Review: A perfectly scary prequel for The Witching House
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 17, 2013
The Girl from the Blood Coven, by Brian Moreland, is a prequel that provides a little background info on the events that occur in The Witching House. While it’s not necessary to read the novella to understand what’s happening in the novel, horror fans will not want to miss this brief history of the house and the coven of witches that lived there.I really enjoyed Blood Coven because it has the feel of a horror movie, with the action starting almost as soon as you start reading. Sheriff Travis Keagan is relaxing at a bar when his downtime is suddenly disturbed by a blood-covered woman appearing at the door. The girl, Abigail Blackwood, makes an ominous statement about everyone being dead at her house, and the dedicated sheriff wastes no time in going to the location to investigate.As is usually the case with horror stories, the sheriff doesn’t believe in the possibility of a supernatural threat. While the people that live at the infamous Blevins house are known to be witches, Keagan sees them as nothing more than a drug-taking hippie commune. Keep in mind that this novella takes place in 1972 so the hippie commune idea actually makes sense.Moreland does a good job of providing some tense moments in short amount of space, with my favorite moment being when Keagan and his deputy are exploring the crime scene at night, wandering through an unknown house littered with bodies, guided by nothing but the light from their flashlights.It’s a pet peeve of mine to see characters in either a book or movie explore a dangerous place at night because common sense suggests saving the sightseeing for daytime, but the author masterfully avoids that awkward horror trope by having a sheriff as the main character, since crime scenes have to be investigated with no regard given to the time of day or night.The Girl from the Blood Coven is a quick, entertaining read, perfect for whetting your appetite for the horrors that await you in The Witching House.