Review: Witchy Woman
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 11, 2013
The Witching House takes us 40 years into the future after what happened in the short storyThe Girl from the Blood Covenand we are introduced to Sarah Donovan, a timid girl who recently started dating Dean Stratton, an adventurer who loves exploring old buildings with his friends.  Taking a chance, Sarah agrees to go on a trip with Dean to check out an old haunted house in rural Texas where 25 hippies were murdered 40 years earlier.  Their heads were severed in many cases, and others hung themselves, but in some other instances, the bodies of the victims were never found.The quartet enter the house with the assistance of a local guide and find that the old stone house isn't just a creepy old place, but seems to be an almost living, breathing entity that seems bent on their destruction.  Whether it is the house itself or some dark unknown menace it is clear something hungers for their flesh and blood.I've read Brian Moreland's two previous novels and was impressed by his ability to spin a horror tale.  There is a certain level of dread that builds in his works that is based both on his talent as a researcher who provides his readers with a very detailed and vivid world and a knack for creating suspense with solid pacing.  This story is simpler than the historical horror tales he has crafted previously-a ghost story that still has a depth to it because of the believably of the characters and the underlying secrets that are causing the horror to take place.If I have a criticism of this tale, it perhaps has to do with the character Otis, who I wanted to understand better, especially given his ominous yet sad existence.  There was more to him-I could feel it, and wish I could have gotten to know him better.  This is a minor quibble though, as this tale is another solid effort from the author that did not disappoint.