Formats: Print, audio, digital

Publisher: Titan Books

Genre: Eldritch Horror, Monster, Mystery,

Audience: Adult

Diversity: Lesbian author and main characters, trans woman author

Takes Place in: Maryland

Content Warnings (Highlight to view): Body Shaming, Child Death, Child Endangerment, Death, Kidnapping, Verbal/Emotional Abuse, Violence

I received this product for free in return for providing an honest and unbiased review. I received no other compensation. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

It’s 1994, and Valerie McQueen loves going to the movies. It’s her favorite way to escape her chaotic home life and her parents’ constant fighting. On this particular evening, she’s accompanied by her little sister, Ashley, and best friend, Colette. Colette wants to see Interview with the Vampire, but Valerie convinces the girls to go see a schlocky B-move she’s never heard of before: Blood-Curse of the Toad Man. At first, they’re the only ones in the theater watching the cheesy monster flick, but soon Valerie notices a stranger seated behind them wearing a trench coat and a fedora that obscures their face. The stranger seems to be moving closer, which freaks Valerie out, and she runs out of the theater. When she finally plucks up the courage to return, Colette and Ashley are gone. The police investigate but the girls are never found.

Thirty years later, Valerie (who now goes by Val) is still struggling with her survivor’s guilt, working as a tattoo artist, and getting into bar fights. Ever since that tragic night, Val hasn’t been able to bring herself to watch another movie. She chooses to self-isolate with no social media presence, only one real friend, and little contact with her parents, who blame her for Ashley’s disappearance. To cope with her unresolved trauma and guilt, Val tries to live in the moment to avoid thinking about the past. Unfortunately, the past has a way of catching up with you, and it appears Blood-Curse isn’t ready to let her go yet. Kate, a true crime podcaster, shows up at Val’s workplace posing as a tattoo client and tries to talk to Val about the worst night of her life.

When Val understandably gets pissed and walks away, Kate reacts poorly, demanding Val speak to her, as she paid for a tattoo. Kate is more interested in the entertainment value of the unsolved crime than she is in protecting Val and her parents from further pain. Kate pops up periodically throughout the book to prove what a shitty person she is, and it feels like her character is Piper’s way of criticizing the true crime genre. A common criticism of the true crime genre is that it’s exploitative, voyeuristic, and can re-traumatize victims and/or their families who are trying to move on, and Kate represents all of these things.

Later, when Val goes to meet a woman from the bar, she discovers the woman’s hotel room destroyed, the woman missing, and two lines from the creepy song from Blood-Curse of the Toad Man written on a scrap of paper. Realizing the only way to make the disappearances stop is to learn more about Blood-Curse of the Toad Man, Val ends up reaching out to Roxie, a girl who was kind to her after Ashley and Colette went missing who now does freelance work hunting down lost media. Despite Val’s warnings to be careful, Roxie is intrigued when she tells her about the cursed film and immediately dives right in to researching it. It’s at this point the book starts alternating between Val and Roxie’s points of view.

I love the idea of a movie that kills you, which is what immediately drew me to Piper’s latest work. Although the film Ringu (1998) and the book by Koji Suzuki it was based upon popularized the idea of a killer film, you could argue that the idea goes all the way back to 1895 when The King in Yellow was published. This short story collection by Robert W. Chambers centers around a cursed play that can drive anyone who reads it mad and would later inspire writer H.P. Lovecraft to write The Whisperer in Darkness. Interestingly, Piper has also published a book entitled A Game in Yellow based on the mythos created by Chambers. Like Lovecraft, Piper also excels in cosmic horror as seen in her books Queen of Teeth (which won a Bram Stoker Awards in 2021), The Worm and His Kings, and the aforementioned A Game in Yellow. In This Movie Doesn’t End the Way We Want, the story starts out as a simple horror story but later morphs into cosmic horror, creating one of the most unique explanations for a “cursed” film I’ve ever seen.

There are lots of 80s and 90s movie references, like Never Ending Story (1984), Ghost Busters (1984), Labyrinth (1986), Moonwalker (1988), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), and Devil in a Blue Dress (1995). Even the isekai anime Escaflowne (1996) gets a shout out. There are also references to more modern movies like Sinister (2012), older ones like Chinatown (1974), and even relatively obscure films like Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966), popularized in the nineties by MST3K. This is definitely a book for millennial movies fans. Speaking of which, I loved that both Roxie and Val are in their forties. You don’t see a lot of forty-something women as horror protagonists. While the book plays tribute to these nostalgic films,  it simultaneously warns us against dwelling too much on the past.

Val can’t move on properly because she tries to ignore what happened instead of facing it and finding a way to move on. She thinks she’s “letting go” by not thinking about the past, when in realty Val is trapped in it. Similarly, Val’s parents haven’t moved on from that horrible day in 1994 and focus all their attention on mourning the daughter they lost rather than loving the one they have. Roxie is also critical of nostalgia, as much of her job involves hunting down old commercials and TV shows for clients who are willing to spend big bucks on a small reminder of their childhood. Remembering the past does not mean getting stuck in it, unable to move on. It gave me I Saw the TV Glow (2024) vibes, reminding me of the protagonist’s obsession with fictional TV show The Pink Opaque then later discovering that nostalgia had warped his perspective of the show.

I’m a fan of horror mysteries, especially those that involve researching the past, so this book drew me right in. It’s filled with plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing, which I really enjoyed. It also made me happy that both Val and Roxie were lesbians. Val would have brief flings with women thanks to her “only focus on the present” mindset while Roxie is happily married. I liked that the film hides its true nature behind a silly premise, I mean, who is going to take a movie called Blood-Curse of the Toad Man seriously? But the campy film becomes increasingly sinister the more Val and Roxie learn about it. But most of all I liked how the book continued to sit with me long after I finished it. Another great horror story from Piper!