[Book Review] Paperbacks from Hell

Paperbacks from Hell: the twisted history of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction / Grady Hendrix

This book might be the best thing I've read ever.

OK, slight exaggeration there, but it's totally worth the exaggeration.

Hendrix takes you down into both the well known and less well known corners of '70s and '80s horror fiction, exploring the trends and connections to the world at large in a wonderfully engaging and absolutely hysterical narrative.  Broken down by subgenre, we go from the familiar (haunted houses, vampires, etc) to perhaps the less familiar (knife-wielding crabs, homicidal vegetation) in a veritable tour of the horrific and absurd.

Highly recommend to fans of horror and non-horror alike, and a must read for anyone with a taste for kitsch and cult.

Advanced Reader Copy copy courtesy of Quirk Books via Netgalley; differences may exist between uncorrected galley text and the final edition.

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