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The Town that Forgot How to Breathe

by Kenneth J. Harvey



      Guardian Angels. Honored Ancestors. Spirit Guides. Legend tells us that they are our protectors, but what is it they are protecting us from?

Joseph is a normal man just wanting to take his extraordinary daughter, Robin, on a peaceful holiday in the sleepy little fishing town where his father grew up. How was he to know that his sexy neighbor would come after him with less than honorable intent? How was he to know that his daughter's imaginary friend was a ghost that didn't want her to go home? This was not the weekend to seek a connection with the family roots in Bareneed, Newfoundland.

I don't believe there is anything about the plot I could tell you that would take away from your reading experience; the suspense comes as much from the metaphoric and philosophic implications within your own mind as it does from the plot provided. The process of the madness overtaking Joseph and his constant flip-flop between sanity and violence is very disturbing. Is it really the loving father of the paragraph before who considers killing the precious daughter he holds? When will the author tell us about a monster from the sea or an alien power that has taken over his body? I kept telling myself that the one voice surely didn't know what the other was saying. I still really don't know.

Horror is the only genre that I feel should leave some things open at the end of the story (I never did figure out the part about the dog, but maybe I wasn't supposed to). The idea that the monster may still be out there behind your closet door is part of the supernatural thrill we get when we are taken in by an author's premise. A good horror story will linger in a spot between your shoulder blades and pop out when you least expect it; taking you back to the chilling moment you figured out the hero is doomed unless he runs... RIGHT NOW.

I will never look at power lines and cell phones the same way again.

The Book

St. Martin's Press
September 22, 2005
Hardback
0312342225
Horror
More at Amazon.com
Excerpt
NOTE: Violence

The Reviewer

Beth E. McKenzie
Reviewed 2006
NOTE:
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