Spoiler-Free Book Review: The Venue: A Wedding Novel

The Venue by T.J. Payne is a wild romp of a horror novel. I enjoy horror with a side of fun, and this book has plenty of both.

In The Venue, Amy Holgate is invited to the wedding of a former/distant friend, along with her parents and her recently turned ex-girlfriend.

That sounds like a setup for some serious drama, but Amy and her ex, Mariko, get along seamlessly.

The real drama is that the bride and groom, Lilith and Caleb, are planning an extra-special reception at The Venue: a mysterious upscale location for the ultrarich. What makes this reception special? You can probably guess by looking at the cover—murder is on the menu.

There's a lot of dark humor in this book, which balances out the violence and gore. My favorite gag was the DJ playing basic wedding songs during scenes of brutality.

I do think there was room for improvement. Caleb and Lilith's guest list is full of people who have supposedly wronged them. Amy's transgression was nothing more than a misunderstanding on Caleb's part, but the rest of the guests seemed to have been genuine assholes. I would have liked it better if the story had stuck to one lane: either Caleb and Lilith had been misunderstanding these "slights" against them the whole time, or a reveal that Amy had been an asshole to Caleb.

But all in all, this was a super entertaining book that I am happy to recommend!

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