Review: "Buried Secrets"... the Pros and Cons... 3 Stars
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 16, 2014
"Buried Secrets" is a short story in the horror genre by author Gary Cecil. This Kindle e-book was approximately 22 printed pages and sold for $0.99 at the time of writing this review.Please Note: the author provided me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.General theme (minor spoilers)Max and Megan (M & M) are about to move into the big, old Victorian-style house they'd recently purchased for a song. Expecting their first child, it seems the perfect nest to start a new family. However, all is not quite as perfect as it would appear as the old mansion has a few secrets of its own. The bargain they thought they got at the time of purchase might turn out to be more than they bargained for.Some thoughts on "Buried Secrets"...The Pros:1.) the author presents some interesting variations of a theme that has been tried and tested many times in horror stories throughout the years.2.) generally well written and easy to read.3.) a great cliff hanger ending: an ending that seemed to scream (pardon the pun) for a sequel.The Cons:1.a) realism...  my main concern was the discrepancy between the actual horror encountered and what I'd call an inappropriate response from our pair of heroes.  At the first encounter the author had M & M react to the event in a rather casual manner instead of considering it the truly foreboding sign that it was. Had it been me, I'd been out of that place in a heart beat.I guess in horror tales it's one thing for the victims to be overwhelmed with no chance of escape, verses ignoring an ominous warning sign and then proceed to blunder on to a point of no return... it's these latter scenarios where I struggle with the issues of believability (believable within the context of the setting) in many horror novels, and such was the case here.1.b) the associated conversations seemed weak at times... contrived and a bit forced.2.) the title for this stand alone short story seemed somehow misleading. The tale ends abruptly but never really addressed the reference to either the words 'buried' or 'secrets' alluded to in the story's title.3.) the product description on the amazon.com page practically gives the entire story away... way too much info. A personal, subjective opinion on my part... other readers may disagree.Impressions:Nothing new in the horror setting here, but the author does have some interesting ideas to apply to an old theme.The weakness is the reaction (and accompanying dialogue) of our heroes to the unsettling discoveries they encounter. To me, their reactions to some events (not all) were simply unlikely and resulted in a tale that had an amateurish feel.That being said, this author does appear to have some potential for tales in this genre.As it is... 3 Stars.Ray Nicholsonraynicholsonsreviews@hotmail.com@ralannicholson