Book Review: Fear Farm by Vincent Ralph

A Bleak Haven Novel

I read the first two books in the Bleak Haven series and was happy to receive ARCs for the next two. I actually started Corpse Creek first, but had to put it down when it referenced events from Fear Farm. I didn’t want any potential spoilers, so, I switched gears and hurried through this one before continuing.

And that brings me to one of my biggest frustrations with this series: the recommended reading order doesn't seem to match the actual chronology of events. I understand that the books are interconnected and that the story unfolds across different points in Bleak Haven's history, but it can be jarring—and at times downright confusing—to encounter references to events from another book you haven't read yet. When the listed reading order can't be relied upon, it's difficult to know where you're supposed to start.

Putting that aside, Fear Farm has a lot going for it. Set in the 1990s, the story leans heavily into the slasher films of the era, and I really liked that aspect. A haunted-house-style attraction, a group of teenagers, a suspected killer hiding among them, and a town with a history of unexplained "accidents" makes for a fun setup. The premise of Tori deliberately auditioning to play the perfect villain while secretly trying to uncover a real killer was particularly interesting.

Unfortunately, the first-person POV didn't work particularly well for me. I would have preferred getting to know Tori and the other characters more directly rather than experiencing everything through Tori's somewhat skewed perspective. There were also quite a few continuity issues throughout the book that pulled me out of the story.

That last point comes with an important caveat: I read an ARC. Since ARCs are typically provided before the final round of editing, I sincerely hope the continuity problems I noticed were caught and corrected before publication.

As a YA horror novel, the actual horror is fairly limited, so readers looking for something particularly brutal or frightening may find it a little tame. Still, Fear Farm is an entertaining addition to the Bleak Haven series, particularly for readers who enjoy 1990s slasher movies and stories that play with the conventions of the genre.