Bury Your Gays | Review

Rating - ⭐⭐1/2

"Misha is a jaded scriptwriter who has been working in Hollywood for years, and has just been nominated for his first Oscar. But when he's pressured by his producers to kill off a gay character in the upcoming season finale―"for the algorithm"―Misha discovers that it's not that simple.

As he is haunted by his past, and past mistakes, Misha must risk everything to find a way to do what's right―before it's too late."

---

Bury Your Gays is a standalone queer horror novel by Chuck Tingle.

This book was a huge swing and a miss for me. I was rather intrigued by the premise, as a queer survival horror book sounded like a good time. Well, not for the characters but for me to read at least. And for a second, it was interesting, up until the story took a sharp left turn into unknown territory. Here is what I mean by that.

Without giving away too much, as the summary also doesn't divulge much about the book, the initial plot and horror elements were fun and could have made for a really good story if it had stayed on that path. It didn't, however, and the story took a turn that not only did I feel wasn't for me, but I also felt like it didn't fit the story at all. It ended up making the book seem like three separate stories that do technically line up, but not very seamlessly.

So 30% of the book had promise that was wasted by a flat change in theme. It is a shame since I did like the original horror elements and characters (mainly tara here, since I didn't care too much about the main character) were fun to follow. I am a bit confounded since the story does have a lot of good reviews, and I don't really see why. It does get some bonus points for its commentary on LGBTQ characters in media as well as for including an ace character, which is rather rare, unfortunately. But basing my opinion mostly around thematics and genre, the story did nothing for me.

If you, like me, are approaching this story hoping for a campy horror novel, you're not really going to get that. Again, while it does have some pretty good horror elements and creepy characters, the genre blending ruined it for me. Who knows, though? Maybe you will find it unsettling?