Artie's Bark

by Jason Savio

There's a difference between curses and hauntings. Curses can be broken. Brighton Falls is like any other safe, ho-hum town in America with a bad baseball team, clean sidewalks, and nosy neighbors. That all changes, however, when a pet is brutally killed and other animals begin to go missing, one by one. Then Artie, the dog of middle-schooler Tommy Watson, suddenly falls gravely ill. Tommy's search to help his beloved animal friend unravels an evil, small-town secret that goes back centuries and binds everyone together. Neighborhood savior Carl Crocker pledges to bring the guilty party to justice. But what does the despised recluse Old Man Rooney know about Crocker that no one else does? With a community on edge and time running out, it's up to Tommy-and his dog-to finally put to rest what no one else can ... and make the hardest decision of his life. It will test both his courage and love. Jason Savio's first novel blends horror with heart into a coming-of-age story that shows how far people will go to prevent the inevitable, the ways we deal with grief, and the importance of friendship when all seems lost.

Genres: Horror

174 pages, Hardcover

Published October 31, 2022

Reviews

[Zain · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Friends and Artie

Tommy and his friends, Eric, Jerry and Justin, are enjoying a nice spring day. When Tommy’s dog, Artie, runs onto the field and grabs the ball and runs away with it in his mouth.

The boys are aware that the game is over so they disperse and go their separate ways. Tommy goes after Artie to get the ball back.

They are unaware that a boy named Sam is playing with his own dog in his backyard when his dad decides to take his dog for a walk in the woods.

While walking in the woods, Jack, Sam’s dad, sees a strange light. Sam’s dog, Milo, gets excited about what is happening and he gets free of his leash and goes to investigate what is happening.

Milo doesn’t return to Jack and Jack never sees Milo again. But Milo isn’t the only missing pet in the neighborhood. It seems that a lot of pets have gone missing and no one knows why.

Despite all of this happening, the story is still about Artie and Tommy and their relationship and their love for each other. And their scrapes that they get into. Just like the rest of the story, they also have their moments.

Four stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[this_creeping_horror · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not a bad book. It felt like a first novel by an amateur author. It had some situations that felt a bit far-fetched and some clumsy dialogue, as well as a few black-and-white, cartoonish cliche characters.

What this book did have was heart, a great premise, a nice setting, and a great atmosphere. There’s some of Bradbury’s aw-shucks kids facing off against evil here, with some King’s Losers Club sprinkled over it. If written by the author Savio -will- be in a few more years, I think this book’s potential would be fully realized. As it stands now, this was a fun but not completely memorable read.

[Smac · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was short, spooky, and sweet. I was fully engaged in Artie's Bark and enjoyed the short-chapter format. I found myself sucked into the suspense from the grusome opening scene to the very end and thought the monster was uniquely written. As the owner of a beagle-hound mix myself I found the author did a great job characterizing the breed in Artie, and recognized so many parallels between my own dogs behavior and Artie.

[Katerina]

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