The Summer Fun Massacre by Craig DiLouie - ISBN: 9780316578240
Paperback
Camp massacre survivor’s quest for revenge unearths a terrifying legend.
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The Summer Fun Massacre

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  • Paperback

    304 pages

  • Release Date

    18 August 2026

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Summary

Surviving the massacre is just the beginning in this razor-sharp take on the summer camp slasher from horror master Craig DiLouie.

SUMMER 1983. A blood-soaked summer camp counselor is found staggering down a country road. The sole survivor of a horrific massacre, Mary tells a nightmare of a masked maniac wielding an old skinning knife. Arriving too late to help, her boyfriend Tom Bailey is plagued by guilt.

SUMMER 1992. The camp reopens as Camp Summer Fun. Now a sheriff’s depu…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9780316578240
ISBN-10:031657824X
Author:Craig DiLouie
Publisher:Little, Brown & Company
Imprint:Orbit
Format:Paperback
Number of Pages:304
Release Date:18 August 2026
Dimensions:210mm x 140mm
Series:Slasher Season
What They're Saying

Critics Review

“An enthralling, fast-paced take on the slasher genre that reminds us why we love these stories and makes everything familiar feel fresh, new, and exciting. The Summer Fun Massacre is simply the best slasher novel I’ve ever read.”

–James Chambers, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of On the Night Border

“A horror revelation … . With its sharp prose and likable main character, the novel is difficult to put down.”

–Library Journal (starred review)“An exciting and original slasher featuring a terrifying folk horror twist that will drive fans to sign up for the promised second session of Summer Fun Camp in droves.”–Booklist (starred review)“DiLouie finds horror’s heart still beating beneath the cabin floor. An invigorating reminder that nothing ever really ends … unless you break the cycle.”–Andrew F. Sullivan, author of The Handyman Method“Through confident, atmospheric prose, DiLouie adds tone and texture to a story that might otherwise have wallowed in splatter and gore. The arresting result raises high expectations for the sequel.”–Publishers Weekly“Urban legends, a summer camp, teens in peril, and a seemingly unstoppable killer, Craig DiLouie’s latest is a brutal exercise in nostalgic horror from an author at the top of his game. Fans of the camp-bound slashers of yesteryear will lose their minds.”–Kealan Patrick Burke, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Sour Candy and Kin“Like he’s done in so many of his books, Craig DiLouie takes a familiar idea and spins it in wonderfully wild new directions, creating something we’ve never seen before that’s still instantly recognizable. The Summer Fun Massacre swings back and forth like a bladed, unstoppable pendulum, gory slasher tale to eerie mystery and back again.”–New York Times bestselling author Peter Clines

“DiLouie remixes classic horror tropes into a harrowing thriller set in 1988… Readers will be pulled in by the morally twisted characters and serpentine plot. Film buffs will especially enjoy this paean to ‘80s slasher films and the people who love them.”

–Publishers Weekly on How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive“Episode Thirteen is a suspenseful and engaging Rubik’s Cube of a novel. The reader has great perverse fun twisting the pieces back and forth, facet after facet, until Craig DiLouie’s grand design stands revealed in all its febrile splendor.”–James Morrow, author of The Last Witchfinder on Episode Thirteen“How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive is a blood-spattered homage to horror films, an ode to the craft of filmmaking, and a cautionary tale about the fiery–often destructive–creative passion inside every artist, one that continuously teeters on the brink of insanity. DiLouie has created a celluloid cursed object story that John Carpenter himself would stand up and applaud from the front row.”–Philip Fracassi, author of Boys in the Valley on How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive“A tricky, twisty book with more levels to it than a slasher movie has sequels. DiLouie knows what makes the horror genre tick.” –David Moody, author of the Hater and Autumn series on How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive“An epistolary descent into a living nightmare … well-written and genuinely unsettling. Fans of paranormal documentaries, ghost-hunting shows, and found-footage horror will lose their minds over this one.”

–Kealan Patrick Burke, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Kin on Episode Thirteen

“Confidently striding through the genre, DiLouie displays a deep and abiding love for horror, even as he finds new ways to bend our disgust and despair to his will. The camera cannot turn away.”–Andrew F. Sullivan, co-author of The Handyman Method on How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive“Gory, glorious, and just a little too believable, Craig DiLouie’s latest is a slick meta slasher movie in book form, set in the brutal intersection of art and obsession.”–Peter Clines, New York Times bestselling author on How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive“In this transcendent ghost story for the 21st century, Craig DiLouie charts the mystery where science meets the supernatural then dives in headfirst to deliver a haunted house story so heartbreaking and profoundly unsettling it ranks alongside the classics of the genre.”–James Chambers, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of On the Hierophant Road on Episode Thirteen“It’s the literary equivalent of a found footage movie, and it works beautifully. Part ghost story, part metaphysical horror, total nightmare – Episode Thirteen is a must read.”–David Moody, author of Hater and the Autumn series on Episode ThirteenWith well-developed characters, a swiftly paced narrative, and mounting dread, this new twist on the ghost story will delight horror readers. –Booklist on Episode Thirteen

About The Author

Craig DiLouie

Craig DiLouie is an acclaimed American-Canadian author of horror and other fiction. Formerly a magazine editor and advertising executive, he also works as a journalist and educator covering the North American lighting industry. Craig is a member of the Imaginative Fiction Writers Association, International Thriller Writers and Horror Writers Association. He currently lives in Calgary, Canada, with his partner, Chris Marrs, and his two wonderful children.

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