school. This caused Tor to be extremely jealous during much of the second half of the book and sadly, my feelings towards her started getting colder and colder. By the end of the book, I couldn’t even convince myself she ever cared for Adam or even her best friend, Owen. It’s like she becomes more closed off after everything she endures and the discovery of who is really killing and teenage boys in her small town, pushes her to cross the line yet again (but in a different way). This and her constantly calling Adam dead, even though he was healing and clearly alive, really bothered me. Because in the end, it is Tor who is the monster, not Adam. But none of that is enough to ruin the book for me and for anyone who knows of the classic, this is exactly what you should expect from that character.

This book will probably never compare to the classic, but it’s a fun and entertaining read that I would recommend if you enjoy mixing humor, mystery and horror. I’ll admit I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the book and I find myself excited to see what the next book in the series will hold. Maybe he’ll find a way to turn that dreadful Dracula into something just as enjoyable and fun.

Reviewer’s note: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating

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Pick up your copy on Amazon: Teen Frakenstein by Chandler Baker