Title: A Strange Little Place: The Paranormal Secrets of Revelstoke, British Columbia

Author: Brennan Storr

Release date: Originally released August 6th, 2016, re-released October 21st, 2022

If you’ve followed along with my writing journey, reviews or just my social media stuff in general, you’ll know that I was born in Nakusp, BC, but grew up thirty minutes South West-ish in the small town of Burton, BC. From Nakusp, if you were to travel almost two hours North-West-ish (and within that travel is the Galena Bay Ferry trip, which is approximately a thirty minute crossing) you’ll arrive in Revelstoke. I didn’t spend much time in Revelstoke over the years. It was usually a pass-through town onto other places. Somewhere we stopped to get gas or food and growing up, we occasionally played soccer there. My biggest memory of Revelstoke was actually the time we stopped on our way home from Lac La Biche, Alberta and everyone ate at the A & W expect my mom. Everyone who ate there had extreme food poisoning and kept me from eating at A & W for about a decade!

Now, when you grow up in small BC towns (and this may often be the case about small towns all over the world) you end up having these random encounters years later. Heck, my wife and I just had one Friday night, when we went to an event at our Telus World of Science here in Edmonton. We started talking to two people at an Ocean’s Research booth and it turned out the man was actually from Edgewood (another thirty minutes South-West of Burton and yup – across another ferry!) and he even dated my younger sister for almost two years! These random encounters is how I met Brennan Storr. We connected on Twitter two years ago? Last year? after he found my work and invited me on his Podcast, Largely the Truth. We started messaging back and forth – he thinking I was from Edmonton, me thinking he was from Victoria, when we finally started asking specific questions and lo and behold – he was from Revelstoke and he couldn’t believe I was from Burton. In fact – Brennan couldn’t believe that I knew his relative – who he himself was a local folklore hermit out near Lemon Creek/Winlaw. Amazing how small the world truly is.

So, yes – that was a long rambling way to get to this review – but, while I was on his podcast (with the amazing Andrew Pyper!) he mentioned this book and that it might be coming out in a new edition. I snagged it once it was and dove in, expecting an amazing read, but finding and discovering so much more.

What I liked: Non-fiction books work best for me when I don’t know the ‘story.’ For instance, a few years back, a guy landed an airplane in the river near New York. I saw the news stories and the footage etc. I have no desire to read about it or watch any movies about it. I don’t need it dramatized for me – I know exactly what will happen. It’s like being told the big twist, big ending of a book – why would I still want to read it.

Books like this one, ‘A Strange Little Place,’ grab me, because not only is Storr a gifted storyteller, but I got to learn a lot about the history of a town I didn’t know much about, as well as hear some amazing events, occurrences and strangeness from a place with a remarkable back story.

Storr has done his due diligence here, collecting a lot of really engaging instances and experiences and organizing it in a way that even when certain topics shouldn’t flow very well together, they do and it creates a cohesive reading experience.

I will say, my favorite chapters were about Sasquatch and The Hermit and wished we’d had more about The Hermit. I’ve heard instances of a similar thing near Whatshan Lake, close to Edgewood, of people coming across a strange little man hiking high up in areas where it didn’t seem like they should be and then just vanishing around a tree or rock and completely disappearing.

What I didn’t like: I would imagine this was completely a cost thing or an efficiency thing, but I really wished some of the chapters and topics had photos accompanying it. It would be great to see the architecture of some of these old houses, or how Revelstoke has changed over the years, with different areas growing or becoming completely different industry sectors.

Why you should buy this: Much like Indigenous people pass on their stories over the years, Storr has done a masterful job of cataloging these stories that define and make up a lot of the heartbeat of Revelstoke. Part historical document, part examination of what makes a town tick, ‘A Strange Little Place’ does a really good job of walking the line between paranormal document/town history piece, without ever trying to jam anything down the readers throat and tell you that there is no other explanations. This was great and I hope we see more from Storr in this realm, especially knowing places like Trout Lake, Nakusp, Kaslo, Sandon, New Denver, Winlaw, Slocan, Fauquier, Edgewood and even over to Nelson have so many stories just waiting to be gathered.

5/5

Title: Birdsong

Author: Mark MJ Green

Release date: October 27th, 2022

It’s been a number of years since I connected with Mark, through book reviews and a shared love of horror and family. I’m always excited to see when people take the dive into writing fiction and starting to find their way on their writing journey, and Mark has been putting in the time and due diligence to find his voice and start to put out longer pieces. Now, when his previous piece, ‘Abortus,’ was released, it wasn’t something that caught my attention. The synopsis is intriguing, but the perceived subject matter just wasn’t something that I thought would connect with me, so I passed on it. But when this, ‘Birdsong,’ was announced, I was super excited for it and really wanted to see what Mark had created.

What I liked: The story is heartbreaking, but also quite riveting. We follow an elderly woman, gripped by the sad claws of dementia, trying to determine what is real and what isn’t. When she befriends a blackbird, she seems to have made a connection, but this connection comes with a hallucinatory effect that steers her story for the rest of the way.

Green has does a remarkable job of creating a character that the reader instantly loves, but also instantly feels for. She’s lost her husband. At times she remembers this, at other times she’s searching for him, wondering where he’s gone. Is he gone to the store? A walk? each time it happens, the readers heart breaks just a little bit more.

The ending – while telegraphed far earlier in this novella, is still hauntingly poetic and just soul crushing. That we get to experience through our main characters eyes, as well as from the POV of a random passing stranger offers it another level of sadness. I was holding onto hope that somehow we’d get a different ending, but was still ‘happy’ Green went where the story needed to go, no matter how awful it made me feel.

What I didn’t like: There’s a care aide/home worker featured within that visits our main character that really had no reason to be in the story, other than to call for help near the ending. I would’ve maybe liked more of the two of them connecting so that we see some of their relationship building and making what happens – both to the worker and at the end – even more powerful.

Why you should buy this: This novella is an easy one sitting read, but it’ll stay with you long after you’re done. Emotional, impactful and based on something many of us have had some experience with the elderly people in our lives, ‘Birdsong’ raced along, while keeping me on the brink of crying. Really enjoyed this one.

4/5

It’s insane now when I think back to my first introduction to today’s guest and his work. I didn’t even really know it was his work. I was making my way through the Hellboy and BPRD works, which also included Baltimore. Christopher Golden has had his hand in so much of those worlds, but I just never put it together. After reading ‘Ararat,’ I was hooked and only then did I connect the dots!

Christopher has done so much to help and support so many authors, so I for one, am super excited to welcome him today as a 3Q’s Special Guest!

Welcome, Christopher!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

CG: This changes so much over time, depending on what kind of project I’m working on. I’m currently writing several things at once, but when I’m working on a novel, my goal is a minimum 2000 words a day. I tend to get that done mostly between 1pm and 6pm, and the mornings are usually my email and phone call and other business time. Although this year has been absolutely chaotic, so all of those rules are out the window.

Steve: You decide to host a writer’s retreat. One weekend in a luxury house on an island. What three other authors do you invite to come along?

CG: That’s cruel. I know so many wonderful writers and actually have hosted writers’ retreats. But I suspect the nature of the question is more like those “you can have dinner with anyone” questions, so in the spirit of that I will purposely leave out anyone I’ve ever met in person. I’ll say S.A. Cosby, Tana French, and Attica Locke, all of whom I’ve started reading in the past five years, each of whose work I adore, and from each of whom I think I could learn something about storytelling.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release and why someone should read it!

CG: My new novel, ALL HALLOWS, will be out at the end of January. It’s a 1980’s nostalgic Halloween night suburban horror story, a change of pace for me, and a kind of homage to my childhood. As for why you should read it…creepy kids, suburban drama, and a creature called The Cunning Man roaming your neighborhood after dark!

Steve: Bonus Question! You receive an invitation in the mail from one of these two people. The invitation invites you to have dinner and spend the night in their home. Do you accept the invitation from Victor Frankenstein or Dracula and why?

CG: From Victor Frankenstein, of course! Why? So I can befriend his so-called monster!

Excellent choice! Thank you so much, Christopher!

To find more of his work, check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Christopher-Golden/e/B000APAU2I

Website: https://www.christophergolden.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChristophGolden

Here it is, August 2nd, 2022 and I’m just now scheduling this post for October 31, 2022. And you know what makes this double special? LET ME TELL YOU!

1) This is the final 3Q’s of Season TWO!! That’s right! Going forward it will be Season Three with a snazzy BLUE 3Q’s Logo and…

B) J.H. is not only one of my favorite authors, but she’s also a good friend and one of the very few authors I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in real life. It’s hard to fathom it’s already been four months since J.H. and I visited FOREVER, but it was a phenomenal night and one I’d love to replicate again in the future. Well, other than sitting in Boston Pizza and hearing the staff sing Happy Birthday every 25 minutes!

I’m so excited and humbled to have Moncrieff here today, so, please do welcome, J.H.!!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try to write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Moncrieff: At the moment, my writing time is very sporadic. I’m juggling various jobs, including performing as an on-air expert on several true crime documentary series, screenwriting a few episodes, teaching university classes, and developmental editing some client books.

I’m trying my best to write every day, but when I can’t, I can’t. There’s no point in being overly hard on myself about it, especially with big changes on the horizon.

Steve: You win the lottery and the only condition is that you need to fund another author’s book to be made into a movie. What book would you choose to be filmed?

Moncrieff: That’s a really tough question. There’s so many writers I know who deserve that kind of attention, but don’t get a shot in the constant flood of King remakes, etc. When I first read this question, the book Slash by Hunter Shea popped into my head, so that’s the one I’ll go with. But only if someone could do the depth in that story justice in a film.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Moncrieff: I’m hoping to have one or two books released beforehand, but the one release I’m sure of is Dragonfly Summer on November 15th. It’s the story of a former journalist who returns to her hometown to investigate the mysterious disappearance of her best friend when they were seventeen.

Those who love mysteries with a touch of the paranormal and strong female protagonists would enjoy it. It speaks to the nostalgia of having grown up in a simpler time, but also recognizes that everything was not as sunshiny as it seemed in the days before social media and smartphones.

Steve: Bonus Question! If you could be an extra on any TV show, which one would it have been and why?

Moncrieff: Friday the 13th, the series (not related to the movies, except for having the same producer). I loved that show. I still love that show. I’d want to get to know John D Lemay, who played Ryan, and beg him not to leave the show in the third season.

Very cool! Thank you so much, J.H. and best of luck with the launch of your newest!

For Moncrieff madness – check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/J-H-Moncrieff/e/B00UB4I8Z4/

Website: https://www.jhmoncrieff.com/

Title: The Life Engineered (World Engineered)

Author: J.-F. Dubeau

Release date: November 17th, 2014

Many of you will recognize the author here.

J.-F. Dubeau delivered two truly outstanding dark fiction pieces with ‘The God in the Shed’ and its sequel ‘Song of the Sandman.’ Both are firmly and solidly in the horror genre, and because of that, his debut novella, ‘The Life Engineered,’ seems to be a book that doesn’t get as much love or shared as much as it should. This novella falls squarely in the science-fiction genre and for us fans who do like to read across a few genres, I was excited to see it make it to the top of my TBR.

What I liked: The story follows a former police officer, killed in the line of duty, who consciously wakes up a thousand years later. Her mind is now in the operating system of an android-type body, one perfectly suited for life as it now exists. From here, Dubeau sets up a phenomenal back story, a new way the world operates and a very tangible and threatening device that eradicates some of what we learn and pushes the narrative forward.

I’m a big fan of this style of sci-fi/action reads and love how they are always so cinematic. Dubeau gives us shades of Murderbot, with assistance early on from a secondary character who reminded me a little of Chappie.

The pacing is great, the story flows really nicely and throughout we get huge moments that are fantastically described in vivid detail. While in his horror novels, his writing is dark and gloomy, the writing here has a stainless steel shine to it, a case of the metal described always pushing through the explosions.

The ending was really intriguing and does set up a sequel. Saying that, the cliffhanger works really well to have the readers imagination going crazy.

What I didn’t like: There’s a specific reason for it, but I really wasn’t overly keen on the Norse naming and mythology throughout. It didn’t take me out of the story or anything, but I found it really odd until we’re told why it was used.

Also, this came out in 2014 and at the moment there’s no sequel in sight. With how heavy of a cliffhanger this one has, I hope one day we see the follow up, but until then, that may dissuade perspective readers from diving in.

Why you should buy this: If you like the Martha Wells school of storytelling, you’ll love this. As well, if you’re a previous fan of Dubeau’s work from his horror releases and like sci-fi, you’ll really enjoy this one. Engaging, emotional and always chalk full of action, ‘The Life Engineered’ is a novella that had me racing through to see what happens.

This was a ton of fun.

4/5

There’s a few authors who it truly blows my mind they even know I exist on this earth. I’ve had so so many stellar and phenomenal guests over the course of 3Q’s, but at the end of the day, I’m still just Steve and Steve still struggles to comprehend he’s not a young kid living in a town of less than 100 people. I’ll always have a part of my heart in Burton, growing up isolated in the mountains and running as free as I wished.

But, now, as adult Steve, that disconnect between being there and here rears its head when people I genuinely consider to be Author Celebrities respond to me, let alone know who I am.

Case in point – Adam Nevill. Adam is easily one of my all-time favorite authors and he continues to destroy readers with each and every release. I was fortunate enough to get an advanced copy of his newest, The Vessel, which arrives in a few days on October 31st! But, first, Adam stopped by for 3Q’s!

Please welcome Adam!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try to write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?
Adam: My schedule varies greatly and has changed as my career has changed. I now split my time between writing new novels and publishing Ritual Limited titles, and working on screenplays and film developments. Sometimes, it can feel like having three jobs, and one of the three will take precedence at any given time. For the instance, the last quarter of 2021 was all about film work; I had no time or energy for anything but films. Over the last few months, though, it’s been all about The Vessel and signing, packing & shipping the limited edition hardbacks, as well as setting up the audio book with a producer.
But I always review my schedule if one component is taking over. This winter I’ll go back to getting up early to write the second draft of a new novel for the first few hours of each day, before switching to the film and publishing demands.
All of this I balance with family time, exercising and well, life just taking over, as it often does.

Steve: You win the lottery and the only condition is that you need to fund another author’s book to be made into a movie. What book would you choose to be filmed?
Adam: It’d probably have to be the Euro millions and one of those 140 million euro jackpots, to finance War of the Worlds, set in the time of Wells’ story, and with a much closer adaptation of what Wells wrote.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!
Adam: Well, my latest release is a novel, The Vessel. It’s the second novel I have derived from one of my own screenplays in development. And it’s been an interesting aesthetic endeavour, in which I have closed the gap between film and prose. I guess it’s also part of my continuing investigation into my own take on folk horror, in which I embed a story into as credible a background as I can. It’s an eerie story, I’d say, for the best part, but with some monstrous and sinister scenes erupting. It’s a tight and very concentrated horror story too, claustrophobic I’d say. In some respects, it’s inspired by The Turn of the Screw, that made my blood run cold when I first read it as a teenager.

Steve: Bonus Question! If you could be an extra on any TV show, which one would it have been and why?
Adam: Raised by Wolves, to be involved in something Ridley Scott is connected to.

Oh, yes, Ridley Scott would be awesome to be involved with. I’ve yet to watch this show, but it looks stellar!

Thanks again Adam, and best of luck with the launch!

To find more of Adam’s work, check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Adam-Nevill/e/B0034PH9HA

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AdamLGNevill

Website: https://adamlgnevill.com/

One thing reviewing has done for me, is open the doors to so many new and exciting authors I might’ve never taken a chance on previously. I don’t mean in terms of freebies (I do get a decent amount of free ARC’s which I am forever grateful for), no – what I mean is the various projects and synopsis’ that are sent over that might’ve been lost in the fray otherwise.

Case in point – today’s guest came onto my radar with his phenomenal release ‘Midnight in the Chapel of Love.’ I very well might’ve missed that one if not for it being offered for review on Kendall Reviews.

Please, do welcome Matthew R. Davis to 3Q’s today!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try to write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Davis: My writing time is in total disarray at the moment, which is to say, business as usual! My schedules are all over the shop as I work two jobs with floating rosters, which means I no longer have any solid conception of routine. I’d like to say that I write whenever I can, but the truth is, I write whenever I feel like it. I’m not one of those disciplined authors who can sit down for an hour a day and write 500 words every time; I’d much rather do nothing particularly productive for a week while I get the feel right, then block out a day and write an entire short story or novelette in one go. (My record so far is 17,000 words in a day. I know, right?) But my mind is always chewing over ideas new and old, putting pieces together in the dark. Sometimes you have to think yourself into the right state of readiness to write a story.

Steve: If you started a series and for some reason had to have another author finish it, who would you choose?

Davis: Ha! Unlikely as it is that I would ever write a series, I would certainly want to have complete creative control over it. The only reason anyone would finish my work is if I died and the world cared enough to get some closure on my incomplete plots. But if that were the case, what happened next would depend upon the executors of my estate. If they respected my living wishes, they’d probably just leave it hanging; if they didn’t, the choice of author would be up to them, not me. That said, I’ve been idly thinking about projects that would require a group of authors, kind of like a TV writer’s room, and the possibilities are very broad there. Sorry, too many cool peeps to namedrop!

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!
Davis: At the time of writing, my latest release is a novella called The Dark Matter of Natasha (Grey Matter Press). It came out in June and it’s a terrifically dark, gritty, disturbing slice of small-town despair that, according to the reviews, seems to linger in the minds of those who read it like an inherited haunting. It’s not a horror story, exactly – we called it a psychological thriller for lack of a better marketing term – but with its constant cloud of impending doom, it sure feels like one! It’s for lovers of sex, drugs, and heavy metal, lovers of deep and dark explorations of the flawed soul, and it’s also just for lovers, though as a cautionary tale more than anything else. I may have a few more short stories out by the time this goes live: “Vigil at Singer’s Cross” (Voices in the Dark), “Visitation Rites” (Midnight Echo 17), and “Dawn Dressed in Rain” (Draw Down the Moon) should all be out in July or August.

Steve: Bonus Question! If they made a movie about your life, what actor or actress would you suggest they get to play you?

Davis: Anyone better looking than me! I used to get compared to Brendan Fraser, especially his character in Airheads, but these days, if I have my hair tied back and my glasses on, I tend to get Penn Jillette instead. (Thanks, guys.) You know what, let’s fuck with everyone’s head and cast Idris Elba as me – it doesn’t get much cooler than that! Or maybe Kate McKinnon – Benedict Cumberbatch – a particularly tall mop, with a Sharpie face drawn on a paper plate stuck on it! It’s not like any such film would be hidebound by an adherence to the truth – they never are – so let’s have some fun with it! Maybe I could do a Howard Stern and play myself, and we could cast Karen Gillan as my partner Meg – she’s one of the very few women beautiful enough to even attempt the role – though Meg would no doubt insist upon overseeing the shoot to give Karen notes and make sure I behave myself during the movie’s copious love scenes. “Copious love scenes?” you ask, somewhat disbelievingly. Oh, yes, because I’d be writing the script, too.

Loved that movie and I can still totally see it!

Thank you so much, Matthew for doing this!
To find more from him;

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Matthew-R-Davis/e/B09SKSTTZ7

Website: https://matthewrdavisfiction.wordpress.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5332110.Matthew_R_Davis

Holy cow – what an honor to have today’s 3Q’s Special Guest here!

I’ve said it a number of times, but it blows my mind when some of the authors I reach out to agree to do these and it warms my heart to see them have fun with it and participate. Today’s author has written some of the most powerful fiction out there over the last number of years. His work moves the reader, frightens them and makes them question why they read it and when can they read more.

I’m so excited to welcome Nathan Ballingrud!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?
Nathan: I work best in the mornings, but I’m not militant about that. Sometimes it’s mid-day, sometimes it’s at night. It depends on the circumstances. I try to hit a minimum of 500 daily. Usually I’ll go over, but on days when everything I write seems like garbage, 500 is an achievable goal. Even though it might take me a while to get there. I also have several projects going on at the same time, so if I get bogged down in one, I can switch to another. I leave myself no excuses that way. Something is going to get done.

Steve: You end up at an estate sale and discover an unpublished manuscript from an author you love. Do you keep it just for yourself or do you share it with the world?
Nathan: I would absolutely share it. Art is not meant to be hoarded.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!
Nathan: My first novel is The Strange, coming in March of 2023. It takes place on Mars in 1931, and is about a girl whose life is turned upside down first by a catastrophic event that affects the whole colony, and then by a more specific attack on her family. Unsatisfied by the response of people around her, she decides to seek restitution herself. It might not be the story people expect from me, but I think if people give it a chance they’ll see it’s coming from the same place as everything else I’ve written: conflicted characters, an uncertain moral center, and the loss of preciously held assumptions. And there’s an undercurrent of horror in there too, because I am who I am.

Steve: Bonus Question! You wake up in a comic book. What is your comic book character and what is your super power?
Nathan: The Gargoyle. I could hang from the sides of walls or perch atop buildings, watching everyone around me with a sympathetic objectivity. I would yearn to be one of them, but my distance, horrible countenance, and stony heart would make me forever grotesque and unapproachable. It’d produce some good stories though.

What an amazing response!

Thank you so much, Nathan!

To find more of his work, check the links!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NBallingrud

Website: https://nathanballingrud.com/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Nathan-Ballingrud/e/B00E7I2OGY

Fun one again today, friends!

Kevin Lucia is an author, editor, family man AND now one of the driving forces behind Cemetery Dance. I was lucky enough to have Kevin agree to do a 3Q’s, and I’m thankful he found the time to squeeze this in!

Please, do welcome, Kevin!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try to write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Kevin: For the past fifteen years, I’ve gotten up at 3 AM in the morning to write for an hour before school. At this point, it’s so hardwired into my system, I get up before the alarm! No word count. I write for that hour, and whatever I get done, I get done.

Steve: If you started a series and for some reason had to have another author finish it, who would you choose?

Kevin: Either Norman Prentiss, Ronald Malfi, or Paul F. Olson. All of them were huge influences on me, and I think we have the same vision when it comes to horror.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Kevin: The Night Road – Cemetery Dance Publications. If you like Irish Folklore and Myth, folk horror in a small town setting with an emotional core, this is the book for you.

Mystery Road/A Night at Old Webb (novella duet) – Cemetery Dance Publications. Coming of age stories that are love letters to the Twilight Zone and Boys Life, by Robert McCammon.

Steve: Bonus Question! If they made a movie about your life, what actor or actress would you suggest they get to play you?

Kevin: John Krasinski!

Very cool!

Thank you so much, Kevin!

To find more of Kevin’s work;

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Kevin-Lucia/e/B003L29OEM

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KevinBLucia

Website: http://kevinlucia.blogspot.com/

Title: Dragonfly Summer

Author: J.H. Moncrieff

Release date: Originally released February 13th, 2020, re-releasing November 15th, 2022

Huge massive thanks to J.H. Moncrieff, Flametree Press and Netgalley for sending me a digital ARC of this one!

Originally released as an audible only release back in 2020, fans of Moncrieff were elated when this was announced as coming in November in physical form! As a massive fan of her work, I’m always excited to see what she’s creating and knowing that this one was partially inspired by a real-life moment from her youth, I knew this one would be filled with emotions. The other thing that I was curious about – Moncrieff and myself both come from small-towns (at opposite ends of the same province) but we both share similar feelings towards ever returning to those places.

What I liked: The story follows Jo Carter, who, after receiving some odd bits of mail regarding her high school best friend, Sam, who disappeared mysteriously around grad, returns to her hometown. A town she vowed she’d never return too, but is now determined to get to the bottom of what happened to her friend.

Moncrieff does a wonderful job of showcasing just how claustrophobic and intermingled these small towns can be, and how interwoven appearances and justice are. Money and subsequently status associated with money play a prominent role and as Carter begins to discover little bits and pieces, we see that rear up.

Moncrieff also does a pointed, spot-on job of showing how those who typical remain behind can end up bitter, jaded and outwardly aggressive to those who return. This not only begins to create issues for Carter, but it also begins to highlight Carter’s memory struggles, which move the story along really well and help to heighten the chaos that is continuously happening.

The ending is messy, complicated and worked really well to show just how much each person involved had to bury for so many years to keep their stories straight.

What I didn’t like: When taken as a whole, there are a number of ‘tells’ throughout that give away the ‘who’ as you go on. Fear not, that only pushes Moncrieff to try and deflect and distract more often, which gives us some other clues to fill in the gaps.

As well, I think if someone hasn’t experienced the frustrating aspects of small town life, they may find this to come off a ‘bit much,’ but trust me when I say – it is 100% accurate.

Why you should buy this: Fans of Moncrieff will know exactly what they’re in for – a solid, strong female lead, a mystery-wrapped-in-a-riddle and electrifying sequences that are tailor-made for the big screen. ‘Dragonfly Summer’ walks the line between her straight ahead horror novels and her Ghostwritten series and will make fans very happy!

5/5