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Friday the 13th: Carnival of Maniacs
After twenty-five years Pamela Voorhees is back and she's ready to join her son in a rampage of murder. Only Jason isn't at home anymore; he's the main attraction in a travelling sideshow. Pamela will stop at nothing to bring Jason back to Crystal Lake, but she'd better hurry, because someone at the sideshow is planning to sell Jason¿ on ZingBid. Who will win the auction? The Jason-obsessed rock star, Ross Feratu? The ruthless tycoon, Nathaniel Morgas? Or will the FBI step in and put Jason behind bars before the final bid? Buckle up and get ready to witness the first ever online sale of a serial killer.
414 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 6, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 7, 2016
Chh chh chh ahh ahh ahh. Every book in this series would have made a better movie than pretty much any of the movies. The stories just took everything beyond the whole "slaughter a bunch of horny teens" and delved into other realms that showed the Jason character actually does have some versatility.
In this book, sadly the last of the series, we find out the title has a double meaning. Not only is there a traveling carnival of horror oddities that attempts to display the body of Jason as an attraction, but the entire cast of the novel comes across as a "Carnival of Maniacs" as most of them seem a little crazy in their own ways.
The main storyline is we have the spirit of Pamela Vorhees possessing people and using her powers to control Jason. Then we add in a cast of characters that include 3 goth teens, a family of homicidal hillbillies, an FBI agent whose mother was killed by Jason, a nutty rockstar obsessed with Jason, an MIT graduate porn star, an even nuttier millionaire even more obessed by Jason, a traveling carnival with horror based exhibits..with that cast of characters, how could the book go wrong?
If you are a fan of Friday the 13th you owe it to yourself to check these books out. Not only is there plenty of nudity, sex, and violence, but there's also a cool story tying all of these characters together. I'm really sorry there weren't more of these books, because as a horror fan I really enjoyed them. Maybe eventually we'll see the series return. Just like Jason...
In this book, sadly the last of the series, we find out the title has a double meaning. Not only is there a traveling carnival of horror oddities that attempts to display the body of Jason as an attraction, but the entire cast of the novel comes across as a "Carnival of Maniacs" as most of them seem a little crazy in their own ways.
The main storyline is we have the spirit of Pamela Vorhees possessing people and using her powers to control Jason. Then we add in a cast of characters that include 3 goth teens, a family of homicidal hillbillies, an FBI agent whose mother was killed by Jason, a nutty rockstar obsessed with Jason, an MIT graduate porn star, an even nuttier millionaire even more obessed by Jason, a traveling carnival with horror based exhibits..with that cast of characters, how could the book go wrong?
If you are a fan of Friday the 13th you owe it to yourself to check these books out. Not only is there plenty of nudity, sex, and violence, but there's also a cool story tying all of these characters together. I'm really sorry there weren't more of these books, because as a horror fan I really enjoyed them. Maybe eventually we'll see the series return. Just like Jason...
May 21, 2023
This was insane! Multiple plots interweave and come together for a super fun, blood-drenched story! I listened to the 80s Slasher Librarian version of this on YouTube and it was so fun. Highly recommended for slasher and / or Friday the 13th fans!
October 22, 2017
Another great Friday the 13th Book from the Black Flame series! After reading all five, I've got to say that this book and the Hate-Kill-Repeat book would be the best ones to base a new movie on.
There are four sub stories going on in this book: a group of three goth friends out to see Camp Crystal Lake for themselves, A father and daughter running a traveling wax monster museum, an FBI agent out to avenge the death of her mother, and a Rock Star out to revive his struggling new album with the body of Jason.
Characters are written well with the grit and grime you would expect from a good horror movie/book. Fast paced and delivers on everything a true Friday the 13th fan will expect.
Highly recommend.
There are four sub stories going on in this book: a group of three goth friends out to see Camp Crystal Lake for themselves, A father and daughter running a traveling wax monster museum, an FBI agent out to avenge the death of her mother, and a Rock Star out to revive his struggling new album with the body of Jason.
Characters are written well with the grit and grime you would expect from a good horror movie/book. Fast paced and delivers on everything a true Friday the 13th fan will expect.
Highly recommend.
February 13, 2024
I'll never dislike a Jason novel, it's just not within my DNA. That said, quite a bit of finagling with the mythology and constant shifts of who is supposed to be our main character made this one less enjoyable than the others I've read so far.
February 28, 2024
Selling Jason on Ebay has to be against their terms and conditions.
November 24, 2014
Jason Voorhees is not at his best. He's been buried by a recent landslide and has sunk into something somewhat similar to a cataleptic state. Although periodic lapses of catalepsy aren't all that rare for the routinely deceased and resurrected mass murderer, this time is different. His mother Pamela feels the time has come for her to help her son get better.
It is his birthday, after all. Happy Friday the 13th.
Since I had just finished the last novel in the Jason X series, To The Third Power, I thought that I might as well go ahead and finish the last novel in the Friday the 13th series, Carnival of Maniacs. Since the book was written by author and board game designer Stephen Hand, my expectations for it were pretty low.
It's not that I have anything bad to say about Mr. Hand's non tie-in writing, because I haven't read any of it, and I have been trying to get the Board Game Night gang to play Fury of Dracula, which Hand designed, for several weeks now. No, my problem is that Hand wrote a crappy novelization of the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But, considering the crap material that he had to work with on the novelization, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and a second chance, with Carnival of Maniacs.
Of course the bar for these novels is set pretty low, all things considered. It's a Friday the 13th novel, okay? All an author needs to do is pack the "story" with plenty of sex, mayhem, and murder, and just keep the pace moving fast enough to stave off boredom or second thought. In regards to the former, Stephen Hand does an admirable job of packing the book.
Rather than overdeveloping (i.e. "padding") a story that is focused on a small handful of doomed characters, a trap that other books in the series have fallen prey to, Hand instead tells five or six different, but more or less connected, stories. "Story 1" is about a group of Goths that are eager to search the woods around Crystal Lake and find the remains of Jason Voorhees. "Story 2" tells of how a hillbilly clan of cannibals discovers Jason's catatonic remains. "Story 3" concerns the struggles of a dead-but-it-just-don't-know-it-yet traveling Carnival of Horrors. "Story 4" involves a Rob Zombie style Shock Rocker that is obsessed with Voorhees. "Story 5" follows a somewhat rogue FBI agent named Michelle Kyler, daughter of Jason Voorhees victim Martha Kyler.
If that were not enough, Hand adds two subplots. One involves the body hopping spirit of Pamela Voorhees, the other concerns a ruthless collector of Jason Voorhees memorabilia that will stop at nothing to add Voorhees himself to his collection.
Quite a few these story threads come together, but some are cut short long before they can even come close to having a chance to intertwine. It makes for an almost chaotic, but never boring, read. One that will keep you guessing as to where the stories are going, and what the hell will happen when they get there. Carnival of Maniacs is, arguably, the most action packed and "traditional" Friday the 13th book since Jason Arnopp's Hate-Kill-Repeat. While that is not saying much, it should say enough to get the forgiving Friday the 13th fan interesting in reading the book.
But that fan is going to need to be a mighty forgiving one. There is a notable lack of sympathetic characters in the book. Save for two or three, almost every character in the book is an unlikable lout. It was the one thing that really tested my patience while I was tearing through the book.
It is his birthday, after all. Happy Friday the 13th.
Since I had just finished the last novel in the Jason X series, To The Third Power, I thought that I might as well go ahead and finish the last novel in the Friday the 13th series, Carnival of Maniacs. Since the book was written by author and board game designer Stephen Hand, my expectations for it were pretty low.
It's not that I have anything bad to say about Mr. Hand's non tie-in writing, because I haven't read any of it, and I have been trying to get the Board Game Night gang to play Fury of Dracula, which Hand designed, for several weeks now. No, my problem is that Hand wrote a crappy novelization of the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But, considering the crap material that he had to work with on the novelization, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and a second chance, with Carnival of Maniacs.
Of course the bar for these novels is set pretty low, all things considered. It's a Friday the 13th novel, okay? All an author needs to do is pack the "story" with plenty of sex, mayhem, and murder, and just keep the pace moving fast enough to stave off boredom or second thought. In regards to the former, Stephen Hand does an admirable job of packing the book.
Rather than overdeveloping (i.e. "padding") a story that is focused on a small handful of doomed characters, a trap that other books in the series have fallen prey to, Hand instead tells five or six different, but more or less connected, stories. "Story 1" is about a group of Goths that are eager to search the woods around Crystal Lake and find the remains of Jason Voorhees. "Story 2" tells of how a hillbilly clan of cannibals discovers Jason's catatonic remains. "Story 3" concerns the struggles of a dead-but-it-just-don't-know-it-yet traveling Carnival of Horrors. "Story 4" involves a Rob Zombie style Shock Rocker that is obsessed with Voorhees. "Story 5" follows a somewhat rogue FBI agent named Michelle Kyler, daughter of Jason Voorhees victim Martha Kyler.
If that were not enough, Hand adds two subplots. One involves the body hopping spirit of Pamela Voorhees, the other concerns a ruthless collector of Jason Voorhees memorabilia that will stop at nothing to add Voorhees himself to his collection.
Quite a few these story threads come together, but some are cut short long before they can even come close to having a chance to intertwine. It makes for an almost chaotic, but never boring, read. One that will keep you guessing as to where the stories are going, and what the hell will happen when they get there. Carnival of Maniacs is, arguably, the most action packed and "traditional" Friday the 13th book since Jason Arnopp's Hate-Kill-Repeat. While that is not saying much, it should say enough to get the forgiving Friday the 13th fan interesting in reading the book.
But that fan is going to need to be a mighty forgiving one. There is a notable lack of sympathetic characters in the book. Save for two or three, almost every character in the book is an unlikable lout. It was the one thing that really tested my patience while I was tearing through the book.
August 5, 2012
So...since Hollywood has tossed the movie series into limbo I've had to resort to reading about my buddy Jason in book form. Now. Normally I'd look at a movie licenced book with a degree of untrust but this was good.
Carnival of Maniacs sees three goth teens head on out to Crystal Lake to find the remains of Jason Voorhees. One thing leads to another, haha, and before you know it Jason has found his way into the hands of a bunch of carnies who are dead set on using him as the main attraction in their traveling show of terror. If that doesn't sound crazy enough...Pamela Voorhees is also back and is ready to kill anything in her way in order to get back to her son.
It's all explained really well and I don't wanna go into detail about how Pamela comes back, just to say it's done in a neat way. The characters are mostly all a bunch of morons, even the ones you're meant to root for, but the great thing about the book is that no one is safe from the slaughter. Haha, I couldn't believe the amount of crazy blood shed that went off in this one.
For some reason these Black Flame published Friday books (and the Elm Street ones) are crazy expensive these days. I got lucky with this one on Ebay, so keep an eye out. I've only read this and The Jason Strain and both were great and would have made killer movies. If, like me, you're missing Jason and the carnage that goes along with him, try and track down the book.
Carnival of Maniacs sees three goth teens head on out to Crystal Lake to find the remains of Jason Voorhees. One thing leads to another, haha, and before you know it Jason has found his way into the hands of a bunch of carnies who are dead set on using him as the main attraction in their traveling show of terror. If that doesn't sound crazy enough...Pamela Voorhees is also back and is ready to kill anything in her way in order to get back to her son.
It's all explained really well and I don't wanna go into detail about how Pamela comes back, just to say it's done in a neat way. The characters are mostly all a bunch of morons, even the ones you're meant to root for, but the great thing about the book is that no one is safe from the slaughter. Haha, I couldn't believe the amount of crazy blood shed that went off in this one.
For some reason these Black Flame published Friday books (and the Elm Street ones) are crazy expensive these days. I got lucky with this one on Ebay, so keep an eye out. I've only read this and The Jason Strain and both were great and would have made killer movies. If, like me, you're missing Jason and the carnage that goes along with him, try and track down the book.
January 2, 2017
my horror person its going to be good
August 18, 2018
This would have been a lot better if it consisted solely of Agent Kyler, Alice and the Carnival, WITHOUT Mrs. Voorhees. I also could have done without the dueling Jason-merch collectors, but at least they provided a bit of bizarro comedic relief, I guess.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews