There’s so much to love about this one. The writing style is delightful. The characters feel so real and poignant. And the story just gripped me the whole way. If you like gay horror and/or religious horror, you’re in for a treat. Because this one takes you for an incredibly smart, fun, heart-wrenching ride.

While this book wasn’t exactly what I expected, I enjoyed it regardless. CAMP DAMASCUS takes the somewhat cliche concept of a conversion camp story, and instead of taking the reader through the experience, plays with the aftermath and the truly hellish consequences. As someone who’s grown up in Christianity (like went to Christian camp for 5+ years), I didn’t actually find the text of the book as scary as I thought, though the concept (and the bugs) are definitely pretty horrifying. That said, if you’re a horror fan or looking to exorcise some religious trauma, this is the book for you!

In some ways, I think that this is a book best gone into with almost zero knowledge of what happens. Camp Damascus is the so-called most effective conversion program in the country, nestled among the fairly idyllic Christian community of Neverton, Montana. CAMP DAMASCUS itself is not about the camp, or some fictional story of kids suffering through conversion therapy that doesn’t do anything but make the reader feel bad, but instead takes a horrific twist and looks at just how far love and hate in a religious scenario will go.

I found the book itself to be pretty readable, although it took me a little bit to fully get what was going on. The concept itself was so fascinating, I almost just wish we’d gotten more in-world development than there actually is. The characters themselves were pretty decent, and I really appreciate how Tingle uses various perspectives to display a variety of responses to the trauma that they experience. There are admittedly some times near the end where things get a little bit preachy, and moments that felt like they could have been fleshed out more, but nothing that had any sort of major detraction on my reading experience.

As someone who hasn’t read much adult horror, I thought this was a great foray into it. It has twists and turns, along with some classic queer horror moments (seriously, bugs), and ultimately goes straight for the ugly heart of a so-called idyllic anti-gay community. Definitely worth the read.

Camp Damascus is the story of Rose Darling. Rose is a 20 year old girl living in the extremely religious town of Neverton, Montana. The sect, more or less, that inhabits Neverton is strict, but not outlandishly so. They run a gay conversion camp called Camp Damascus, which boasts that they have a 100% success rate. But at what price?

Weird things start happening to Rose over the course of the novel, and they only keep getting weirder. I read this one in just two sittings because I was quite immersed in it, and I really enjoyed how the story unraveled the mystery of Camp Damascus. When it was unveiled, it was actually kind of a woooow moment for me, because while it wasn’t a huge mystery who did the bad, how they did the bad was just brilliantly thought out.

As Rose (and Neverton in general) are in fact very religious, there is of course a lot of religious symbology and the like in the book, so it might not appeal to all people. However, the religious aspects of the novel are used as a setting, so very non-religious me had no problem getting into it.

All told, I really quite enjoyed my time with Camp Damascus, and I would recommend it to fans of horror with interesting plot twists and LGBT themes. I honestly might give the audiobook a try too, as it’s narrated by Mara Wilson, and now that I’m imagining that, it sounds kind of perfect?

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor Nightfire for gifting me an early copy of this book. Below you'll find my honest review.

The internet knows Chuck Tingle as the writer of very strange, very specific erotic fiction... until now. This short novel will make everyone realize that he's not just a weirdo (which he is), but he's also much, much deeper.

This book revolves around the lengths religion will go to in order to change people it sees as "bad" even at the cost of stepping outside ethical or moral bounds or being hypocrites themselves. And as a gay man raised in the Bible Belt, I could completely identify with this situation.

My biggest gripe with this one is that, in the end, I needed just a bit more. I needed some more closure. I needed to understand how things were going to be moving forward in this world, and I didn't get that. But the rest of the book? Yeah, it was a masterful fictionalization and hyperbolic/fantastical revelation of what many of live on a daily basis because of the actions of "Christians" who "love us." (Please notice I put quotation marks for a reason.)

All in all, a powerful book that will put Chuck Tingle on the "normal" side of the literary map. But for the world's sake, I hope he continues writing both the "normal" and the "weird." The world needs more people pushing boundaries in good ways.

Highly recommended.

I absolutely did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did. Chuck Tingle is truly versatile and unexpected!

This was a good horror mystery to keep me entertained on a summer evening. I liked getting to see how Rose slowly came to her realizations about what had happened the previous summer, and I thought the twist was pretty unique.

I love a novella, but I feel like this book needed a lot more details to flesh everything out. Everything past the first "scarier" scene is sort of at breakneck speed and it's easy to get kind of lost in the pace. I wanted more details about how Rose and Willow met, and how they were even discovered. I just have a hard time reconciling the Rose at the beginning of the book and the end of the book with who Willow must've met, and how that person developed in the environment she was raised in. I guess it would've had a lot more of a hit if we were able to see more of the "before" aside from a few memories.

I'm trying to avoid spoilers here, but I'm curious how the problem that is resolved for Rose, Willow, and Saul will be fixed for the rest of the people who were effected. Like, do they continue to just live like that? Kind of rough.

I've never read Tingle's previous books, but he holds up pretty alright in the writing department for this one. I felt it was pretty stilted at the beginning and more natural later on.

Thanks to Tor Nightfire for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was fun and I think it's an important read (as well as of course a good horror story). The camp does not feature heavily in the pages themselves, but weighs very heavy on the town and minds of those who inhabit it. I like the subversion of what a camp like this is supposed to be, and the supposition that the only way to really solve the "problem" of these teens is... to go supernatural.

I agree with other reviewers that this felt more like YA horror than adult, but that worked for me. I think some of the writing felt disjointed, but then we were reading it from the perspective of a neurodivergent narrator, so I was willing to go along with that. It isn't a perfect book, but it made me laugh and ponder and most importantly made me care that our heroine get her happily ever after (and most importantly, survive). Four solid stars, and a must-read if you've had dealings with fundamentalist Christianity. The scariest parts if this novel were how close to reality its horrors really lie.

An absolute win from the Hugo nominated author of a whole host of novels. The description was just vague enough to get me hooked but give nothing away. I'm crossing my fingers that we get more horror from Chuck Tingle because this absolutely blew me away and I can't wait to recommend it to anyone who will stand still long enough to let me

This book starts with the musings of Rose, a girl raised in a very religious home, whose thoughts include a lot of Biblical quotations, which can be kind of hard to get through - but those fall off fairly quickly after the first couple of chapters. Rose was raised in the Congregation of the Pine, a Christian congregation that runs Camp Damascus, a very successful gay conversion program with a 100% success rate. But something truly odd underlies their success, something truly unexpected from a group that lays its success at the feet of their interpretation of G-d.

Rose is, to outward appearances, a normal, if somewhat overly religious 20 year-old, her parents' only child, and just finishing high school, as members of her church take off 2 years of school to focus on the tenets of their religion. However, she's not really interested in her classmate, Isaiah, who is clearly interested in her, and she's really not sure why - and neither are either set of parents. In an attempt to please her parents, Rose attends Isaiah's birthday party, despite odd feelings of chill that have been plaguing her, and she sees something odd - something no one else can see. Her attempts to discover what it is lead her to the secret of Camp Damascus' success - and it's truly unexpected.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A strong opening chapter followed by a lackluster everything else. I wasn't scared or titillated by this horror novel, Worse, I was bored. Because the author just tells you what happens, instead of describing it in detail, it doesn't seem scary at all. The book is in first person, and the main character doesn't seem bothered so why would I? I've already vaguely guessed what will happen (confirmed by reading other reviews), and it's just not enough to keep me reading this book.

This wasn't at all what I expected from Chuck Tingle's mainstream debut, but it was pretty great! That first chapter was an absolute stunner and left me craving more, a perfect blend of adolescent longing, surprising body horror, and off-kilter cult vibes. This was a wild ride (with some bumps along the way) with some bonkers set pieces, and I'll be thinking about it for quite some time.

Normally books that have any sort of religious aspects are off-putting to me but I wanted to give this one a try because I enjoy horror novels. Let me tell you, this book had me feeling so many different things and while a lot of it enraged me I loved how well written it was!

This one really took me for a ride. Sometimes I don't read what a book is about and just dive in. I did that with this one and boy did I get a surprise! I loved the story arc and the characters. Highly recommend.

This story is so relevant to today's world and I'm happy it's here. Even happier that it follows a horror path. What a great way to connect a gay conversion camp, religion, and horror. Because, quite frankly, the whole idea is horrific. There were some spot on triggers from my days in a strict organized religion. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

Camp Damascus might be the best satire of American Evangelical Christianity that I've read, with some really deep cuts into the nuts and bolds of that culture. Highly recommend to fellow deconstructing and ex-evangelicals if you can deal with horror. The way this book has a chokehold on me...video to come.

This horror novel is about a gay conversion camp run a culty Christian sect. They have a 100% effectiveness rate, but why is that? Rose is a young woman who is devoutly Christian (and as we come to find out autistic, which adds a layer to all of this that will resonate for neurospicy folks), but she's noticing weird feelings about a female friend, has never had interest in a boyfriend, and then starts seeing a creepy woman who might be a demon. And vomiting up live insects. No big deal. But things get stranger and she starts to see the cracks in the faith she has always based her life around. And what's the deal with Camp Damascus run by her church?

Objectively this may not be a perfect book. It's got some pacing issues starting around the middle and is perhaps slightly too long. And arguably Rose comes to realize what's up far faster than is realistic. None of that detracted from my reading experience though and I think this novel is incredibly successful at its aim, and offers a surprising amount of nuance as well. I cannot recommend this enough. I received a copy of this book for review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

Might as well keep the horror trend going with my reads this month so I read Camp Damascus! It follows Rose, a devout follower in a weird church in Montana. All things change when she starts seeing a ghostly woman. What follows is a horrifying mystery that seems to all lead back to the church’s mysterious gay conversion camp- Camp Damascus. Phew, that is one hell of a plot, quite literally. This book had very ambitious goals especially in a short amount of time and I think it somewhat succeeded, it is a shorter book but man it was quite spooky and strange terrifying.
Full review to come on YouTube

For those of you who are familiar with author Chuck Tingle and his 'tingers' (aka monster erotica short stories/novellas), I have some really fun news: Tingle has written a new more mainstream horror novel called CAMP DAMASCUS, with themes that center on self acceptance, religious trauma, bigotry, and some good old fashioned demons. I didn't really know what to expect from this book, as, like many terminally online people, I was more aware of Tingle's work that include titles like 'Space Raptor Butt Invasion'. But I really enjoyed CAMP DAMASCUS as a horror novel, because 1) Tingle really brings out some deeply scary and unsettling moments, and 2) protagonist Rose is so enjoyable because of how Tingle has presented her as a neurodivergent queer person that is starting to realize her deeply conservative and religious community is hiding something truly horrible behind a veneer of piousness. The tension builds at a good pace, the horror imagery really set me on edge a number of times, and I loved that there is the familiar undercurrent of hope that Tingle is known for that courses through this story. Yes there are horrible things that happen in this book, but there is always a flicker of hope that won't be extinguished as Rose starts to right back against her community and the mysterious and duplicitous conversion camp Camp Damascus.

Chuck Tingle has hit the horror mainstream and it's a really fun mainstream debut. Horror fans should give CAMP DAMASCUS a try!

I received and ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Cassandra Khaw continues to demonstrate an amazing ability to create amazingly dark yet believable landscapes. The Salt Grows Heavy is a prime example of how to create an entire world in a short amount of time, then populate it with amazing character which the reader cares about no matter what they do.

Khaw presents us with a mermaid and a monster traveling together, adds in a cannibalistic cult of deathless people, and sprinkles in a healthy dose of squirm inducing gore. While there are some brutal scenes, the bloodshed is never gratuitous.

Brilliant world, brilliant characters, brilliant writing. Highest recommendations.

Chuck Tingle. Hey. I just want to sit you down and chat for a bit.

This book was impossible to stop reading once I started. It was the kind of accident you can't look away from. It wrapped everything I want in a horror novel - especially one tackling conversion camps - in a neat little book and handed me it on a shiny silver platter.

This book was not interested in shying away from gore or religious extremism or cultish brainwashing. This book was raw and beautiful, but also at times absolutely disgusting and I love it for that. I don't want to delve into the plot too much because spoilers abound, but trust me when I say you need to hold on tight.

I do want to put in a warning and emphasize that this book is riddled with triggers (body horror, homophobia both external and internal, religious trauma and indoctrination, just to name a few). Please do not take them lightly and check before you read.

That said, thank you so much to NewGalley, Tor, and Chuck Tingle for giving me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. Excuse me while I go pre-order a physical copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy.

This was a wild ride. I was hesitant about Camp Damascus at first because of the conversion camp that looms large in this book. However, it is handled well through the lens of horror. It's a terrifying and engaging book that makes me root for Rose the entire time.

4/5