Review: Travis Luedke Gives Hope to Weary Horror Fans
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 8, 2013
Travis Luedke's The Shepherd offers hope to horror fans weary of the pale, recycled horror populating the current market.One of the coolest things as a reader is finding a new author and watching him grow. In the 80's, I was was lucky enough to discover Dean Koontz before he hit it big. I watched as he improved with each novel until he became the household name he is today.I get the sense that Travis Luedke is on the same path.The Shepherd is his newest novel and it is definitely his strongest. The plot is tightly woven, wasting no space on unnecessary filler.The lead character, Mike Evans, has a crystal clear voice. Readers will get a sense of his personality from the first page. He's 16 from a less-than-ideal home who meets a mysterious young girl named Nadia who changes his life. There is more to Nadia than meets the eye. There is a twist in the middle which I won't spoil for you. Thankfully, unlike so many other writers, Luedke does not bash you over the head with clues. The secret is fun and completely obvious only upon reflection. Much like the twist in The Sixth Sense, I was expecting the story to go one way. Then it went somewhere completely different.I couldn't be happier.A word of caution, the book has a warning about mature subject matter. Luedke has chosen to write Mike Evans in a very realistic way. There are copious amounts of profanity, violence, and sexual situations. Many may be offended by the language even though it is realistic based on the character. Though classified as Young Adult, this book has nothing in common with Harry Potter, Twilight, or Hunger Games. The Shepherd is not appropriate for young children (although many could argue that Hunger Games isn't appropriate for young children, either).I chose to read The Shepherd as a straight horror story. It reminds me very much of a good Richard Laymon story. If you're a horror fan and not familiar with Richard Laymon, I strongly recommend you check him out. Travis Luedke is a fine successor to Laymon although he never devolves in to the pure pornography Laymon was prone to.This is Luedke's 5th publisher novel. If he continues to improve his craft at this pace, I'm very interested to see where he will take us in the future.