Review: Creepy, harrowing, gut churning...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 20, 2014
I started this novel in bed last night, and shouldn't have begun reading it after 1 in the morning. I read all of it in two hours, my eyes riveted to the screen. Flesh Harvest is gruesome. It jumps right into a harrowing atmosphere and ups the pressure every 2 pages.Osmo starts off as the meekest husband in history, only to end this novel as wise and the champion. Losing his family (and for all appearances his mind too) did wonders for his courage. Rayne doesn't hold back on details, and it's all a bit gut churning to read one grisly death after another, because nothing survives the 'farm'.The mood is thick with apprehension, everyone who goes to the farm 'disappears' from the quiet rural town. A new cop in town finally seeks Osmo's help when his own family disappear. The descriptiveness of the writing communicates creepiness so well that your own tension builds, and this novel is enough to make you afraid of scarecrows and hobos. The ending is a bloody standoff, and the last scene will make you wonder about certain nocturnal creatures (who I'm rather fond of).Then at the very end is the first chapter of Rayne's novelette Sunshine. That was enough to keep me lying in bed wide awake, listening to every creak and groan, my minds eye still seeing an eyeball hanging from its socket, drying and stinging, hurting....Rayne can craft a riveting and macabre scene with such alacrity that it plays out as if you're watching a movie (these really would make great movies!) Well done Mr Rayne. I've already started reading Sunshine and commend you on a gritty and noir imagination which you communicate succinctly to your readers. Absolutely 5 stars.