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Heads Will Roll by Josh Winning is a fun, blood-splattered romp through familiar slasher territory, and for fans of the genre, there’s definitely something to enjoy here. It’s a modern take on the summer camp killer setup, complete with eerie woods, a group of people with dark secrets, and a masked murderer picking them off one by one. There are some genuinely tense moments that had me hooked, and the pacing, particularly once the chaos kicks off, keeps things moving at a decent clip.
The atmosphere is spot on—creepy, isolated, and dripping with dread. It’s clear Winning knows and loves horror, and that affection bleeds through in the setting and structure. You can almost see the fog rolling in across the lake as someone runs screaming into the dark. The slasher tone is captured really well, and some of the kills are delightfully brutal in that over-the-top, popcorn-movie kind of way.
Where it falters, though, is in the character work. The cast is made up ofl adults—people with ex-wives, ex-husbands, careers, trauma, and a lot of life behind them. But for some reason, they act and talk like a group of stroppy teenagers. Their dialogue is often juvenile, full of forced banter, sarcasm, and emotional reactions that just don’t line up with the maturity their backstories suggest. It’s jarring, and it breaks immersion more than once. If these characters had been written as twenty-something camp counsellors fresh out of uni, it would’ve made more sense. But as supposedly world-weary adults, their behaviour often feels cartoonish.
Another issue—and one that crops up a lot in horror books and films—is the inclusion of a horror-fan character who spends the story making references to other horror texts. This could have been a fun nod to genre fans, but instead it falls into the usual trap: the references feel wedged in, and they don’t really add anything to the story other than a brief “spot the quote” moment. Except in this case, the reader isn’t even allowed to make the connection themselves—we’re told exactly where every reference is from, as if the book doesn’t trust us to recognise them. It ends up feeling a bit like a checklist rather than a natural part of the dialogue or characterisation.
Despite its flaws, Heads Will Roll isn’t a bad read. It has some gripping moments, a solid structure, and enough blood and tension to keep things interesting. But the character inconsistencies and the heavy-handed horror nods stop it from reaching its full potential. A decent, if imperfect, entry in the modern slasher revival.
Gareth Ellis - Author 