The Curse

by Carl Sherrell

Evil & death, comes to everyone in a southern town, a town doomed by an old curse "to die...over and over again."

Genres: Horror

469 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Grady Hendrix · Rating 2 out of 5]

90% people hanging around in a small town living their lives. 10% something happens.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

After 175 pages of nothing—and I do mean nothing—happening, I had to bail on this one. The writing style is decent, but for such a small town it comes across as a thriving metropolis thanks to the author introducing the reader to each and every citizen. Zero suspense. Zero horror. The only thing this clunker has going for it is the cool-ass cover.

[Robert Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was friends with Carl when he wrote this, way back in the 80s. He had written the manuscript earlier about TRUE events that took place in his hometown growing up. He had used news stories, his own memory, and the memory of the town librarian that was in her 90s at the time. The book documents many of the bad things that happened throughout the 40s - 70s in a small town actually located in Kansas. Carl often told me he would never be able to publish it for fear of being sued, but he wrote it anyway. Only when he discovered that he was dying of lung cancer did Carl have it published. The publisher really liked the book - but wanted something to tie it together - not just a bunch of stories (even if they were true). So the "Curse" was invented to give a reason for the bad things, and a subsequent climax to the story. Everything else in this story is true (just then names and locations were changed to protect the guilty!).

[Robert Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. There are a lot of characters and a lot of interweaving storylines. I found this book interestingly weird. It requires patience. But I enjoyed it.

[Mark Levandoski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took awhile to get all the names straight in my head. Once they clicked storyline went much smoother. Thought it may have been a shorter book.