Food Fright is not necessarily a book I might have come upon if not for the Rewind or Die series, but the campy, over-the-top gore makes for a perfect fit. I’m not sure exactly what I expected from food horror, but witchcraft was not it. Although we jump to the viewpoints of various characters throughout the story, our main focus is Cassie. She gets roped into a prank that goes just about as wrong as a prank could go, and the repercussions are dire.
Chapter one contains one of the most grotesque scenes so far in the seven books present in the series. You might read it and think, well how the hell is this going to be fun? What exactly has Brennan been smoking? This could definitely have gone a couple ways. This could have been a supernatural revenge story thriller with tension galore. Instead, Nico Bell says nah, we’ve seen that. Know what we haven’t seen? A giant, french, talking, killer croissant. Have you read any stories with murderous clouds of cotton candy lately? No, me neither.
The I know what you did last summer-type vibe is still present, but there are outrageous set pieces littered throughout as the characters head toward a resolution. There are parts that border on cartoonish, but Bell still manages to inject poignant coming-of-age type development into the story.
Simply put, this is a fun story. If that’s the intent you have when you open up Food Fright, I bet it meets your expectations.