The People Eaters

by Bret Tallent

The People Eaters talk in the wind and torment you in your dreams. They call an enormous blizzard to their aid and fall upon the tiny mountain town of Copper Creek. The residents and visitors of this quaint village have more to fear than the raging blizzard that has cut off their town from the rest of the world. They have more to fear than the nightmares they can't quite remember in the morning. The People Eaters have come to feed. This is a fast-paced heart-pounding fear fest. It follows the lives of a small group trying to survive the greatest horror they have ever known, and an enemy like no other on earth. Johnny Silversmith is a half-Ute Park Ranger with supernatural powers, and his knowledge of the People Eaters legend may be the only thing that can bring this group together to fight for their lives and save the souls of the town of Copper Creek. It is up to Johnny to finish what his ancestors had started that Winter the Stars Fell. Originally published in 2013 under the title: The Winter People, this book has been updated and rewritten.

Genres: Horror

456 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 31, 2020

Reviews

[Nubia Loya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book

This was a great book with characters that you really liked and rooted for. The monsters were really dreadful and the Native American legend tie-in made it really interesting. Johnny and Hayden were my favorite characters and I empathized with their losses while appreciating their strengths at the same time.

[Cheryl Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Monstrous Storm and Monsters Oh My

The author weaves an imaginative tale of monsters and mayhem based loosely on Ute legend and truly creates a page turner of a story that demands the attention of the reader and holds it tight until the very end.

[rose nanney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spine tingling!

Loved the characters, the geography and the legend! Had everything I look for in a monster read and being set in the dead of winter gave me many shivers! Thanks!

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a gory creature horror fiction that sets out to explore the desperation of harsh weather and clashing personalities. Or it’s an escapist piece to help deal with the fact that people in desperate situations resort to cannibalism. In some ways this story seemed like an exploration or stories and how they are formed around real-life events to explain the atrocities that humans commit.

In this story, there’s a group of young people during a skying trip trapped in a small backwater town during a horrible storm. The inciting incident is two of the out of towners in a car accident, their bodies disappearing, and the sheriff acting oddly when he checks out their car and the fact that they were obviously dragged from the car. I feel like from here everything from here can be taken as metaphor, but that’s just what makes this more a 4-star reading for me than a 3.

Honestly, the thing that drags it down is that this book cares too much about going between characters too spread out in the story for me to care about. I wish the story was more focused even though I understand why it wasn’t. I also didn’t like when it went into the mind of the monster. It just wasn’t that interesting and ruined some of the fun to be honest.

Overall, this is a solid creature feature story, if a little too disjointed in the character area for me.

To go more into the idea of it being more humans doing this than just monsters. When the woman who has been beaten her who life tells her brother about her baby, he decides that now is the time. He has nothing to lose, he will take out her abusive husband (who is already dead) and in that decision he is already “dead” and as soon as he opens the door the, the monsters kill him. There’s a dozen of other small moments you can apply that sort of reading to this. The whole thing is built on a “story” to begin with, and personally, it’s what makes this an even more interesting read .

[David M. Hage · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well done!

First....criticism. The book starts with an implausible act. Two friends die mysteriously so, of course, we go get our load on with the local law enforcement with no consideration for family who might worry. Second, a drain on the floor of a service station wide enough for a man to take a wild ride to the sewage plant? I don't think so. Still 5 stars though. Exceptionally well written book with an original theme and a gripping story. Remarkable for an independent author in this genre. At times I could not put it down. This author is seasoned by life and it shows in, drain incident aside, a depth of knowledge about a variety of topics which lends a great deal of credibility to an incredible subject. I recommend this book to horror fans and thank the author for the hours of entertainment it gave me. Excellent job!

[Stanley Comisiak · Rating 5 out of 5]

engrossing to the very end

I did not know the author or the book but when I saw it and read the synopsis it intrigued me so here I am. I couldn’t put it down, though it started slow, the characters started be more complete and I felt myself being drawn into the environment of this “horror “ story. I found my self getting into the storm gathering over Copper Creek and feeling the mysterious thing that was happening. The story never scared me as such but drew me in by the situation that the characters found themselves in and the ways that they were able to cope with the fear and the losses they faced.

[Deb Randolph · Rating 5 out of 5]

So scary that I had to read it during the daytime

Now this was scary!! I really didn't know what to expect because the title seemed strange to me. However, I was hooked from page one. Imagine living in a very small town where you know everyone and in 24 hours almost everyone disappears during a snowstorm. In some cases carnage is left but most simply disappear. I actually got so scared that I couldn't read it at night. Perhaps the author could write another book about these people eaters.

[Eric Hardy · Rating 3 out of 5]

People eaters

Original take on the werewolf genre but could have been developed better. The Monsters could have easily been birds or bunny rabbits. What made them wolves? Why were they wolves? Was that a convenient choice? If so, there was a lack of imagination on the authors part and it would have been a better book if the monsters were bunny rabbits.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Book

This book got me excited right from the beginning.

Although the characters were developed with some background it wasn’t tedious like other authors.

I was also grateful that the characters ability to get from one place to another wasn’t tired up with obstacle after obstacle.

This could be a series that I would enjoy.

Very well done!

[Crystal Fenerty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent

Was an enjoyable book. Kept me interested to the end.
There are some error. Such as referring to a Took as a Toboggan, a rather amusing error.
Would recommend to others.