Review eof The Calling by Robert Swartwood
5 stars
“The Calling” is an exceptionally satisfying novel of the
Supernatural. Set in one of the same locales as the “prequel,” “Spooky Nook,”
this story is fine as a stand-alone (but I recommend, for the reader’s
continued satisfaction, reading “Spooky Nook” as well). Author Robert Swartwood
delves into some Supernatural venues not usually the purview of horror writers,
makes that choice work excellently, and horrifies readers while keeping us
thrilled with the novel’s progress and pace.
Christopher has just turned eighteen and graduated; like
many adolescents, he acts out quite a bit and stays out late. The next morning,
after oversleeping, he discovers he is the only person left alive in his home:
his parents have been slaughtered.
Initially suspected of the murders, he is eventually exonerated and sent from
his Pennsylvania home town to upstate New York to live near his grandmother and
detective uncle. On the surface, his life seems almost normal, but Christopher
and his family members have already served a session in hades, so to speak, and
as is gradually revealed, nothing is normal about him, his family, or his
ancestors-or the town to which he relocates.
Robert Swartwood keeps the Supernatural heat turned up, yet
at the same time we are given a perspective on Christopher’s coming of age, in
the emotional, metaphoric, and metaphysical sense. I can’t wait to read more
from this author.
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