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Book Review: Devil’s Creek by Todd Keisling

cover art for Devil's Creek by Todd Keisling

Devil’s Creek by Todd Keisling.

Silver Shamrock, 2020

ISBN-13 : 978-1951043032

Available:  Paperback, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.com | Amazon.com )

 

Small-town horror is the backbone of much of the horror canon, and for good reason. When done well, it’s claustrophobic, up-close and personal, and forces readers to confront pieces of themselves that could be easily shoved away in a big city or suburbia. When done beautifully, it turns out like Devil’s Creek. Todd Keisling has succeeded in a sub-genre where many fall prey to tired tropes. This novel as a Stoker finalist belongs on the final ballot, as it is greater than the sum of its parts.

There used to be a church in the Stauford,  just fifteen miles from Devil’s Creek.  The Lord’s Church of The Holy Voices devoured many lives in a mass suicide, yet a small group fought against the preacher, Jacob Masters, who served a nameless god that harkened back to echoes of Lovecraft, Machen, and films such as The Void. Mere remnants of the cult remain, with Jacob’s children, the “Stauford Six” surviving to live with the nightmares.

Long after the massacre, Jack Tremly,  one of the “Stauford Six”, returns to Stauford to handle his grandmother’s estate. What ensues carves deep into the bedrock of the town and Devil’s Creek, the bloodlines of the townsfolk, the cult, and religion itself.

The cult/religious element is a tricky endeavor to tackle, but Keisling handles it well, and many see a performance to rival  Salem’s Lot. While I wouldn’t place the novel on that altar yet, Devil’s Creek comes close, and should hoist a few awards this year.

Written with a deft touch, it’s a smooth read that is highly recommended to anyone in the horror fan club.

 

Reviewed by David Simms

 

Editor’s note: Devil’s Creek  is a nominee on the final ballot for this year’s Bram Stoker Awards in the category of Superior Achievement in a Novel. 

Posted on May 12, 2021 by , Reply

Book Review: Goblin by Josh Malerman

cover art for Goblin by Josh Malerman

Goblin by Josh Malerman
Del Rey (May 2021)
ISBN-13 : 978-0593237809
Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook  ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

After several blockbuster novels, and with Malorie, the sequel to Bird Box still fresh in readers’ minds, Josh Malerman finally gets to introduce the town of Goblin to fans everywhere.

 

Goblin is Derry. It’s Oxrun Station. It’s Cedar Hill. It’s Green Town. It’s all of us in our hometowns and yet, it’s something brand new, where the greats would likely fear to live. Think of Goblin as Derry’s disturbed little brother.

 

This book, comprised of a sextet of short novellas, takes the small town motif and shreds it, molding it into something which fills the reader with uneasy pleasure from cover to cover. Malerman seems to display more skill, more darkness, with each story.

 

“A Man In Slices” shows how friendship can be a tricky concept. One boy does whatever he can to help his lonely friend, at any cost.

 

“Kamp” is a lighter tale about a man petrified of a seeing a ghost. Everyone in his family has, and he knows his time is coming. How Walter copes with the expectation will make many readers feel a bit better about their own issues with things that go bump in the night.

 

“Happy Birthday, Hunter” displays the heart and obsession of a man who cannot give up the hunt. Nash’s addiction comes to a boiling point during his 60th birthday party when he decides to kill Goblin’s most prized game in the north woods, a place from which no one ever returns.

 

“Presto” is a love affair with magic, the oldest and darkest kind where a young boy seeks to learn the secrets behind his favorite performer in a story which channels classic Bradbury.

 

“A Mix-Up at the Zoo” details the inner struggle of Dirk, a man who switches jobs to become a tour guide in a zoo, a far cry from his other employment in the slaughterhouse. He finds a talent for understanding the mighty beasts within the cages, but feels a certain darkness brewing when he drifts off in thought.

 

“The Hedges” is the final story in the collection. Mazes built in corn and the famed topiary in the film version of The Shining emerge here. Young Margot claims to have solved the unsolvable creation by Wayne Sherman. What she finds at the end causes her to alert the Goblin police, a decision that might be worse than keeping the secret to herself.

 

The mythology of Goblin’s history is richly drawn within these stories, and connects them with a style that keeps the reader turning pages. Malerman has created a town which may even be darker than King’s, Grant’s, and Bradbury’s nightmares. Goblin is all Malerman and should be listed on every horror reader’s itinerary of places to visit, with the lights turned low and the night breeze creeping into the room. Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by David Simms

Posted on March 22, 2021 by , Reply

Women in Horror Month: Book Review: The Burning Girls: A Novel by C.J. Tudor

cover art for The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor

(   Bookshop.com |  Amazon.com )

The Burning Girls: A Novel by C.J. Tudor

Ballantine Books, 2021

ISBN-13 : 978-1984825025

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

 

Some of the best books straddle genres and wind up splintering the boundaries in the process. Some of the best authors writing today have nailed this, refusing to be pigeonholed.

C.J. Tudor broke through with the phenomenal novel The Chalk Man and now takes her blend of horror, mystery, and thriller, churning it into one of the first hits of the new year.

Set in modern-day England, Reverend Jack Brooks appears to be running from her past when she is reassigned to a church in Chapel Croft, a town where the previous vicar committed suicide. Jack and her daughter Flo reluctantly leave Nottingham after a case that may have involved an exorcism left a young girl dead. Immediately, Jack discovers the small town is full of mysteries, conspiracies, and hidden shadows that make her past resemble heaven.

The legend of the burning girls harkens back to the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary in the sixteenth century, whose purge of Protestants resulted in the deaths of eight victims, including two young girls, through, of course, burning. Thirty years ago, another pair of girls disappeared from the town, apparently meeting with foul play. Toss in another missing vicar, and the stage is set for a creepy tale that might bring to mind the best of Shirley Jackson if channeled through Lauren Beukes.

The legend says that whoever sees the burning girls is destined for a horrific fate. On her first morning, Jack discovers effigies on her doorstep, while Flo catches a fiery specter on film when exploring a disturbing, abandoned house with a boy whose past carries its own hefty shadows.

As Jack discovers the terrors that Chapel Croft has spent centuries burying, she struggles to find who to trust, and who might be seeking to add her to the body count the church seems to invite.

Tudor brings a strong dose of horror that evokes folktale. mythology, and evil in human form, by way of small town mentality. What sets The Burning Girls apart from other novels is the writing. Tudor’s strong voice is both alluring and conversational, deceptively simple in its complex characterization, especially of the role of a female priest in a setting stuck on living in dangerous nostalgia. Humor is utilzed as a foil to the terror Tudor wraps around the twisting plot, succeeding in keeping the reader off guard until the final note is played. Both this novel and the author’s previous offerings are highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by David Simms

Posted on February 21, 2021 by , Reply
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