Review: Horror with a Twist
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 5, 2013
Tom Elliot has the life most aspiring writers hope to have, a best-selling author, known for his horror stories, but now his stories come home to visit. I don't want to spoil the plot, but let me just say that his characters literally step off the pages. Yellow ribbons from a mystic child and her mother's screams taunt him, as he struggles with his own mind, not sure if what he sees and hears is real or not. But, isn't that kind of conflict an integral part of a good, tense story? I almost expected to find Rod Serling standing in the corner somewhere explaining the "middle ground between light and shadow." Shattered takes the reader through that middle ground, and Patrick Royal does that with precise detail of each scene. Tom doesn't just take the toast from the toaster. It burns his fingers as he lifts it. And, the descriptions of the supernatural elements of the story take on that same kind of precision.There is a Hitchcockian flavor to this voyage between what we define as reality, the cold touch of an apparition, and what could be a man losing his mind.  Stir in a budding romance that draws Susan into something she didn't bargain for, and you have an author fighting for more than his sanity. After the first few chapters, I thought I knew where this story was going. Then came the twist, and things really got interesting, leading to an unexpected ending.  Shattered puts a creative slant on what could've been just another fright feast. It is not for the faint of heart, but, if you like to read something that gives you that creepy feeling horror readers love, then take a look.