A spine-tingling thriller in the vein of The Ring and The Craft
Simon just wanted to make Devil’s Night one his friends would remember. He got more than he bargained for when he took them to the cemetery for a séance in an attempt to speak to the dead.
It started out as hearing voices and seeing things they couldn’t explain. They tried telling themselves that it wasn’t real until things got deadly and they had to accept that something followed them home on Devil’s Night.
They reach out for help and they find a witch that may be the only person that can try and stop the spirit but will they manage to stop it in time?
Brent Lorentson is a horror writer and film critic based out of Tampa, Florida. After years in retail, he also spends a good portion of his time writing film and television reviews for the website Upcomingdiscs.com. His short stories have appeared in Cannibalism: Digesting the Human Condition and Rejected for Content 3: Vicious Vengeance. In 2019 his short script “Fertile Blood” will be a part of the anthology horror film Slumber Party. His first novel, A Dark and Secret Place was released in the Fall 2022. His Second novel It Followed Us Home should release in the Fall of 2023.
This is a frightening supernatural story featuring a ghost hunt gone wrong, brutal deaths at the hands of a spirit, and a witches curse.
The story itself is well written and suspenseful. When a group of teens decide to contact a ghost in a cemetery, they get much more than they bargaining for as they flee in terror.
But it soon becomes apparent that this spirit has attached itself to them and they are all marked for death. And what gruesome deaths there will be! This book doesn't hold back on the blood and gore and as the teens struggle to find out why they've been marked the body count continues to rise. Absolutely noone is safe and there are a few unexpected deaths as the story progresses. Good stuff!
It's a straight up supernatural slasher type story and I loved that.
The ONLY issue I had was with the editing. We've all been there if you're a writer. Sometimes little things get past. Most of these things weren't a problem. But throughout the book, the verb tense changed, often within the same paragraph. Sometimes it was written in present tense (He looks around and touches the gate) then shifts to past tense (He pushed on the gate and it opened with a creak). This is jarring when it happens and takes you out of the story. I feel another editing round would have helped.
But, overall, the story is the star here and it's terrifying, bloody, and tense. I do recommend it!
Brent Lorenston is a great writer, I love his writing style. I loved this story, it gave me Final Destination vibes with a hint of The Craft and then throw in a ouija board followed by a seance in the graveyard on Halloween night - this was a recipe for creepiness and its finest. I appreciated the shorter chapters (can’t stand long drawn out chapters), each chapter was interesting. There were many different elements to this story which keeps the reader on their toes. Overall it was a fun and spooky read. I hope the author comes out with another soon and more to come!!