You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
horrorbutch 's review for:
A Spectre is Haunting Greentree
by Carson Winter
Disclaimer: I received an e-book ARC in exchange for my review by Tenebrous Press.
This story follows a woman escaping from her abusive ex-husband when a friend invites her to move to their small town and start a new life. As the summary states there is something spectacularly wrong with that place though and our main character will soon figure out what exactly.
This novel collects a lot of things I enjoy: Weird small towns, the dangers of corn fields (they are so tall and so wide and so easy to get lost in!), women recovering from abuse and finding their voice, scary scarecrows, cultists and most importantly truly unsettling videotapes from the lokal video store.
This book also beautifully dismantles the romanticised notion of the small town as a picturesque place and instead reveals the rotten xenophobic underbelly that hides in these rural places way too often. I also really adored the characters, especially Carina and Hazel (a 16 year old goth girl who loves scary movies) and they are definitely two characters you just cant help but root for despite the overwhelming odds standing against them. I also really enjoyed the way the novel explored fatphobia and the way Carina is treated due to being a mixed race dark-skin fat woman. And there is some (wonderfully gorey and gruesome!) murders in this novel, which I read gleefully. Finally, I also really adored the atmopshere this novel builds, painting a very vivid picture of this town without ever letting the plot get bogged down in unnecessary descriptions.
My only qualm with the book is that I think for the reader the reveal of the murderous beings stalking this small town is revealed a bit too early as we then still spend quite some time with the other characters who don't know what's going on and I think I might have enjoyed it a bit more if I had been able to be kept in suspense as well.
All in all this was a really great horror novel with an unsettling atmosphere, a really immersive writing style, a heartwrenching look into abuse and a great twist on folk horror. I do think this one that might lend itself to a reread for me once October rolls around.
TW: sexual violence, rape, domestic abuse, murder, rich white men
This story follows a woman escaping from her abusive ex-husband when a friend invites her to move to their small town and start a new life. As the summary states there is something spectacularly wrong with that place though and our main character will soon figure out what exactly.
This novel collects a lot of things I enjoy: Weird small towns, the dangers of corn fields (they are so tall and so wide and so easy to get lost in!), women recovering from abuse and finding their voice, scary scarecrows, cultists and most importantly truly unsettling videotapes from the lokal video store.
This book also beautifully dismantles the romanticised notion of the small town as a picturesque place and instead reveals the rotten xenophobic underbelly that hides in these rural places way too often. I also really adored the characters, especially Carina and Hazel (a 16 year old goth girl who loves scary movies) and they are definitely two characters you just cant help but root for despite the overwhelming odds standing against them. I also really enjoyed the way the novel explored fatphobia and the way Carina is treated due to being a mixed race dark-skin fat woman. And there is some (wonderfully gorey and gruesome!) murders in this novel, which I read gleefully. Finally, I also really adored the atmopshere this novel builds, painting a very vivid picture of this town without ever letting the plot get bogged down in unnecessary descriptions.
My only qualm with the book is that I think for the reader the reveal of the murderous beings stalking this small town is revealed a bit too early as we then still spend quite some time with the other characters who don't know what's going on and I think I might have enjoyed it a bit more if I had been able to be kept in suspense as well.
All in all this was a really great horror novel with an unsettling atmosphere, a really immersive writing style, a heartwrenching look into abuse and a great twist on folk horror. I do think this one that might lend itself to a reread for me once October rolls around.
TW: sexual violence, rape, domestic abuse, murder, rich white men