Cicada by Tanya Pell: Review by Gabino Iglesias

Cicada, Tanya Pell (Shortwave 978-1-95956-534-5, $13.99, 192pp, tp) September 2024. Cover by Alan Lastufka.

Tanya Pell’s Cicada is a fun, fast, pulpy horror novel that’s part survival narrative and part crea­ture feature. It’s also a book that’s packed with tips of the hat and the kind of writing that lets you know an author is really a fan of the genre and has a great time doing what they do.

Ash and her boyfriend were on their way to a concert, but they got lost in the middle of nowhere and ended up at a rural horror film festival in the small town of Revelation. The trip was supposed to help the relationship, but it did the opposite. Now Ash is caught in a place she doesn’t want to be in the company of a guy she no longer wants to be with. Also, the film festival, which is built around a found footage movie about a giant killer cicada that has a cult following, is pretty awful. As things worsen with her boyfriend, so does their entire situation. The roads out of Revelation are closed, and the people in charge of the festival are acting strange. By the time Ash realizes what’s happening, it’s too late. The found footage movie had more than a kernel of truth at its core, and Ash, along with a small group of outsiders, will soon start fighting for their lives.

Cicada is the kind of book that focuses on action more than backstory. We meet a lot of characters, but we don’t get to know them well. While this can be a weakness, it doesn’t matter here. Ash is the heart of the book, and her voice and humor carry all of it very well. This is a story about a creepy little town and desperate people trying to run away from a giant killer cicada with a human head, and the amount of action, desperation, violence, tension, and gore fill up most of the narrative, so there’s little time for other things.

Pell is an exciting new voice in horror, and her love for the genre is palpable in every page here. From found footage to a creepy town full of smiling folks full of evil intentions to a monstrous cicada the size of a horse to a character at a gas station that throws out an ambiguous warning, this novel plays around with a handful of horror fiction tropes, but it does so in a way that lets readers know it’s all be­ing done on purpose and Pell is always in control.

There are a few flaws here and there, with the repetitive use of ‘‘probiscis’’ instead of proboscis and one mention of pus that shows up immedi­ately instead of over a few days being the two that bothered this reader the most. However, the story’s wonderful pacing and the author’s knack for witty dialogue, not to mention the gigantic cicada that sucks people dry and leaves behind a dried-out husk, are more than enough to make up for those little things. Shortwave Media is putting out some interesting books, and Pell is a great addition to their catalog. Creature features, when done right, are quick and brutal, and that’s exactly what you get here. However, there is also some social com­mentary and Ash’s thoughts about her crumbling relationship. Both of these things add something to the story.

If you miss going to your local video place to rent horror movies, this book is for you. That said, this book will alter the way you look at cicadas, so read at your own risk.

This review and more like it in the October 2024 issue of Locus.

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