A review by glorifiedloveletters
Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I'd never read anything by Chuck Tingle before, but the library had his first horror novel and I thought I'd give it a go. Written from the point of view of a sheltered autistic twenty year old, Rose, who has only recently graduated high school because of her religious upbringing, the supernatural action starts right away and the pace never slows. Rose is trying to figure out why she's seeing a literal demon, why she feels physically cold every time her mind wanders into "impure" areas, and also why her parents seem to be keeping something from her.

The somewhat simplistic writing style makes a lot of sense for her character, but readers who are into the art of individual sentences may not vibe with it. Still, the story is VERY much a page-turner, and I read the whole thing in basically 2 days. Rose's neurodivergence does not hinder her discoveries — in fact, she makes some connections more quickly than her friends because of the way her mind works. I'd definitely recommend this to people who are looking for "New Adult" horror.
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