Genre: Horror Publication Date: September 22, 2017 Pages: 106 Format: ePub Add to GoodReads & Storygraph Buy on: Amazon
Synopsis
When obsessive scholar Paul Bryce discovers a dark secret in the town of Dernier, he thinks he’s hit a goldmine. Twisted murders, horrifying rituals, a mysterious cult—it’s everything he dreamed of researching, and a strange book promises to hold the answers he seeks. But some secrets should never be revealed...
Review
I received a review copy for free from the author. This review is entirely voluntary.
On one hand, I really enjoyed the horror in this novella. It had levels of Evil Dead and other similar "this book is evil" tropes to it. Very Lovecraftian.
But on the other hand, I struggled because there was so much to the story that was missing that was kind of crucial to the story, I feel. Like why were the two college guys even studying for them to spend a vacation doing research? The history of the town and how it handled the first incident was missing. The story just didn't give a ton of crucial world building and character development to completely hook me. If it had, this would have easily been a 5 Star read for me because it was, at its core, an excellent horror story.
Rating
About the Author
Samantha Lienhard earned her B.A. in English from Mansfield University and her M.F.A. in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. In addition to The Book at Dernier, her publications include a comedy novella called The Zombie Mishap, a short story inspired by Japanese folklore called “Rokurokubi,” and a Lovecraftian horror story called It Came Back. When she isn’t writing, she can usually be found playing video games—or writing video game scripts.