Author: Michaelbrent Collings
Paperback: 372 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Release Date: June 5, 2013
Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Move over Stephen King…Clive Barker…fuck it…even R.L. Stine, Michaelbrent Collings is taking over as the new king of the horror book genre. I am have to admit, I am not the biggest reader. When I read a book, it really has to draw me in VERY quickly in order to keep my interest. Well, there is something about the way Collings writes that grabs you by the neck and pulls you in immediately starting with the damn Preface. In fact, this is the second book that I have completed from him in the last month, the last being (another great book), “Darkbound”. I am a sucker for a good horror/thriller, so maybe that is the case here but I need to highly recommend this book to everyone since I could not put this book down!
Here is the official premise of the book: You wake up in the morning to discover that you have been sealed into your home. The doors are locked, the windows are barred. THERE’S NO WAY OUT. A madman is playing a deadly game with you and your family. A game with no rules, only consequences. So what do you do? Do you run? Do you hide? OR DO YOU DIE?
The book contains over 100 chapters, but don’t freak out since they are super tight and literally each chapter makes you race to turn the page to see what happens next. Having read this on the Kindle app for my iPhone, when they would include an extra black page between chapters I thought that was very clever since it made you want it even more. The story is slow to unwind, which is perfect to create the fantastic suspense that literally last to the very last page of the Epilogue. There are constant twists and turns throughout. When you think you have it figured out there is another curve thrown at you. If you haven’t of Collings work, I urge you to check it out! He is now one of my favorite authors and I can’t wait to see what he has planned next.
This book has everything a horror/dark fiction fan could want in a novel! The intense, gut-renching suspense takes off right from the beginning. You might think that at some point it would let up while the author focuses his energies in different directions, but not so! Even while the plot progresses and some things begin to come to light, the mystery and tension continue to build.