The Blonde Dies First was a demonic slasher, sure — but it was also a love letter to Brooklyn, a story about sisterhood & growing up with a friend group, a celebration of owning your own value & awesomeness.

Joelle Wellington is for sure cemented for me as a thriller LEGEND and autobuy author. 

Devon has a plan: she’s going to make her last summer with her twin sister Drew (who’s graduating a full year early) the Best Summer Ever. But when the twins and their charmingly chaotic friend group get a little too cozy with a Ouija board, they’re soon in mortal danger. A terrifying demon is hunting them down one by one … in slasher kill order. That means blonde Devon will be the first to die, and her crush Yaya is the Final Girl – unless they manage to get ahead of the monster.

Devon and each member of her group of friends are so beautifully characterized. They all have their quirks & flaws, but they all know they can lean on each other and will be by each other’s side no matter what. Devon & Drew have a lot of tension and things left unsaid, and their sisterhood arc was painfully relatable. They both hold on tight to a lot of assumptions about the other, and have to learn how to reconnect and see the other as a full human rather.

If you love sapphic pining, you’ll be head over heels for Devon and Yaya. I didn’t know whether to sob or squeal about Devon’s decade-long crush that seems to be obvious to everyone except Yaya. Their whole friend group is pretty queer overall, though, too! 

I mentioned this was a love letter to Brooklyn - and it absolutely is - but it’s also a love letter to horror movies, especially classic slasher films. It’s very meta in a very fun way, and our characters pick apart and challenge the tropes and expectations of the genre.

The pacing sometimes slowed down awkwardly, but there was something pulling me into every scene. The horror scenes were great, and there was lots of fun humor scattered during and in between the scares. I ended up FLYING through this book in just two sittings. 

It’s good campy fun, it unapologetically challenges racism & classism in all sorts of insidious forms, and it’s got one of the best ensemble casts out there. You’ll root for everyone and keep turning pages!

CW: murder, death (parent/child), racism, classism, stalking, blood, adult/minor flirting, drug use

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(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)