[BOOKS OF THE DEAD] Heads Will Roll - Josh Winning

Heads Will Roll - Books of the Dead Review

Welcome to Books of the Dead. A monthly series by published author and founder of The Readers in the Rue Morgue Book Club Victoria Brown where she deep dives into some of her favourite (and not so favourite) authors and books.

Author: Josh Winning 

Publication Date: 08/08/24

Synopsis: Willow is in need of an escape. A former sitcom star, she’s been publicly shamed on the internet after posting something she really shouldn’t have. She checks in to Camp Castaway, an adults-only retreat based at an old campground in the woods.

It’s the first night and the campers gather round the fire to tell some ghost stories. That’s when Willow hears the tale of Knock Knock Nancy. A local urban legend about a witch, brutally beheaded in this very woodland. They say her restless spirit knocks on doors late at night. If you answer, she’ll take your head.Willow doesn’t believe in ghost stories. But the next day, a camper has vanished under mysterious circumstances. And then that evening, in her cabin, Willow hears it…Knock, Knock, Knock.

Thoughts:

I wish I had liked this more. ‘Heads Will Roll’ is modelled after classic summer camp slashers, but with its own unique twist: everyone in attendance is running from something. They are at Camp Castaway to get away from a bad time in their lives, keen to completely switch off from the modern world. Little do they know, they are about to be terrorised by a psychopath with an axe. 

Our protagonist, a former sitcom star who goes by the name Willow while at camp (she took the name from her sitcom character to hide her real identity, as per camp rules) is running from judgement – she was recently cancelled due to a misunderstood tweet and as a result, her career and personal life imploded. This premise alone intrigued me as it opened a door to discussing cancel culture and its very real impacts, but unfortunately the story fell a little flat on this aspect (more on that later). Willow is a good protagonist, however. She is smart, curious, and driven. The plot would not advance without her, and isn’t that what a good protagonist is all about? 

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The other characters fall into the typical summer camp slasher stereotypes – the jock, the stoner, the cool girl, the geek etc. – but not in a bad way. When something works, it works! What added to their depth was their reasons for running, which are all intriguing and prompted considerations as to who is ‘innocent’, who is ‘misunderstood’, and who might really deserve to have their heads chopped off by a psycho with an axe. The best character by far was Juniper, a veteran actress from the Blacksploitation era who just happens to be Willow’s idol. She is smart, resourceful, wise, and badass. 

The plot is unfortunately where the book fell short for me. Slashers can work very well in book format – Adam Casare’s ‘Clown in a Cornfield’ and Stephen Graham Jones’ ‘My Heart is a Chainsaw’ are proof of that – but this just did not work. The plot felt convoluted, the gore and fear-factor was minimal (it felt like a YA book, which I was not expecting), and the Knock Knock Nancy premise felt unrealised and forced (the reveal of the real origins did not hit as hard as I expected). The antagonists were forgettable and nowhere near as fleshed out as they could have been, making their motivations feel…silly. The pacing was good, but that’s all I can really say on that. 

While the positive message of queer joy and being true to oneself – as a queer woman, I can relate – is important, it did not feel like it fit into the story naturally. There were several plot and character elements that felt like they were butting heads, as if the author was trying to force mismatched puzzle pieces together. Particular sections worked in isolation but as a whole, it made the story feel disjointed and unsatisfying. 

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I wish the plot had been thought through more, that the gore was a bit more gnarly, and that cancel culture had been discussed in more depth. Willow’s misunderstood tweet felt very inconsequential (though I suppose that may be the author’s point, that something so seemingly simple can be misconstrued and ruin someone’s life) but I thought it would have been much more interesting if Willow had tweeted something truly horrible and that camp was her chance to reflect and redeem herself, and force the reader to contemplate what cancel does and who is worthy of forgiveness. The fact that Willow also happens to fall for another camper who just happens to be the reason she was cancelled also felt forced and did not prompt interesting moral quandaries the way it should have. 

I seem to be in the minority on this viewpoint, however. Many readers immensely enjoyed ‘Heads Will Roll’ so perhaps the book was just not for me, which is completely okay – not every book will be the book for every reader. Sometimes a book is not what you expect and that is no fault of the author, it’s on the reader; the reasons I disliked the book come down to what I would have personally preferred, not anything wrong, per se, with the actual story. ‘Heads Will Roll’ is by no means a bad book, it’s just not for me. 

Verdict: ⭐️⭐️½

-Victoria Brown, Author of The Death Ship: Recovering The Bodies of Titanic's Dead

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