Killer on the Road / The Babysitter Lives by Stephen Graham Jones: REVIEW

Synopsis

In The Killer on the Road, teenage runaway Harper intends to hitchhike as far away from her controlling mother as she can get, but a truck-driving serial killer has other plans for her. And in The Babysitter Lives, teenage babysitter Charlotte takes a job sitting for twins on the night before Halloween, only to discover that the twins’ new game is more sinister than it seems, and the three of them aren’t alone in the house.

My Review

Stephen Graham Jones, people. Stephen Graham Jones. I swear even his grocery lists must be creepy and compelling. Luckily for us, he writes almost as many books as most people write grocery lists. This summer’s offering – The Killer on the Road, bound together in a double-cover volume with a previously audiobook-only release, The Babysitter Lives.

For the sake of full disclosure, I listened to The Babysitter Lives on audiobook last year, so I didn’t feel the need to re-read it just yet. It wasn’t among my favourites of his books, but then, I’m not a big audiobook fan. I might enjoy it more as a physical read, and maybe he even changed something for the re-release, I don’t know. I’ll just say that I found it confusing in parts and repetitive in others. But on the whole, it’s Stephen Graham Jones, so it couldn’t actually suck even if it tried.

Killer on the Road

As for Killer on the Road… hooooo boy, this one gets brutal. The serial killer takes great pleasure in his work, and the gore is wet and squishy, so this isn’t one for the squeamish. (But is SGJ ever for the squeamish?) His signature oral-storytelling style is on full display, and Harper (like Charlotte in Babysitter) is another great tough-as-nails SGJ heroine. He really excels at writing believably kickass final girls. Of course, Jade of The Indian Lake Trilogy will always reign supreme, but I’m glad he’s still bringing us more.

Again, though, this isn’t among my favourites of his. Being such a short novel (he was trying for a novella but overshot it, according to his author’s notes), it feels very tightly contained – one night on one road. In some ways, that’s a strength. There’s no filler here, little chance for the reader to collect their breath after each action sequence. And action it has – the story is more or less one long truck chase. And I don’t want anyone to think that SGJ sacrifices character development for the sake of brevity. We get to know and care about Harper and her family drama just as well as if the novel had been longer. It’s probably the reason he overshot the novella length.

I guess my problem is, SGJ is my favourite living author, and I wanted more. I know, I know, I’m spoiled. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter came out earlier this year! This double feature is just to tide us over until his next full-length novel comes out. For that, I’m immensely grateful. Small-dose SGJ is better than none. I just wish I could have sunk my teeth a little deeper into this one. (Um… no pun intended.) It felt very B-movie, and while I love a good B-movie horror flick as much as the next gal, I’m used to more from SGJ.

Conclusion

These are short-ish horror novels that pack a gory punch and provide us with two new kickass SGJ final girls. Well worth picking up, and for more than just the awesome cover! My nitpicks are more about personal preference than any actual fault.

You can purchase Killer on the Road / The Babysitter Lives from Bookshop.org here*
(As an affiliate, I’ll receive a small commission from any purchase made through this link.)