I really enjoyed this. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys horror, especially if you appreciate epistolary style. 

Come Knocking unfolds through a series of interviews with crew members, performers, attendees, and others, in the aftermath of a disastrous night at a multi-floor, interactive theater experience in LA. As each person recounts their own piece of the puzzle—ranging from seemingly innocuous production hiccups to ominous signs in the environment—a full portrait of the tragic events of the final performance begin to emerge.

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I came to Come Knocking cold, having never read anything else by Mike Bockoven, and was pleasantly surprised by the author’s patient build‑up. The first half of the book moves deliberately, laying groundwork through detailed, interview‑style perspectives which mainly focus on the production itself. I appreciated how different personalities were clearly depicted in different interviews, although at times these characterizations seemed over the top. While it may feel slow at first, that careful pacing pays off when the first truly gruesome description lands (no pun intended)—its impact is all the more powerful because you’ve spent time inhabiting the world and perspectives of these characters.

Because the narrative is structured around many short interviews, character development is necessarily limited a bit, but Bockoven compensates by offering a broad mosaic of experiences. Each voice contributes a different shard of insight, and together they form a haunting portrait of how small lapses, hidden resentments, environmental hazards, and mounting tensions between performers and audience, align to form a perfect storm.

The real strength of Come Knocking is its page‑turning tension. Once the backstory is in place, I was anxious to know how the fateful night itself unraveled. Rather than guessing who the villain might be, the reader is left grappling with a more unsettling truth: that the true “evil” here is the growing trend in humanity toward anger, selfishness, and a willingness to exploit danger for entertainment’s sake.

Overall, Come Knocking is a thoughtful horror novel—one that uses a slow burn to heighten its impact and leaves you reflecting on what it says about our collective darker impulses.

*Thank you to Skyhorse Publishing & NetGalley for access to the eARC. All opinions are my own.*