Scream Ride

by Daniel I. Russell

Hold tight - debuting at Adventure Point this Halloween! From the mind of Carl Campbell, master of terror. See the dead walk the streets! Come face to face with madman Luger on Mutilation Street: The Ride! And step into our state-of-the-art ghost house… if you dare.

Comic book writer Carl Campbell is riding high. Fans can’t get enough of his books and movies featuring twisted creatures and undead killers. Adventure Point Theme Park aims to capitalize on his popularity with several rides. Carl moves his family into a nearby beach house on the West Australian coast, to oversee development and design a brand new creation for the almost completed ghost house.

But the scares appear to be sneaking out from Carl’s pages. A familiar figure watches the beach house. Grisly murders surround the family. Park workers report strange noises and bizarre accidents.

As darkness falls on the stunning beaches, and the lights of Adventure Point blink into life, it won’t just be the riders screaming in terror.

Lower your lap bars with Scream Ride, a white-knuckle horror novel by Shadows Award finalist D. I. Russell.

Genres: Horror, Fiction

346 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 31, 2020

About the author

Australian Shadows Award finalist D.l I. Russell has been featured publications such as The Zombie Feed from Apex, Pseudopod and Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #43. Author of Samhane, Come Into Darkness, Critique, Mother's Boys, The Collector and Tricks, Mischief and Mayhem, D. I. Russell is also the former vice-president of the Australian Horror Writers' Association and was a special guest editor of Midnight Echo.

Reviews

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh 🤨

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

[Sea Caummisar · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my younger days, I loved amusement parks. Rides and thrills and scares. A couple scenes in this book totally reminded me of those days. Which is awesome.
Meanwhile, in the story, I'm attaching to characters. A comic book writer's characters start coming to life and cause mayhem. It took a while to reach my expected level of gore, but it got there eventually. There was more action towards the end than I'm used to, but that's not a bad thing. And the END. Mind blown twist like WTF?!?!?

[Bandit · Rating 5 out of 5]

I scored this a while ago as a freebie, going mainly by the not inconsiderable cover appeal and the setting. Because, you know, carnivals and amusement parks, are nearly as excellent of a setting as a circus. But having never heard of the author, the expectations were adjusted sufficiently low…until the first chapter rolled around. At which time it became blatantly that this was going to be awesome. And from then on Russell didn’t disappoint, not once.
For someone who loves a good scary story, but doesn’t read as many of them as they used to, owning to an increasingly discriminating (no, refined, let’s say refined) taste, this was such a pleasant surprise, a fright done right. A most excellent surprise, a book exceeding their expectations, leaving them in the dust, in fact, for the ride is this wild.
First thing’s first, this ought to be read in October, right toward the end of the month, for optimal thematic timing. Or, the next best thing, read on a Friday following Thursday the 12th.
Next thing is that you might want to read it in the dark for maximum effect, but it’s thrilling enough to wow even during daylight.
Ok, so imagine this…a comic book writer cashing in on all things that go Boo in the mind, an ambitious American producer who decides to bring the greatest US’ tradition of tricks and treats to Australia, an amusement park unlike any other dedicated specifically to bringing comic book pages to life, the rides destined to send their riders screaming and screaming…all for fun and laughs and money, until the lines between fiction and reality start to dissolve into pools of blood. Doesn’t that sound awesome? Of course, it does, because it is. And that’s basically the book for you. Straight down until the terrific (murder thriller worthy) ending plot twist. Oh so good.
This book, much like an improperly installed amusement park ride, might have gone off the rails at any time, with either crap writing, insufficient character development, dearth of originality, overreliance on guts and gore or so many other things that cut the legs out from genre fiction and yet…it never does. Which is to say Russell did it all just right, the characters are dimensional and realistic, the guts and gore are commensurate with the plot and necessary, the writing is great, the story is exciting and dynamic and genuinely original and scary and fun.
There’s, in general, loads of fun to be had with the premise of a book (any book) coming to life, but a graphic comic of all things horrific and supernatural doing so…is an absolutely thrilling concept. Especially as well and cleverly done as it is here, with so many…what’s going on? is this real? Sort of things to mess with the readers along the way.
And so…prepare for the adrenaline overload. Lower the safety bars. And ride on into the night. This is the visit to an amusement park you’re not likely to forget any time soon….provided you survive that is, of course.
Awesome fun. One of the best and personal favorite literary scares in a long while. Recommended.

[❀ Crystal ✿ - PEACE ☮ LOVE ♥ BOOKS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carl Campbell made his big break writing comics about serial killing monsters. His work has been so well received over the years much of his work has been turned into film, video games and more. Until now, he’s never been invited to bring his characters to life in such a once in a lifetime opportunity. Carl is contracted by a wealthy Texan named Dallas to write up a new story, something he can incorporate in his next venture. Five years ago Dallas bought Adventure Park across the world in Australia. This year he wants the park to do something that’s never been done before. Something that will literally scare the life out of people, only he has no idea how his hopes for the park will become a terrible reality.

Before the ride is even completed, people loosely connected to Carl begin to die. Carl’s creations are coming to life in the worst way. Why is this happening? Are they real? The book had some truly scary moments but also a lot of gore and cringeworthy scenes. For a lot of the book it’s unclear what’s happening and if there is something supernatural going on or just some crazy fans bringing Carl’s characters to life. In the end we do get answers, maybe not all in a happy way but that’s to be expected given the genre. Lots of people will die. Lots of lives will forever be changed by the events that transpire at Adventure Point. Dallas wanted to bring the fear of Halloween from America to the citizens of Australian and if that includes people losing their heads, their intestines, running for their lives, spawning demon creatures and being hunted by hordes of dead things then I guess he got his wish. When we first meet Carl he’s living the life of a novel celebrity but boy does his life take a drastic turn.

I enjoyed the book for the most part, witnessing everyone go through the ride was both exciting and terrifying. Not sure how I’d feel going through a ride based off a comic called Mutilation Street and I love all kinds of crazy rides, but that just sounds like trouble. Great read for spooky season. Could have done without the demon baby literally eating the women's vaginas and crawling all up in there. 😑😵😵🤐 I think once that happened I had an “Oh shit” moment knowing everything and everyone was well and truly fucked. I also really enjoyed the twist in the end. Granted I should have seen something like it coming but honestly I was taken completely by surprise.

[OutlawPoet]

DNF @ 86%

It's not you...it's me. I don't mind graphic horror. This one just kept going more and more over-the-top and I think I'm too tired for it. I may revisit in the future. Folks who like it bizarre and don't mind a few head-scratching moments may enjoy.

[Simon McHardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wicked ride. There is no doubt about it Russell is a gore master and loves his twisty endings. I'll be reading more from this author for sure.

[E.B. Lunsford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was one helluva ride

The premise was unique and interesting. The characters were unforgettable. The writing immersed me in the story from the very first page. The story was well-paced, well thought out, and had a twist ending you’ll never see coming. Horror fans, don’t miss out on this rare treat! Highly recommended.

[Icy-Cobwebs-Crossing-SpaceTime · Rating 5 out of 5]

This must be my month to read Australian Horror! I really applaud the premise behind this story: it was tauthly designed, implacable, terrifying, and I thought quite unusual. Yes, I had to wade through a tremendous amount of gore to reach the Denouement (SCREAM RIDE is extreme horror after all) but I think that discovering the premise, and the eventual outcome, were well worth surviving the bloodbath. The characters are well-designed and the author avoided telegraphing. Do remember this is extreme horror and sensitive readers should forego.

[Dion Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this is outstanding!
I loved the concept, and there is a lot more going on in the story than what you get in your usual slasher story.
The story starts out innocent enough, which leads you into a false sense of security thinking that this is not going to be to nasty, And I really want to tell you what happens with the first kill, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone, so for the record that is not for the squeamish.

But this book is not just about gore and mayhem, it has a polished and exceptional underling story to go with it, with well developed characters.

I found this book very hard to put down, the story always had me wanting to read just that little bit more.

If you like a good slasher story with in-depth backstory than this is for you.

[Kimberly N · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Fantastic concept of bringing the comics to life. This book was a great ride from beginning to end. There was not a moment in it that I was not hooked. It had all of the best of a slasher: gore, wit, and great characters. And the best part of it all is that it takes place in a theme park. I highly recommend this one!

[Sheri White · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lot of fun; I love horror stories set in amusement parks.

A comic book writer's most evil and scary character is about to be part of a scary Halloween event at an Australian amusement park.

Then it seems his creation has really come to life, killing people at the park before it's finished. But the worst is saved for Halloween night.

I enjoyed this a lot, and the ending surprised me. Lots of creepiness and suspense throughout, which will keep the reader entertained.

[Jessica (Read book. Repeat) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one held a lot of promise and opened extremely strong. I was super intrigued by the main character and his daughter, and I loved the idea of a work of fiction coming to life. This had all the feel of a good 2000s era slasher mixed in with a supernatural vibe that worked great.

I did find that the story began to feel very dragged out in the second half however, and as though the pacing had dropped quite a bit and felt a little repetitive at times. I think I was just over two thirds of the way through and remember thinking "come onnnnn man, let's get to the climax" and that's nothing on Russell's writing at all, I just felt like some stuff could have possibly been trimmed out a little to lessen the page count. I also felt a little let down by the ending. It was clever and I didn't see if coming until I was supposed to, but it just seemed a teeny bit lacklustre, and I was hoping for more.

All in all, this was a fun, gore filled ride and I love any horror set against the back drop of a theme park.

[Mylene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite the ride!

This was a complete surprise! A fun, wild ride to the very end. Completely different than what I expected. It is a unique story filled with monsters of all kinds. Although there were some plot holes, you will enjoy the cast of characters and have fun with the horror elements. Very enjoyable!

[Randa Sperling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stephen King, you have nothing on this writer!!! Great storyline and characters that left me guessing until the end. Will definitely read more from D.I. Russell!!

[D · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I was enjoying SCREAM RIDE until every woman in the book fell into the written-by-a-dude horror story trap of being either functionally useless or an absolute monster and then getting murdered for it. Cool story, bro.

SCREAM RIDE starts off slow, taking its time building the story, which I didn’t mind. It was moving at fast enough of a pace, with a compelling enough voice that I was enjoying the ride. The first chapter was terrifyingly hilarious and then it was a slow, steady build from there, with tiny little terrifying thing happening after tiny terrifying thing. Things that were hanging out in the periphery at first and then started creeping to the forefront, adding up to an even bigger picture of terror that blew up at the end.

The main character, Carl, was kind of a nothing. A blank space character that just flowed from one scene to another. Everything happened around him, despite the fact that it appeared he was actually the one creating all of the terror coming to life in the park. But he was just kind of burping along the story until the very end where he started taking some action, only to be quelled by the demon bitch. More on that in a minute.

My favorite character was probably Napier, the quintessential dude who actually knows what’s going on, but whom no one listens to. He had his head on his shoulders, went against the grain, and tried to fix things but was ultimately swept under the rug by everyone around him.

It’s almost entirely a male-dominated story. The only two women in the story served no real function in the story other than to be creative deaths at the end. One woman really served absolutely no purpose and ended up a near-catatonic, sniveling mess by the end of it. The other was the “cheating whore” wife, who had a knife pulled on her by Carl, her husband, when he found out she was cheating and it was written in a way that sort of said this was a justified reaction. And the wife was really written to be a gold-digging, frigid, superficial harlot, but if you’re able to look past that and marry her words about Carl with his actions, you’ll see that he’s an emotionally and physically absent husband who is not simply a victim in that particular situation.

Well, the wife ends up pregnant with her lover’s child and Carl, through whatever magic is working through the story, turns that baby into some kind of hell beast. Well, she dies when she gives birth to that thing, which eats her from the inside and then once it’s birthed it chows down on her genitalia. THEN is skitters across the room faster than anyone can catch it and crawls up into the only other woman’s vagina and does the same exact thing, killing her. Can we get any more of a demeaning and degrading death for the only two female characters in this entire book?

Oh wait, there is one more female: Carl’s daughter. But, SPOILER ALERT she’s the mastermind behind all of this terror and ends up being a monster devil bitch herself. Ahahahahahahahaha women are either useless or evil and should die by exploding vagina. COOL COOL COOL.

Tell me you’re a man writing women in a horror story without telling me you’re a man writing women in a horror story.

So yeah. I was pretty well enjoying the book up until all that shredded vagina death at the end there. I really don’t like bringing an author into the review of their book, but I’m pretty sure Freud would have a field day with this one. This is a great example of why I’m real hesitant to read horror written by dudes, because of demon-eaten vagina. I’m not, like, grossed out by it or anything. I’m just disappointed that it’s 2021 (and this book is only a year old) and this is how we’re still using women in horror. It’s old.

2

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of my reviews can be found at https://damppebbles.com/

The new owner of Adventure Point theme park is looking for something to pull in the crowds. It’s approaching Halloween so he asks event manager, David Napier, to liaise with legendary horror comic book writer and illustrator, Carl Campbell, and come up with something which will blow the Australian public away. A sure fire money-spinner, something no one has ever seen before, something unforgettable. But strange things begin to happen to Carl’s associates. As launch night approaches for the new Mutilation Street ride, the project Carl was initially brought in to oversee, things start going wrong for the park and it’s employees. Napier is attacked. He knows there is evil lurking within the grounds. But will he be able to convince his boss and Carl before it’s too late…

The first thing to say about Scream Ride is that it’s the first book in a long time which has made me squirm in disgust. I was absolutely fine throughout, except for one scene. If you’ve read the book, you may be able to guess what I’m talking about. If you don’t have a strong stomach or you’re not a regular horror reader, this may not be the book for you. Apart from that little blip (which completely grossed me out) I really enjoyed this blood-soaked, gore-drenched tale.

I found Carl Campbell oddly likeable. He’s a little bit smug about his talent, a little bit arrogant perhaps but he’s good at what he does, so why not? He certainly has a solid, devoted fan-base. I liked his back story. Carl is a widower who has remarried after the brutal death of his first wife, Chrissy. His second wife, Hannah, is only after his money and nothing else. Her relationship with Carl’s twelve year old daughter, Bethany, is strained to say the least.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes, but only if you have an iron stomach. Scream Ride is quite the page-turner. I enjoyed how the story played out. I was hoping for a lot of spilt blood and oh boy, did I get it! The ending was a big surprise – I certainly didn’t see the twist coming – but I thought it was a perfect way to end the book. It was a nice surprise to discover the book is Australian, based on my current obsession with Australian crime fiction. I’m very glad I picked this one up and will be looking out for more books by this author. Recommended.

[Jesslyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
This is what you call a real 'ride', my friend. It was a good read. However, I need more explanation on the situation after all those nightmares.
- What happens to Adventure Point after that? Are they closing up? If not, how do they clean it up? It said ' franchise skyrocketed'. Why, though?
- Is there any news regarding what happened? What happens then?
- What about Carl and Beth? What happens between them since then?
- Are there any other survivors? What happens to the people who stayed outside the ghost house?
- And, what's it about that gift of Bethany? Why is she so obsessed with monsters?
- Why did Chrissy want to make Bethany leave?
- What does it mean when Hannah said that she had made it to this point.'? Becoming rich? Money?

I need more background checks. The epilogue got me more confused.
- Is he continuing to draw more comics?
- What are the reasons why he continues while everything messed up back then?
- Or was everything just an imagination?
What is going on after all?

I need more despite the number of pages. This book is long enough, but I NEED it to be longer to have me understand.
Overall, it was an enjoyable read despite the massacre that overwhelmed me.

[Brandon Nelson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This had a lot of potential!

BUT:
- The characters are all pretty lifeless and one dimensional
- There are far too many moments that just… don’t make sense? I fear that the editor did a horrible job in the final stages
- There isn’t any flow, it was very hard to get lost in. It drags.
- With it being a horror novel set in a theme park, I guess I wanted more of that setting? It would’ve been way cooler if the author delved more into rides during this Halloween theme park and had more of the story take place there. I wanted way less about the author’s outside home life.
- The ending twist basically made no sense. Felt like Mr. Russel wrote himself into a bit of a hole

HOWEVER:
- Some really insane, unexpected, and original body horror, especially near the end
- Really loved the short yet effective epilogue

[lina · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say this book was awesome

I was finally able to finish this book tonight, it took me a little while because I got distracted with people talking to me. Don't you hate when you're so into a book that you get distracted and all you want to do is read. Only one person could distract me and that's okay with me. But in the end I finished it.

But anyways back to the book. This book was so intense that I believe it's going to be made into a movie. All I'm going to give is that imagination can be a dangerous thing. What if you have the power to bring your creations to life? That's all I'm going to give because I hate spoilers in books so I won't do it to you guys. I am not very good at reviews but I try. I give this book 5 lugers out of 5

[Jerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy a good slasher book/movie as much as anyone else. Problem is that most slashers are fun for the moment but easily forgettable. What I enjoyed about this book is that there is actually a story and the writing is good. I honestly hadn't expected that. One of my criteria for deciding between a 3 and 4 star review is whether the story plays out like a mini movie in my head. This one definitely did and it was quite fun. I will admit that I rolled my eyes a bit at the last 3% of the story but the epilogue more than made up for it. Scream Ride is a lot of fun and I look forward to reading more by the author.

[jamie d mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird things are happening around Adventure Point. It is all connected to Carl Campbell and his comics.

The book had a good premise in the beginning. It was going at a steady pace and was interesting till I got to the halfway mark. It started going in a different direction than I thought it was going to go in and the last 100 pages it slowed down and it was just lacking. I struggled not to DNF this book but I finished it because I wanted to see if the ending was worth it. It wasn’t, there was an issue with the twist. It was completely out of nowhere and was a flop. Also, I was also upset with a scene that was completely unnecessary. I will not be recommending this book.

[Brooke · Rating 1 out of 5]

I absolutely will not finish this book. I made it 30% in and the author just had to include one of the MCs looking into a 12 YEAR OLDS ROOM. He then continued on with how thrilling it was to see her YOUNG BUDDING BODY.

NO SIR. WE WILL NOT BE FINISHING THIS TRASH. Maybe next time you should think about that shit before you write about something. ITS DISGUSTING.

[Judy A Flaherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!!!!

Loved this book, just finished reading for the second time. What an ending! If you like amusement parks and dark rides, this is not to be missed!!
Thee ending has such a twist that you need to read this book JUST for the ending.

[Tricia Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scary

This book had the hairs on my arms standing up and the lights always on at night. Didn't want to turn them off to go to bed. This is a great story and frightened me. Well worth the read. Ending was unexpected

[Zimbellina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was some excellent amusement park horror set in Australia. I loved it and had heaps of fun reading it! That ending was wild, the last hour of book was just kill upon kill and it was great! Awesome ending.

[Cody · Rating 3 out of 5]

Holy carp!

I'm not much into gorefests. I also guessed who was behind it all pretty much halfway into it. But even so it was still a very good, but creepy story.

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riddled with typos. Absolutely hated the ending!

[David Blaylock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bumped this from 3 to 4 ⭐because I didn't guess how it would end.

[Myste Gardner · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF pg 35

[Tess McCarthy Khlifi · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Haunted Attraction" prompt for Halloween Season reading challenge.