Over the next few weeks, I will be posting some older reviews of some great books that deserve more eyes and more attention! These are books that I read early on in my reviewing journey as I built Uncomfortably Dark, and they remain fresh in my mind to this day. I hope you will check these out and enjoy them as much as I did!
Blackwood Estates
By William Holloway
Fresh off the press for your horror reading pleasure comes “BLACKWOOD ESTATES” by Texas author William Holloway. This is NOT your average, campy, cookie cutter horror book. This is the real deal. I have not read a cosmic horror book this good in a long time by a new to me author.
This novel blew me away and I absolutely can say that I enjoyed every single second of it. William takes his main character, Philip Nada, on the ride of a lifetime and let me be the first to say that poor Phil neither deserved nor liked it. But as horror often shows us, time and time again, bad things happen to good people.
The story starts out with Phil taking his dog for a walk. Just a nice walk through the community of Blackwood Estates, where he lives with his autistic son, Scotty. Scotty is currently at home with his caregiver and his mother, who has shown up for her weekly visit.
Not willing to deal with his ex-wife, Phil takes the dog out for a nice breather, but they barely get halfway down their favorite trail before the screaming begins. Phil’s dog Benny is on high alert, trying to get Phil to follow his lead, but of course, as a man will, Phil wants to investigate. Of course he should. Someone could be hurt. But what he finds is not what he expects.
Something is wrong with the children. ALL THE children of Blackwood Estates seem to have gone completely and utterly mad. When the children stop screaming, the Estates are covered by a thick fog; the air has gone dry and when Phil reaches home, his ex-wife is gone, Scott’s caregiver is hanging on by a thread and Scotty, well, Scotty is not quite Scotty anymore. I will stop there, as I do not wish to give away any of the terror that oozes from this book. This novel is saturated with horror, dripping in blood and more Lovecraft than I have seen in most modern horror stories.
William Holloway is an author to watch. My first reaction at the end of this story was quite bluntly, “Holy Fuck!!” Ask him, I absolutely said just that. I loved everything about this story, and I will be reading his other novels, which include “The Abyssal Plain: The R’lyeh Cycle” and “The Immortal Body” amongst others. Look for those reviews coming soon.
William wrote his first novella in 1998, titled “Death in Texas”. Ten years later, he took up writing again and began his cosmic series called “The Singularity Cycle”. The first novel of this series is “The Immortal Body” and was published in 2012 and then wrote the follow up novel, “Song of the Death God.” Both novels have been picked up by British Horror Maven Graeme Reynold’s Horrific Tales publishing, along with his standalone novel “Lucky’s Girl.”
Keep an eye on this new author.
He’s talented, and he is sure to knock your socks off with each novel he brings to light, or rather to the darkness that we here at uncomfortably dark like to call home.
Click the link below to get your copy now!
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