2007-08-25 CHILLS AND THRILLS...

This Bram Stoker Award winning author hits it out of the ball park with this latest offering. This is a genuinely creepy horror story by one of the best authors in the genre. I simply could not put the book down, finding myself compulsively turning the pages of this book until the very end. Once again, the author manages to hold fans of the horror genre in his thrall, making the reader believe the unbelievable.

Why is it that wealthy men are suddenly running amok and slaughtering their dearest and nearest? What is the meaning of the cryptic messages they are leaving behind? Why are some children that resemble little more than beasts being born? These are some of the mysteries with which reporter Brian Howells and social worker Carrie Daniels grapple.

This book is really two stories, each of which takes place in California, one in the nineteenth century and the other in the present. Both are compelling stories that are inextricably interwoven and intertwined. The author seamlessly weaves these two tales together, creating a highly inventive and entertaining story. As the connection between the past and the present is made clear and the two stories meld into one, the reader is kept spellbound.

Although the ending is the weak link in the book, as it is with so many of this author's other books, it will not diminish the enjoyment that the reader will get in reading this latest offering. The enjoyment lies in the journey to the end. Fans of the author will especially enjoy the author's sly introduction of his old pen name, Phillip Emmons, as a minor character.