Review: A satisfyingly dark read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 6, 2014
This excellent horror story had been on on TBR list for far too long, I've read the authors other book (a collection of short stories called 'Dark County') so I was looking forward to reading this. Thankfully I wasn't dissapointed.On the face of it the story takes a familiar form, a family move into a new home and strange and terrifying events occur. The father is a man of scientific character and struggles with the phenomena and searches for an explanation. Darker events unfold after the discovery of an old chamber in the garden and the battle is on to survive and protect his family.While the story may have a familiar feel, the author demonstrates great skill in making the format his own and in creating an involving read. For me the strengths were how the story was grounded in the real world, quite often these things seem to be squeezed in rather than blended. The technique by which the story is recollected also worked well, it brought th eevents close to home and kept me hooked right up to the ending.The only off notes for me were the initial familiarity with story (although it is well told and does have some interesting twists along the way, so this is really a minor complaint) and I would have liked to have discovered more about the creature at the heart of it all. Still they aren't major issues and shouldn't put you off, this is an excellent horror read.