Review: Not suited to a mature reader of horror
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 09 20, 2012
The plot is the fairly standard "something out there is killing our people". The setting is also stock standard: a small country town, with most scenes happening at night. And the characters are also the type you would expect to find on a typical horror/slasher film. As a reader I was content with this form because it is one that many brilliant horror writers have successfully exploited time after time.This should have been a good book. I really felt the potential there and the author really attempted to create a sense of pace. Alas so many things let it down. These are:1. Shallow characters: The author would tell us the character's name, physical appearance and background. However nothing in the way these characters behaved tended to reflect what we knew about them. For example, one character is a former FBI agent. But does he behave like a former FBI agent? No. Not that I have any real idea how a former FBI agent would behave, but I imagine there would be more frustration at lack of resources, strong attitudes towards particular procedural approaches in the field, gnawing insights, etc. Another character is a Roman Catholic priest, but to be honest he just did not come across as acting like one. Then there are a couple of teenage boys who we are told are exceptionally intelligent, but other than having a bit of an idea what the "something" is, they come across as more or less the same as every other clueless individual in the story.2. Painful and incessant banter: Apparently most of the people in this small country town engage in perpetual colourful banter. Maybe some in-breeding has given them all the same personality.3. Inappropriate responses and behaviour: I don't mean anything rude, I just mean dialogue and behaviour inconsistent with the situations. I suspect some of this was attempts at humour, but if so it failed.4. Cannon-fodder: In Star trek there was always someone in a red shirt who was bound to die once the landing party were on the planet. This novel is crawling with "red shirts", some of whom the author intends us to develop affection for before their demise, but their placement and role is so superficial (other than as Death-bait) that they merely leave the reader thinking "why?"5. Religious and/or mythological and/or magical references without any coherent theme. For much of the story the author came across as uncertain as to which mythos the "something out there" derived from. Also, the author mentions the word "grimoire" and the names of traditional Judeo-Christian demons as if this is all it takes to suggest something evil is out and about.I can't see myself buying anything else the author has written until they get a critical editor who forces them to cut out the aforementioned issues in future books.  Perhaps even a rewrite and a re-issue would be in order. But I sincerely cannot recommend the book as it is