This book ends up being both retro and modern at the same time. The setting and deaths are pure 80s but the setup and situation is very much something that one could expect today.

Clarissa Lee is a B-level celebrity who gained her fame from being a horror movie starlet. She's now broke thanks to her manager mis-managing her funds. As a quick fix, she accepts an invitation for an immersive horror convention that is light on details but pays her well enough and half in advance. Clarissa and other B-level celebrities quickly find things are too real and that they must fight if they want to survive.

Cesare gets across nicely the drive of B-level celebrities who continue to make their living off being known by fans but not quite able to continue being booked in enough movies or TV shows. How an immersive convention that pays well would be a draw. Then once the characters are in the middle of it, he continues getting across the reality of today's world wanting more and not knowing when to stop. The celebrities don't realize that the deaths are real, believing instead it is staged as part of the convention. I found the book to be very enjoyable. Cesare continues to do a great job with his books. All of them so far, including and maybe especially THE CON SEASON, have been very easy to picture as a movie playing inside my head. ( )

Keith Lumbra is a filmmaker, if you can call titles like Teenage Cumsluts in Tortureland film. He's on his way back from a horror con where he was selling his wares when he gets pulled over by the cops, or at least he thinks they're cops.

Rory and Teeks are putting together a completely new form of con. Where, instead of having fans line up to get their pictures taken with their favorite horror actors, a limited number of fans, who pay top dollar, would get to interact with a select group of B through D list celebrities at a camp where a slasher is taking them out one by one.

On the surface, it sounds like a really cool idea, but believe me, the talent has no idea what they're in for.

It was tough writing that synopsis without dropping spoilers left and right. I've probably said to much as it is.

The writing in The Con Season is crisp and the pacing is excellent. There was a brief disconnect for me between the story's opening and where things come together with the setting up of this new interactive, high-end, horror con, but in the end Adam Cesare delivers a uniquely original tale.

The Con Season is currently available for the Kindle. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read it at no additional charge. Or, if you are an Amazon Prime member you can borrow it for FREE through the Kindle Owners Lending Library.

From his bio - Adam Cesare is a New Yorker who lives in Philadelphia. His work has been featured in numerous magazines and anthologies. He writes a monthly column about the intersection of horror fiction and film, called PAPER CUTS, for Cemetery Dance Online. His previous books include Mercy House, Video Night, The Summer Job, and Tribesmen. ( )