Clown in a Cornfield

by Adam Cesare

Bram Stoker Award Winner for Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

In Adam Cesare’s terrifying young adult debut, Quinn Maybrook finds herself caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress—that just may cost her life.

Quinn Maybrook and her father have moved to tiny, boring Kettle Springs, to find a fresh start. But what they don’t know is that ever since the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory shut down, Kettle Springs has cracked in half. 

On one side are the adults, who are desperate to make Kettle Springs great again, and on the other are the kids, who want to have fun, make prank videos, and get out of Kettle Springs as quick as they can.

Kettle Springs is caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress. It’s a fight that looks like it will destroy the town. Until Frendo, the Baypen mascot, a creepy clown in a pork-pie hat, goes homicidal and decides that the only way for Kettle Springs to grow back is to cull the rotten crop of kids who live there now. 

YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults Nominee

• ISBN10: 0062854593
• ISBN13: 9780062854599
• Publish Date: 17 September 2020 (first published 25 August 2020)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 26 February 2024
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• Imprint: HarperTeen
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[Amber]

Read more reviews on my blog, Books of Amber!

I requested Clown in a Cornfield partly because I’m getting more and more into horror lately and I thought this sounded like something I’d enjoy, and partly because it sounds like the title of an Animal Ark book (does anyone remember those?). I’m sad to say that I didn’t like Clown in a Cornfield as much as I was hoping to, as I felt it lacked a lot of substance.

I think Clown in a Cornfield would have been better as a graphic novel, a comic, or even a movie. I felt like the author cut a lot of corners while writing this one, in that the descriptions and character connections were lacking and the book mostly just focused on the action. Don’t get me wrong, I love action filled plots, but I also have to care about the characters who are being murdered by a killer clown, ya know?

I have to say that some parts of the book were delightfully gory and tense, but that didn’t make up for the fact that I just didn’t connect with most of the book. I’m a bit disappointed!