Burn The Negative is a spine chilling, Mommie Dearest, can’t put down book which will leave the reader exhausted, it’s that good! It’s horror, mystery, dysfunctional family all rolled into one juicy, scary story!

Laura Warren is a magazine journalist who is given the assignment of a lifetime! They are remaking a 1990’s cult classic movie called The Guesthouse and she has flown to Los Angeles to interview the cast and crew. But, unbeknownst to everyone, not only is Laura not happy about the assignment, but she has a personal connection to the previous movie. You see, she was in fact the child in the original movie which had a cult following due to the fact that many of the cast and crew have died. Whether those who died were just unlucky, or there was some sort of curse on the film, no one ever really knew.

Acting as a child was never really Laura’s thing. It was her mothers. Those years were intolerable for Laura. She still has flashbacks of the verbal and physical abuse she endured at the hands of the woman who was supposed to love her. So, she changed her name, her appearance and tried to put her past behind her. Until now.

As she arrives in LA, her anxiety at a high level, she is greeted by the image of a man jumping off a bridge. Is this some kind of omen? You see, she still has dreams about the main character in the film, Needle Man who continues to haunt her even after all these years, as does the deaths of people she knew and cared about.

And now her nightmare has taken center stage as she steps onto the new set, witnesses someone who is playing her character, although they have updated the film in some ways. There is of course a new crew, actors, a new Needle Man and they even brought in a psychic for some strange reason.

But within a day, the bodies begin to stack up and she swears she has an encounter with her worst nightmare, Needle Man. Then her hotel room is trashed, and she becomes the prime suspect in the deaths which are happening. So, with the help of her sister Amy and the psychic, Beverly they begin to try and track down who or what is going on.

Unfortunately, what they discover is that the connection between the two movies and the murders is one person…Laura! As they try and find clues, it seems someone is always a step ahead of them. Needle Man. Who is he? What does he want with Laura?

Burn The Negative will have you glued to your chair! It’s everything a reader wishes for in an exciting horror story, but with so much more! The ending? Needle(ss) to say…perfection!

Thank you #NetGalley #G.P.Putnam’sSons #BurnTheNegative #JoshWinning for the advanced copy.

I really loved this book. The writing felt like I was watching a horror movie and I loved Needle man. Laura was a very interesting main character. The only thing I didn't like was the ending. I thought it went on longer than it needed.

Fluffy slightly spooky horror story about a cursed film and the child star now adult actress that must figure out to stop the deaths that are occurring around the film. I enjoyed the book until the end which completely didn’t match the rest of the book and almost seemed tacked on like an afterthought. Thanks to NetGalley the chance to read and review this book.

There is a lot want to say, but I am afraid that would be a spoiler. So I will try to be vague. There was a lot of creepy parts that I liked the use of other documents. The history with the movie added to the creepy factor. There were several parts that were a little too convenient and those took me out of the story. I am still not sure how I feel about the ending. It definitely left me thinking about the story after I finished it. So it’s good on that account. Overall I enjoyed the characters and backstory. It felt appropriately creepy.

I really liked the set-up of the story and learning about the cursed film from the 90’s. As the story went on I felt it was a bit drawn out and towards the end it got quite convoluted. Overall this was a bit of a mixed experience for me - some of it was very enjoyable while other parts struggled to keep my interest.

This was a really interesting read with a unique premise. The main character is a journalist and I like that it seemed she didn't make the same "bad decisions" that usually befall MCs in horror. This is a great homage to horror films, cult classics and even sequels/remakes. The plot definitely pulls you in.

Josh Winning is definitely getting added to my list of insta-buy authors. After coming out the door strong with The Shadow Glass, Winning is back with another thrilling, terrifying journey into the dark. Instead of 80s Fantasy films our theme this time is old school slashers, but the commentary on nostalgia, the film industry, and the way our parents change us, for better or worse, remains. 10/10 would experience this particular brand of paranoia again. By the end I didn't know who to trust!

This was a great read! It was fun, had some cheesy moments but they worked. Definitely recommend for horror movie fans.

I loved how campy this one was and how it played with well known horror movie tropes. I appreciated the mixed-media interludes. A big theme in this one was the difficulties of being a child star and facing past trauma. I had a hard time connecting with the characters' decisions sometimes but that also felt true to some horror movies.

I loved this book. It is not often that the ending to one of these types of books is truly satisfying, but this one hit all of the notes. Laura did everything she could to escape the childhood star she once was. After all, she was the star of a cursed movie! Her cast mates died in horrible ways which mirrored the movie they had made. Now, it is being rebooted. Are the murders, too?

The book had a nice balance of horror and self awareness to be truly satisfying. There was Hollywood magic. There was a supernatural explanation. There was a history and a solution laid out for us all. But it went way beyond that. I cannot wait until they make the movie. And then the reboot!

Burn the Negative was a fun, spooky ride of a book that kept me guessing the whole way through. Just when I thought I had it figured out something would happen that had me second guessing everything! I'd say you don't have to be a horror movie fan to enjoy this one, but you will definitely enjoy it more if you are.

Laura is a former child star who quit show biz after one movie, The Guesthouse. Now a journalist and living in England, Laura inadvertently finds herself back in LA on the set of It Feeds, which is meant to be a reboot of The Guesthouse 30 years later. The only problem? The Guesthouse is a "cursed" film and almost everyone associated with the original film has died in deaths that mirror the movie deaths. And now it looks like the curse is back on the set of It Feeds.

This was really a fun throwback to horror movies, especially those with cult followings that are seemingly cursed. I thought back a lot to the Poltergeist and Twilight Zone franchises. The pacing was excellent and the story never really seemed to slow down at all. I loved all of the mixed media sprinkled throughout, especially the snippets from the cursed films book and pages from The Guesthouse scripts. It really added to the ambiance.

I had a great time with this one and would recommend it to anyone looking for a spooky read, especially if you like horror movies (and our patron saint Winona Ryder).

Thank you to GP Putnam and NetGalley for a review copy.

This book is a 10/10! and I loved every single page!!

Burn the Negative was anything but predictable, twists and turns around every corner and I never had any idea what was going to happen next! That ending was completely unexpected and utterly perfect.

I will definitely be adding a copy of this to my library as soon as possible.

What a creepy read!

This follows Laura who’s a successful journalist and a child star. She gets sent on this job by her ex, not knowing what she was walking into—basically the remake of the curse horror film she stared in, and has been trying desperately to distance herself.

Many people apart of this film have died mysteriously. While covering this, we see glimpses of the past and a bunch a eery things start happening.

I overall enjoyed this read, definitely kept me on my toes a few times, it does get a little predictable towards the end however. This is my first read by this author, but I would definitely give another work of his a read after this!

Thank you to NetGalley and Josh Winnings for providing me an advanced copy for my honest review!

If you're a fan horror movies, Burn the Negative is for you. It follows journalist Laura Warren on the set of horror reboot of The Guesthouse, a poltergeist-like movie being rebooted into a show. The cast is unaware that Laura is the former childhood star of The Guesthouse, which was plagued with its own demons during and after filming. As soon as Laura arrives on set, things start going awry and bodies start dropping. Is it the curse of The Guesthouse striking the reboot or are more sinister forces at work?

If you're a horror fan, there are easter eggs abound in Burn the Negative. From obvious nods to Poltergeist, late 90s and early 2000s teen horror movies, and a Freddy Krueger like monster in The Needleman. Burn the Negative was predictable at times, but the end had me aghast at what was happening. I was surprised at the turn of events in the third act of this book as things take quite a turn. Want to know more you'll have to pick up Burn the Negative to know more.

Burn the Negative is described as Scream meets My Best Friend's Exorcism and I think that's a great comparison. So if you're a fan of either of those or just want a great read, pick up Burn the Negative.

Thank you to Netgalley and G.P. Putnam for a copy in exchange for my review.

This was pretty good. I was kind of rushing thru the last 80 pages. It gave me scream vibes. I didn't like the ending tho, but that might be because I didn't understand it. Overall, it was 3.5 stars.

Laura is on her way to LA to cover the reboot of The Guesthouse, It Feeds for Zeppelin Magazine. Anyone else would have been thrilled to be doing so, but Laura hides a deep dark secret that very few people outside of her family know--she was the original Tammy Manners. After deaths start plaguing the cast and crew, Laura's parents flee the country and move to London. Laura is not eager to stir up old memories, and she may be right to worry, as soon deaths and accidents start befalling the cast and crew of It Feeds....

This book was excellent! Much like The Shadow Glass, this evokes memories of the 90s, of the horror movies that were famous in that decade, especially Nightmare on Elm Street. The movie bad guy, Mr. Needleface,, with his needles in place of fingers, evokes the knife hands of Freddy Krueger. Each gruesome death keeps you guessing which of the 9 original deaths will happen next, from burning to being buried alive. I think we could have used a bit more of how awful the relationship was between Laura and her now-estranged mother was back in the 90s when she was filming The Guesthouse, but I really enjoyed this book and all the shakes and shivers it caused while reading it!

Burn the negative is a fast-paced read that intersects slasher media with a murder mystery. The novel follows a former child star who was last of a horror movie that saw its stars and crew mysteriously die in ways similar to the characters. Legend was born that the movie was cursed and they were being haunted by the ghost of the needle man upon whom which the film was based. The former star is a reporter and is sent on assignment to cover the reboot of the film made into a Netflix series. However, upon her arrival, mysterious deaths plague the new production and she begins to see The Needle Man-or is she imagining it?

The novel intersperses the action of the plot with “real”clips of stories and media that followed the trajectory of the original film and the curse.

This is a fast-paced and fun thriller that takes a creative approach to a tired genre. There are also deeper themes at play about repressed trauma and the price for fame.

This is a fun summer read that only falls short with characterization and dialogue. Like a true slasher film, the characters take a back seat to the action and the dialogue feels wooden at times, otherwise, stay for the fast-moving plot.

Thanks to the publisher for providing this arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A former child actress, a cursed horror movie, and a remake that starts going wrong. Burn the Negative had a plot that really pulled me in. I liked the book overall and the fun references to a lot of different horror movies. But I also wasn’t totally blown away by anything present in the book and also felt like some parts were a bit anticlimactic.

It was interesting watching the story unfold and seeing if there actually was a curse or if that was just the thing of horror movie legend. There are mixed media elements in between each chapter, and I really enjoyed the ones that related to the movie’s fandom and discussions of what went on. They felt very real and added to the legend of the movie within the book. I also enjoyed the exploration of a former child, what her experience was like in the industry, and how it still impacted her into adulthood even after changing her name and keeping her past a secret. There were also some very effective scenes when it came to creepy imagery and suspense.

However, while I did like some of the mixed media bits, not all of them felt necessary. It seemed like maybe the author thought that they needed to be between every chapter instead of sporadically. So there were just these inconsequential pieces that didn’t really do anything for the story and felt shoehorned in. Also, some of the climax of the book felt too easy and the deaths didn’t really phase me emotionally. I wanted to feel more impacted, but it felt like things were happening too quickly for me to be fully invested.

While I do have some complaints about the book, I still think this was a good read and I’d recommend it for horror movie fans. There are entertaining references and horror movie commentary that adds an extra layer to the story.

this one didn't quite land for me but at the same time it was entertaining. I thought the premise and idea behind it was solid but some parts were a bit ridiculous to me and some parts needed to be more fleshed out.

Thank you NetGalley, G.P. Putnam's Sons, and Josh Winning for the advanced copy of Burn the Negative in exchange for my honest review.

The premise, along with the first ~70% or so of the book, were completely engrossing. I was totally hooked on the storyline and figuring out what was going on. (If you find yourself fascinated with the true story of what happened to the cast of The Poltergeist, it's very reminiscent of that!)

Unfortunately when it came to the big reveal there was just something about it that didn't quite hit for me. It somehow made the story feel a little disjointed. Without spoiling anything, the character development and thought process of our female MC was honestly baffling at the end.

Nevertheless, I won't hesitate to read this author again in the future! I loved the concept of this one.