Name: The Girl in the Corn
Rating: 3.333333333333333 (3 reviews)
ISBN: 9780744304480

Jason Offutt

The Girl in the Corn

Young Thomas Cavanaugh's life changes the morning he sees a fairy in his mother's garden. When it appears in his room later, he realizes his parents are wrong⎯the fairy is real, all too real. One night the fairy takes Thomas into a cornfield on his family's Northwest Missouri farm to face the Empty⎯an enemy he can't understand, and barely survives. Haunted by the horror he encountered in the corn, Thomas spends time in a mental hospital where he meets Jillian, a girl who seems oddly familiar, and Bobby, a troubled boy. Later, as a young adult flitting from relationship-to-relationship, dead-end job-to-dead-end job, he discovers he was right. He knows Jillian, and Bobby is dangerous. As Bobby summons the entity from the corn to rid himself of his lifelong role as victim, and Jillian begs Thomas to help her stop him. Admitting that she is the fairie indeed, she takes him to her world so Thomas can witness the destruction wrought by the Empty. Finally convinced that he is the only one to stand between the Empty and the destruction of all he cares for, Thomas helps Jillian to fight Bobby and the ancient evil he has called. Are they too late to save the people they love? The Girl in the Corn is a rural horror novel for fans of Joe Hill and Jonathan Maberry.

C. J. Daley 

Got this audiobook through NetGalley and I’m glad I was approved. Going on a horror kick at the moment. 

This is a horror that’s got fantasy elements. Which is odd because I feel like it’s usually the other way around? It also has super high, world ending stakes, so it’s horror/epic fantasy. Epic horror? It features an inter-dimensional fairy world, but mostly takes place on a earth, so it’s also urban fantasy? Either way, it was a really unique blend. 

Thomas and Bobby are alike. They are linked. Both of them have a future, maybe a darkness too. Both also have a connection to a fairy. Unfortunately, depending on who’s connection is with which fairy, decides what trajectory they’re on. Good vs evil with many blurred lines and especially dark evil. 

This book is one of a couple that I’ve read recently that has devolved into descriptors being about tightening scrotums and inappropriately hardening penises, and I’m not sure when horror became this, or if it always was, but it’s been from different authors. I’m not a fan, but I agree it’s horrifying. 

This was a dark and enjoyable novel. The only thing I’ll say is because it was horror first and fantasy second, there is a big build up, but it doesn’t get the typically fantasy finisher, so in that sense it was a little underwhelming. However, as it’s a horror, I wasn’t surprised or disappointed really. 

Lots of crazy kills and horrific descriptions. Personally a 4/5*.

Janice Hopper

When you're cleaning out the garage or cleaning years-long accumulation of dog hair and dust from the bedroom, you sometimes just need SOMETHING to listen to, even if it doesn't really delight you. Maybe it's BETTER that it's not delightful for listening to during tasks like that. You're less likely to get distracted from those necessary but unlovable jobs.

This story about a fairy a boy meets in the cornfield was like that for me. I didn't really like anything about the story. Lots of modern fantasy seems to dismiss the not-really-positive reputation of fairies and/or elves. This one had the don't-believe-the-fay part down pretty well. And there's a really horrible character too.

But I listened to the whole damn thing. Sometimes I grumbled to myself about how much I didn't really like the story, but... I KEPT LISTENING. Part of it was wanting to know if there would be a resolution/explanation/clarification at the end. (For me, there wasn't. YMMV.)

It's horror too, but not the kind of horror I really like. Oh well.

The Girl in the Corn

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