This One's Gonna Hurt by Cody J. Thompson | Book Review

This One’s Gonna Hurt by Cody J. Thompson is a tale of road trips, beef jerky, and full-on terror.

Content Warning:
Death and gore.

Let’s dive in!

My Thoughts on This One’s Gonna Hurt by Cody J. Thompson –

Taking their father’s brand-new electric vehicle for a road trip to Las Vegas, these two teenage siblings and their friends are excited for the weekend ahead. Deep into their road trip, they realize they need to pull over to charge the vehicle.

With their first stop, they stock up on snacks and try a local delicacy to make up for the fact that the charging stations there don’t work. Luckily, they find another station nearby and just barely make the drive over.

When they arrive, the area seems deserted as there are broken-down buildings, leaving a massive parking lot with a charging station. Creeped out, but determined to not let that affect their vibe, they do what many teenagers would do while waiting; they bring out distractions of booze, pot, and fireworks.

The group has a great time until they go to look for one friend that had gone out to pee but took far too long to return. Checking the car, they find that someone had unplugged their charging cable. They’re frustrated, but that feeling is soon overpowered by terror when they learn they’re not alone out there like they had previously assumed.

Welp, this is just one more reason why electric cars make me nervous! I already get super nervous worrying about running out of gas, but needing to find a charge station and having to sit and wait is so much more terrifying.

Right from the start of this book, we see an absolutely brutal scene take place. This sets the tone for the rest of the book wonderfully. From this first scene, I was so hopeful for a terror-filled gore fest, and that’s exactly what I got here!

This book follows so many of my favorite horror tropes when leaning into the more extreme side of things. First of all, we have a setting out in the middle of nowhere, complete with spooky-looking run-down buildings and trailers. We have a cast of characters that had the classic personalities; the hot head and his over-the-top girlfriend, the jokester, the seemingly innocent one, and the quiet one that has gone through some stuff. We have a “what could possibly go wrong while we do all these silly things because we’re invincible teens” focus going on. And of course, we have the bad guy and the killer foreshadowing…

The foreshadowing dropped early on in the book and just like so many of my favorite movies, this drop happens at a gas station. I mean, how perfect is that?!

However, very unlike a horror film where there are rays of hope here and there to keep viewers hopeful, this book shuts off the lights quickly and forces the readers to stay in the darkness.

Needless to say, I am obsessed with this tale!

My Favorite Passages From This One’s Gonna Hurt –

What they didn’t know, and could not see, was the curtain at the far end of the trailer had been moved aside ever so slightly. A pair of dirty fingers from the inside pulled the curtain away from the glass, as two dark eyes peered out at them, watching their every move. Little did they know, they were not alone. And, though they were not in fact telling horror stories to one another, whether they liked to or not, they were about to experience one of their very own.

Teenage love – Always exciting, always toxic.

The back of the building was covered in shadows, even at night, creating an eerie darkness. Even the minimal light of the moon was blocked, almost like evil itself was present.

“Now, close your eyes, little girl,” He said. “This one’s gonna hurt.”

My Final Thoughts on This One’s Gonna Hurt –

This story is like an IV sliding perfectly into the same vein as my favorite horror movies. And just like those films, I couldn’t look away from the text of this book; each scene getting more intense than the last!

For horror fans that enjoyed films like The Hills Have Eyes, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Tourist Trap, and The Cabin in the Woods, this is a must-read for you!

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