Review of Tearstone by David L. Day
5 stars
This is how Horror should approach us: less like turning
over stones to see the insects crawling underneath, more like pacing down a
staircase into the Underworld, a staircase that spirals and presents new
horrors at every turn. I wouldn’t want to be a witness to the inside of this
author’s nightmares, but what a wonderful story they have produced. On the surface,
a simple prodigal-son-returns-to-home-town-at-parent’s-death; but that’s the
surface, that’s not the story.
Tom left Washington Heights, Ohio, long ago, and it’s not
till really late in the story that we come to understand the exact nature of
his departure. Left behind are disgruntled and continually bitter younger
brother Kyle, and father Lewis, a severely alcoholic parent with serious
psychological and spiritual issues. On the home acreage sits the family house,
the pole barn where Lewis takes his own life, and the Lodge, the gathering
point for the assembly of men, which has Masonic overtones but which harbours
much more than just the usual men’s fraternal get-togethers.
This is a debut novel, but is so riveting that I anticipate
the next offering from new author David L. Day. Readers who are faint of heart,
ready your oxygen mask and your antacid pills before attempting this
scrumptious story.
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