Twelve Gauge

by Ronald Kelly

Includes the bonus short story "Killing Time."

BLACK CHRISTMAS

The citizens of Cedar Bluff, Tennessee, have never recovered from the Christmas Massacre of 1978 ... that tragic day when Richard McFarland, armed with a shotgun, abandoned his wife and son and selected a local church as the stage for a bloody, murderous rampage. McFarland paid for his crimes in the electric chair. Yet not even death will stop him from finishing what he started ...

BLOODY LEGACY

After fourteen years, Sonny's father is back. He'd been away so long that Sonny hardly remembered him. But Richard McFarland remembered his only son. And now he will teach him how to kill. Sonny is about to become a deadly force that will be unleashed on the unsuspecting citizens of Cedar Bluff. For when the time is right, he will return to the small, quiet town, bringing death and destruction on an even more terrifying Christmas Day!

Genres: Horror, Christmas

447 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 1992

About the author

Ronald Kelly was born and raised in the hills and hollows of Middle Tennessee. He became interested in horror as a child, watching the local "Creature Feature" on Saturday nights and "The Big Show"---a Nashville-based TV show that presented every old monster movie ever made ---in the afternoons after school. In high school, his interest turned to horror literature and he read such writers as Poe, Lovecraft, Matheson, and King. He originally had dreams of becoming a comic book artist and created many of his own superheroes. But during his junior year, the writing bug bit him and he focused his attention on penning short stories and full-length novels. To date, he has had thirteen novels and twelve short fiction collections published. In 2021, his extreme horror collection, THE ESSENTIAL SICK STUFF, won a Splatterpunk Award for Best Collection.

He currently lives in Brush Creek, Tennessee with his wife, young'uns, and an ultra-hyper Jack Russel named Toby.

Reviews

[Brendon Lowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twelve Gauge Aka Fathers Little Helper is brilliant. It's a hyper violent, relentlessly paced look at a deranged mind of a mass serial killer. It has elements of the supernatural but the plot following our mass killer as he takes on a small town law enforcement and the FBI hunting him down is riveting to reader

The descriptions of the violence are realistic and how the shotgun rips through the bodies of its victims and the injuries it leaves conjure vivid images in the mind of the reader.

This is non stop from the brutal opening chapter and hardly let's up at all. The character work of our town Sherrif and FBI agent add elements to the story of their pain in not being able to stop the madness. Brilliantly written and fantastic story all around.

My only flaw is that I listened to this in audio version and that has some issues. The narrator is great and loved his voice work but the editing had multiple passages read numerous times and at one point it jumped back a chapter and read a full couple of pages of stuff which had already read before it continued again.

It's still 5 stars as I'm rating the story itself which is a must read.

[Squire · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is my least favorite of Kelly's books, but it's fast-paced, gory and tinged with the supernatural. It's less imaginative than his other works, but it still a fun read. "Killing Time" adds a lot to the story and his new afterword is a terrific endnote to the whole affair.

[John The Crippledgimp · Rating 5 out of 5]

First off this is my first time reading Ronald Kelly and I'm so fucking mad I haven't read his stuff sooner. Ronald Kelly is a fuckin phenomenal storyteller. This is a awesome horror\thriller about vengeance but it deals with so much more than that. It's crazy the pictures and the emotion he can create with his writing holy shit. This story was intense, horrific, and just full of brutal savage violence. Even though its violent Kelly writes it in a way that is graphic but not over done its just done so masterfully my brain was like this shit feels real. I also dug the fact that after the epilogue there was a short story that explains more about the main character and stuff it really makes the story really come together as a whole. I highly recommend this and I am a new fan of Ronald Kelly and I'm definitely going to be reading more from him.

[Aiden Messer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very intense and stressful, especially at the beginning. Gory, with a touch of the supernatural. A very good book

[Brennan LaFaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just when I think I've got Ronald Kelly's style pegged, I dive headfirst into a book like Twelve Gauge. We have the familiar rural Tennessee setting, and a taste of the supernatural, but this book has more in common with Silence of the Lambs than Fear County. Kelly delves deep into the psyche of a killer, tiptoeing the line between eliciting disgust and sympathy with a side of nature vs nurture, all while circling the town of Cedar Bluff in a Salem's Lot manner as its folk recover from a tragedy and band together to try and prevent another. Stick around for the bonus novella at the end of this edition.

[Shana Congrove · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another nail bitter by my fav, Ronald Kelly! I started with the audiobook and wow.... it blew me away. If you're a lover of crime, mystery, serial killer stories, horror, lovable characters and a few you want to kill... this one won't disappoint! It kept me on edge, anticipating every chapter, and never wanting the story to end. But sadly, it did and I loved the fairytale ending. It's bloody, so if you can't handle delicate scenes, put your big girl or boy panties on and deal. This is so worth the blood & guts! BRAVO 👏

[Mommacat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This turned out to be a splatter serial killer novel. It would seem that I've lost my taste for 'people losing their shit and shooting people up' type stories. I love Ron Kelly and his writing rocks, so I read til the end. Because of the senseless gun violence the main story got three stars. However, the short story following, KILLING TIME was an awesome five star explanation if you will of the novel.

So three and five make an average of 4 stars. Still good stuff.

[Tee Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read

I want in this thinking horror..its not the horror I was looking for. Its like a crime and mental illness novel.It is will written. Sonny sees his father shoot up a church at 3. Later has he's holder fines a crime magazine about his father and decides to follow in his fathers footsteps. Good read if you like crime novels. Not my thing but I did enjoy it.

[Ochoa Ramírez · Rating 5 out of 5]

The main character are really fantastic.