Top positive review
4.0 out of 5 starsA Twisted Nightmare of Great Horror!
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 27, 2021
The Good: This book is faced paced, and kept me on the edge of my seat. I wanted to know what was going on at Pinewood Elementary and what had happened in the past. Ryan Herb was an enjoyable protagonist who I thought was the perfect amount of skeptical to lead the reader through this nightmare of a horror story. Honestly I found most of the characters enjoyable, and genuinely felt upset when some came to harm. Finally, the gore. I have no problem reading about gore and violence, and felt that it added to the creepy atmosphere created by the author. But for those that don't like graphic descriptions or children involved in the violence would likely best skip this.
Now is the moment I get to be a bit of a geek. I fully admit that I tend to be the person who loves a great backstory. This is particularly true when it comes to crime and/or paranormal stories. Is there a creepy village with a dark history? You bet I wanna know as much details as much as possible. Got a ghost with a tragic death? Gimme, gimme, gimme those good details. So I found this novel thoroughly detailed accounts of the elementary school's dark past.
The Bad: Ok, there is a alarmingly large problem with this book. I can totally admit that it is what caused me to change my rating from the perfect 5 to a 4. The reveal of the evil source causing the troubles at Highland and eventually Pinewood became glaringly obvious long before it should have been revealed. I believe this was intentional by the author, as there was a reveal long before I anticipated. It does bring the fever pitch-like pace of the plot to a screeching halt. Its recovered, but I feel that it never reaches the same levels it had been at for a good chunk of the novel.
The In Between: The romance. It didn't take away from the plot, but I could have done without it. Just my personal preference with these types of books.
Overall: I can't lie, even with this books faults (and it does have one particularly large one), I absolutely loved it! I wish the reveal of the evil had been held of for a bit longer, as that would have made the book perfect to me. But I greatly appreciate what the author did and I'm glad that I read this book.
Recommended for: I would recommend this book to someone who enjoyed dark horror or thriller books. Those who enjoy or don’t mind graphic descriptions of crimes and like a deep history behind the supernatural elements would also enjoy this book.
