"Burn the Negative" by Josh Winning is a literary rollercoaster that takes readers on a thrilling journey through the shadows of the human psyche. This psychological thriller is a tour de force, showcasing Winning's mastery in crafting a narrative that is both chilling and thought-provoking. The novel introduces us to a world where reality blurs with the surreal, and the boundaries between sanity and madness are constantly tested. The protagonist's descent into the labyrinth of their own mind is both harrowing and mesmerizing. Winning skillfully delves into the complexities of mental health, presenting a narrative that is as poignant as it is unnerving. The writing is a standout feature of the book. Winning's prose is sharp, evocative, and unflinchingly honest. The narrative unfolds with a sense of urgency, keeping readers hooked with every twist and turn. The author masterfully creates an atmosphere of tension and unease, making it impossible to put the book down.

An interesting story with some scary moments. The plot was good and kept me engaged.
Many thanks to PENGUIN GROUP Putnam and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy in exchange for honest feedback. An interesting take on slasher movies and the child actor industry.

I love a good slasher, and this was extremely good. Tense and fun and engaging. I definitely recommend it for fans of the genre.

I like it. The story was a bit chaotic, and I was hoping for a bit more reasoning behind the "curse" but otherwise it was enjoyable. I did not expect to commiserate with Laura/Polly over the situation with her mother, it hit very close to home with me taking care of my dad after he had a stroke after him being horrible to me my entire life and him being a different person.

This was a very solid, well written horror! I can't say I loved it, though I'm not sure I could spell out the "why". Winning did a great job setting the spooky tone and giving the audience all manner of possible explanations and suspects for what was happening to Laura and those being targeted. And what a killer of a epilogue! I think I got a bit annoyed with some of the repetitive descriptions for reactions (hands going numb, stomach turning to ice, etc). There are so many ways to say someone felt scared, yet Winning relied very heavily on two or three for Laura. Overall, this is a good horror read about the consequences of letting negativity fester.

**Thank you NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the eARC**

A creepy story that evokes cursed films and childhood trauma, particularly of child actors, even if the resolution offers no clear ending.

This is a horror/thriller novel about a woman confronted by her past. Laura Warren was a child movie star who was in a now infamous horror film that has become notorious for being cursed. Think The Omen or Poltergeist; the cast and crew keep dying in weird circumstances. Laura has changed her name and career in hopes of going unnoticed, but when she is sent to interview the cast and crew of a remake of the movie she was in, the strange events start happening again. While this is definitely creepy, I didn't really care for the way the ending was tied together. I don't know how it could have been a little better, but I just was not a fan of the way things ended. However, overall I enjoyed this book.

Burn The Negative
By Josh Winning
Review and Rating 3 ⭐️

Burn The Negative is a horror novel perfect for fans of 80’s and 90’s slasher films. Creepy and campy but the twists and turns are plenty. If you go into this one just looking to have a good time, like watching your favorite horror movie, and not expecting too much, you won’t be disappointed! 3 ⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the eARC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.


Book Rating Key
⭐️ Not Recommended
⭐️⭐️ Readable Book
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Good Book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Excellent Book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Near Perfect Book
***Note*** I seldom give ⭐️or ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ratings. If I feel a book is a ⭐️sometimes I just prefer to not finish reading it and not rate it. As for 5 ⭐️books, I think of those as books I would want to take with me to a deserted island 🏝️, and this means I read a whole lot of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️star books. Happy Reading!

Burn the Negative
Written by Josh Winning
Read by Stephanie Cannon
Book 223/200
Genre: Horror
Format: Digital/Audio, ARC
Pages/Time: 368/10hr 6min
Published: 2023
Rating: 8.5/10
Horror: 👻👻👻

Josh Winning's new horror novel takes on the scariest of Hollywood's phenomena, the remake of a classic movie. Burn the Negative is a super interesting and exciting read! Almost the entire cast of The Guesthouse was murdered shortly after the film's release, and now more mysterious killings are taking place now that the movie is being remade.

Winning's new book is a very well done spooky story for the Halloween season. Throughout the story, I kept going back and forth on what I think was going on, and the twist at the end was very well handled. I had a lot of fun with this read!

As a fan of 90's horror movies, and loving of all things 'cursed films' (e.g. Poltergeist) I was very excited to be approved to read Burn the Negative. The synopsis sounded like a movie I would definitely have picked up from Blockbuster. The plot was fun, but ultimately just didn't deliver. I found Laura to be an incredibly unlikable character, and it was really hard to pull for her. It was really hard to cheer or care for any of the characters. By the end we've gone full-on Jason Borne in terms of action, disguises, and cop chases, and just became ott for me. I also felt this was really pulling *heavily* from Wes Craven's New Nightmare. I was on the fence on whether or not I liked the ending, but decided I guess I did. I'd read another book from Josh Winning, and would recommend this to horror fans, especially those that love cursed films lore.

Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the e-ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Burn the Negative does something I LOVE: combines a story with outside elements like newspaper articles, script pages, etc that, for me, just make my immersion into the story so much better!

Laura is sent to LA to write a magazine article covering the remake of the cursed movie she starred in at age 7….and bad things happen.

I loved this story. Fast moving, interesting, with a creepy monster and great setting. I’d recommend for fans of slasher horror movies and books like Night Film by Marisha Pessl (one of my favs). Burn the Negative will be one of my top reads of 2023.

This is an instance where I’d recommended a physical copy of the book. On the kindle version it was hard to read the pages where there was a movie script, blog post, etc. I requested my library purchase a hardcover and they did which I promptly borrowed.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the e-arc I received in exchange for my honest review.

I went into this book blind. I had never read anything from this author before. I thought the book was boring. I couldn’t get into the book at all. I had to put it down at 30% I just couldn’t continue

I had such a great time with this book. The interstitial articles really made me feel like this was a real movie that existed.

It had so many twists and turns and was perfect for any fan of 90's horror movies.

I’m not sure how I feel about this one. I was hooked from the beginning and it’s a book that’s easy to binge which is always nice. The plot reminded me of so many of my favorite movies; scream 3, final destination, darkness falls. Definitely read this if you like those movies, are looking for a thriller with some supernatural if you’ve read books like Sarah Gaileys Just Like Home

I was able to obtain a physical copy of Burn the Negative from my library and wow, what a fun ride. Burn the Negative is perfect for fans of horror movies, Riley Saga, and multi media format books.

Laura is an ex child actress, who was once the star of a slasher movie. This movie is known as one of the most cursed films of all time, and Laura left acting because of it. When she's called back to LA to write a journalistic piece on it, the body count begins to increase, leaving Laura to wonder if the curse was ever broken. As people begin to die in manners that match the death's in the movie, Laura delves into her past to hopefully break the curse.

Listen, is this high brow literary horror? Absolutely not, but is it a wild ride, a lot of fun to read and the perfect fall horror to read? Absolutely. It was just creepy enough I couldn't read it after 7pm but I loved it and had a blast while reading.

I picked this one just at the right moment and practically inhaled the chapters. The story is about a journalist reliving her nightmare when she comes to know that a slasher movie is getting remade. In the original version, the journalist played a character thats been haunting her for so long, now that the remake is in works, it opens painful scars for the journalist. The story is not per-se horror, but more thriller with slasher themes which I enjoyed more. Honestly, I could’ve read another 100 pages of this one! Highly recommend.

Thank you Putnam books via Netgalley for the ebook.

the synopsis sounded so intriguing but i really could never get on board with this one sadly. the narrator was a bit too annoying / felt like the writing kept me at arms’ length from getting into her head.

AAAAhhhh, this book was off the chain! I like to think I am a horror aficionado, so this was right up my alley! It was like watching a behind-the-scenes making-of a horror movie while also watching another movie being made in real time. Feeling the nervousness and regret Laura was feeling when she gets to L.A. to do a story on the reimagining of the movie The Guesthouse, as she was a child actor in the original and it's believed that the movie, the set, and the actors are all cursed. But is the curse real? As soon as the deaths begin happening, Laura starts to believe that there may be something to it. This was creepy and atmospheric and it reminded me of when I was young and watched horror movies of the 80s. And that final twist was pretty freaking jaw-dropping! I loved this book so much! I can't wait to read more from Josh Winning!

This book is what I wanted Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie to be.

I was hooked from the very start. It was like Smile, Night Film, and The Nightmare on Elm Street had a baby! Also, you can tell the story was heavily influenced by the real life tragedies that occurred on/off set of the filming of The Exorcist. Morbid but fascinating nonetheless.

The killer wasn’t cheesy to me at all and I was biting my nails in anticipation for the final reveal! I also really enjoyed the ending. Didn’t give me that FIVE STAR FEELING in the end but I would still highly recommend!