Clowns Vs. Spiders
By: Jeff Strand
Release Date: September 14, 2019
Publisher: Independently Published
Rating:

The ultimate question for horror fans: Who would win? Clowns? Or spiders?

Jeff Strand’s Clowns Vs. Spiders is a fast-paced thrill-ride monster mash perfect for fans of thrillers, monster movies, and anything Halloween-ish. This independently published work from 2019 is something that should be on everyone’s shelf.

The novel opens with a group of professional clowns being laid off (it’s a rough time out there, folks). But jobs for a clown aren’t as numerous as you’d think. All these folks want is to make people happy and bring a little more joy to others’ lives. However, the only real work in their profession they can find is that of terrifying clowns at a nearby haunted house that runs through the fall.

Thus starts the story of how a group of men working as haunted house clowns find themselves facing down larger-than-life spiders. But are they part of the haunted house? Or are they a threat much larger than some personal experiment gone wrong? And is anywhere safe?

While those with phobias of clowns (like me) may become paralyzed with fear upon a single glance of the cover, the book itself moves at a fast pace. Much of the volume covers the events mentioned in the title, the group of circus-turned-haunted-house clowns defending themselves and attempting to find safety when giant spiders attack.

The book isn’t a constant adrenaline rush, though. A good number of scenes involve the five fellows working as clowns bantering back and forth. Even scenes where the cast is merely shooting the shit are gripping in their own right, never drag out too long, and are even laugh-out-loud funny at times.

There is also a good deal in this novel about breaking your personal ideals and honor codes, of “selling out” in order to make ends meet, and what really constitutes as “selling out.” After all, people go to haunted houses and fright fests because they want to be scared. So isn’t being a terrifying-looking serial-killer-esque clown still making people happy? The book delves into this pretty deeply, but never at the expense of plotting or pacing.

Now, I mentioned a phobia of clowns earlier, and as you can imagine, the terrifying clown on the cover of the book was a no-go for me. So, I listened to the audiobook in order to not have to look at it. And let me tell you, the audiobook was phenomenal. The narrator was fantastic, and I highly recommend you give it a try.

Clowns Vs. Spiders by Jeff Strand is a perfect addition to your Fall TBR. It’s fun, humorous, has plenty of scares, and is so very worth reading.