As usual, when I read some good books, I like to share my reviews of them. These two novellas were a lot of fun. I prefer longer books but lately, with all the deadlines and work, I have taken to reading novellas. I can usually get one done in a day and that is worth my money any day, especially when they are written well, such as this week’s novellas are. This first review is for a new novella from a modern master of horror Kealan Patrick Burke titled THIRTY MILES SOUTH OF DRY COUNTY. The other novella is titled BLACK MERCY FALLS by the husband and wife writing team Christopher Fulbright and Angeline Hawkes. After you read my reviews, head on down to darkfuse.com and pick these up for your kindle on the cheap! Enjoy.
THIRTY MILES SOUTH OF DRY COUNTY BY Kealan Patrick Burke
Thirty Miles South Of Dry County by Kealan Patrick Burke is a novella of friendship, a forgotten secret and a haunted town. In TMSODC, Burke makes great use of his fictional town of Milestone (the town also appeared in his novel Currency Of Soul) and when Warwick Tanner, an old man who spent his life hanging out in front of the local liquor store, loses his best friend, he knows of only one place where he can be found, if he could be found at all. Tanner eventually uncovers truths that give a maddening feeling of urgency to the story and keep you glued to the pages till the very end.
Kealan Patrick Burke is a master of creep up on you horror and you never get the chills until it’s too late to turn back. In TMSODC, I got that feeling right around three quarters of the way in. It is a fantastically written novella, even though Kealan Patrick Burke’s country folk dialogue is a bit hard to follow, I still recommend you take it for a spin. You can pick up Thirty Miles South of Dry County at darkfuse.com. Click here to take you right to it!
BLACK MERCY FALLS by Christopher Fulbright & Angeline Hawkes
I will admit that this is the first time I have A: ever heard of Christopher Fulbright and Angeline Hawkes and B: ever read any of their work and upon finishing Black Mercy Falls I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It is a story about mysteries and an old town legend, missing children and a waterfall that spews Iron Oxide, black and fowl. The protagonist, Lance Evans inherits this crazy waterfall and the land that goes with it from a long estranged uncle but when Lance begins to explore the land, a tragic event unfolds and Lance soon finds that the past will quickly destroy the ones he loves.
Black Mercy Falls is a mixture or crime and horror and reminds me of Tom Piccirilli’s stuff but without the hardcore crime scenes. I will be on the lookout for more from this dynamic duo of crime in the future. Black Mercy Falls is available from darkfuse.com in the kindle edition. Grab it here!
