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| Release: 1994, Pages: 186 |
The curse of Crystal Lake and Jason Voorhees continues with Jason’s Curse, book #2 in the Camp Crystal Lake series, written by Eric Morse. How does Jason’s Curse stack up to the first book, Mother’s Day? Read on to find out…
Short nitty-gritty plot description from the back cover is as follows: Everyone thought Kelly Boone was crazy. She wanted to go to Camp Crystal Lake to destroy the evil legacy of Jason Voorhees once and for all. Her friends tried to talk her out of it. but Kelly was obsessed–because Jason had killed her brother. Now, as they explore the cursed campsite, they realize they are not alone. A backwoods hillbilly has gone fishing in the lake where Jason Drowned.
And he managed to hook the catch of the day…
The blood-stained mask of Jason Voorhees.
Jason’s Curse continues the story from the first one, with Kelly Boone, sister of Billy Boone of Mother’s Day, heading out to Camp Crystal Lake, to take revenge on her brother’s death. Meanwhile, the mask of Jason Voorhees has been drudged up from the lake and put on by a local townie named Big Red. It isn’t long for a new rampage begins and even though Kelly thinks she is prepared, nothing can stop the curse of Jason Voorhees.
I really enjoyed jumping into Jason’s Curse again, as the last time I read it, was way back in 1994. It’s nice to see the continuing story of Jason’s cursed mask and I was loving having the story in Jason’s Curse be so connected to Mother’s Day. The character of Kelly is really interesting, in that she is well prepared to take on Jason Voorhees, with her extensive knowledge of surviving in the woods and building traps. She definitely comes off as a worthy adversary against the hulking mask wearing killer, known as Big Red.
My only complaint with the book, deals with Big Red himself. I wasn’t entirely a fan of how Big Red was constantly shifting from being a normal, scared manchild, to an angry and enraged Jason-like killer. It was my understanding that when someone dons the mask in these books, the spirit of Jason Voorhees takes over, but this was not the case in Jason’s Curse. It felt more like the mask was only providing a rage, that couldn’t be controlled and nothing else. Of course, this could be due to the fact that a different supernatural spin was being played out, with the ghost of a certain character riding along side Kelly, in her journey to defeat Jason. I won’t spoil anything, but the twist dealing with this ghost at the end, was something I didn’t see coming and I ended up enjoying it. I also loved how dark and sombre the ending was. Something you don’t normally read in a young adult book. Eric Morse also has a way of keeping the graphic details of Jason’s many ways of murder low key, but still make you winch on how painful it must’ve been.
Jason’s Curse might not be as grand as Mother’s Day, but it is in a no way a bad book. In fact, it’s a great edition to the collection of Camp Crystal Lake novels and to the mythology of Jason Voorhees. Fans should scoop up this book, along with the other novels (for the fans, author Eric Morse has offered a fifth novel, which ties together the Camp Crystal Lake novels and the Friday the 13th TV series, all for free) and sit back and enjoy some quick Jason Voorhees gory delights.
Rating: 3.75/4 (-1.25 for changing up the way Jason’s mask cursed the killer. +3.75 for still being a great edition to the Jason Voorhees mythology and being a quick, tight read.)
*P.S. Yeah, that’s right, I used a 3.75, which I don’t normally do. Things are going wild on From the Mind of Tatlock.