Book Review: You’ll Do As You’re Told by Craig Wesley Wall
Title: You’ll Do As You’re Told
Author: Craig Wesley Wall
Release date: February 19th, 2025
Back in 2021, I read my book from Craig and was blown away. ‘The Briar’ had everything I love in horror novels – isolated location, small town zaniness/craziness, ancient curse and survival at all cost. When I saw his newest novel announced, I was even more excited. Craig was moving the horror to the PNW, a place I lived just north of in BC for over a decade. Seattle itself is a wonderful city, and one we visited a handful of times, but the areas surrounding it and north are… unique. They have their own pulse, their own individual populations that bob and weave to the sound of their own drums. It was interesting even just stopping for fuel and realizing that it wouldn’t be hard to be sucked into these little pockets of oddness and become one with them in short order.
Such is the backdrop of ‘You’ll Do As You’ll Told,’ and Craig effortlessly delivers an unnerving thrill-ride.
What I liked: The story itself might seem – on the surface at least – like one you’ve read before. On the outskirts of a small town is an abandoned asylum, previously home to a doctor who did unspeakable acts and experiments and now the land around it is considered haunted.
Craig takes that basic set up and turns it on its head.
The story follows Ray, recently divorced after his young son passed away from Cancer. He’s purchased a place in a secluded small town in Washington, a forty-five minute drive into the nearest city where he works. The house seems to have it all – wonderful views of Mt. Baker, land aplenty and a perfect spot for a home office.
Craig does a wonderful job setting things up, having Ray move to town, while also revealing that something seems to live in the basement, something that mimics each person who goes down the stairs deepest nightmare. I’ll admit, numerous times I was unnerved, pulling my feet in and making sure the blankets were tucked in tightly. Craig’s deft prose and descriptive prowess bring these visions to life.
And after Ray meets his neighbor, Court, an old man who has been investigating the asylum’s history, things begin to appear faster and more violently. After Ray falls for his realtor and Joyce becomes involved as well, the story goes full-throttle and we get some truly excellent PNW-fueled horror.
The last quarter of the novel is a pure sprint, the action coming fast and furious and we see the three of them have to figure out how to stop the spreading nightmare before it commits more atrocities.
What I didn’t like: I think the only thing that stuck out to me, at least, was that considering this was set in a remote, small town, not a lot of stuff actually happened in the small town. What I mean by that, was outside of Ray going to get a haircut and then later returning to the barbershop, we didn’t get much in the way of local folks questioning Ray or directly disgust or fear towards him elsewhere over where he lives. It would’ve been a solid addition to show the fear the citizens have towards the place by having a few public confrontations.
Why you should buy this: Craig is easily one of the most overlooked authors. Even at this stage of being out for almost a month, ridiculously there’s not a single rating/review on Goodreads. I’ve stopped giving star ratings on my reviews, but I’m making an exception here, because more people need to read Craig’s work and this book and ‘The Briar’ as a one-two punch duo of eco-horror work so perfectly together that they should be on everybody’s TBR’s and should be read ASAP.
This book features characters you’ll root for, super creepy and scary scenes and a back story of horrible acts that get slowly revealed over the course of the novel.
This might be Craig’s perfect novel and I for one hope more people find this.
5/5
