Kill Creek

In Kill Creek sits a house where bloody murders occurred and since then it has lain closed up and abandoned. Until now, Wainwright who has a social media vlog, invites four of the best horror writers to spend the night there over Halloween, being interviewed for his vlog as they do so. You would think that the novel hinges on this night, however, save for a few bizarre, mind-melding episodes the authors all get to leave the next day seemingly unharmed. Over the course of the next months, leading to a year, each of the novelists become obsessed, independently, with writing a singular tale. Here we stray into Stephen King territory, the novelists are obsessed, disdaining normal life and everything else just to write. Words become pages become tomes. Bringing themselves together again, they decide to revisit the house and find out why they are all obsessed.Reading this book was a little bit of a bizarre experience. On the face of it, the second half of the book is the true horror as events unfold. The first half is a little bit creepy but mostly just intriguing. However, it creeped the hell out of me. I found the descent to madness for these authors really unsettling and I was actually anxious returning to the book at night.I would really recommend this to Stephen King fans, and plain ol' horror fans. Everyone loves a haunted house story and I love that this house reached beyond its parameters. Deckled edges though, man, they look pretty but they interfere with the flow of reading.

(WARNING: This review contains minor spoilers.)It’s been roughly a year since I sat down with a novel I could get immersed in, Kill Creek finally urging me to pluck it from the shelf with its attractive design (those deckled edges!) and promise of a bloody tale. It was the one in that moment – the chosen – and I hoped it would lightly shove me in the right direction of returning to the beloved hobby. Well, it did exactly that, and here I am writing my first review in what seems like forever! I’ve missed the enjoyment of a good book, as well as the highs and lows that come with it.I make it no secret that haunted houses aren’t my favourite form of horror, I often find them too predictable with their overused tropes that quickly get old, yet Thomas changed it up some whilst still including the ghostly elements that are so popular in the genre – the atmospheric setting of a dilapidated old house, and the ghastly phantoms in the dark. Despite picking up clues from the distinct foreshadowing as to some of the events and mystery surrounding the Finch House, there were still surprises along the way, the most notable being its action-packed culmination of which was unexpected and somewhat upsetting. It’s considered a slow burn, and that may have been one of the reasons I liked it, as I prefer to be left in a state of dread rather than completely desensitised to the supernatural aspects too early.The characters themselves being authors, they each represented different sub-genres of horror, from the teen hits that focus on the triumph of good, to the marriage of sex and depravity where evil has its wicked way, and that which sits in between both extremes. The glimpse into the publishing world also held a sad truth that I appreciated; I think most writers would say the job isn’t as glamorous as some would believe it to be. I found myself liking the four novelists and interested in their interactions that often left me wondering if writers do indeed carry such disdain for each other’s work. Moore, however, had me torn back and forth – on one hand her unfiltered and confrontational attitude was amusing, yet on the other it was a slight too exaggerated even for me. Although when events really started to get crazy, I didn’t want any of them to suffer, which is definitely an indication that I connected with them in some way.Unfortunately, some minor aspects had me roll my eyes, specifically how Moore was described. Certain key features were mentioned more than necessary, namely the bosom or body shape in general. I’m not against sexual content by any means, and I get that the intention may have been to add sex appeal or to convey the character’s thoughts, but I don’t think it contributed much of anything (other than letting the reader know that those breasts were barely contained.) My thoughts regarding this common trend is that if women have to be overly sexualised, then at least include the male characters as well, therefore making it an even playing field. I try not to let this sort of thing bother me, but I can’t help but question if authors are aware that women read their books.In conclusion: Kill Creek held me captivated throughout, igniting mystery and intrigue. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and their secrets, and whilst some of the revelations were speculated beforehand, I still enjoyed the overall story with only some small complaints. The rust of my year-long break was well and truly scraped away by Thomas, and for that I’m more than pleased.Notable Quote:There it was, the house on Kill Creek, the Finch House, the old, grizzled monster that stalked the dreams of children, that danced on the tongues of morbid storytellers.© Red Lace 2020

Kill Creek is a brilliant book, the best I’ve read this year. It’s superbly written, with an engrossing plot, incredibly strong characters and dialogue that crackles. With minimal reliance on the old tropes, Kill Creek is packed with scares and nerve wrenching tension. The reader’s treated with respect and is rewarded with first class story telling. Kill Creek is remarkably cinematic at times, I did initially think that a movie adaption would be fantastic to see. I don’t think this is the case now, a movie would never be able to do justice to the source material, let your minds eye and Scott Thomas’ pen make that movie for you.

Really contrived book - this is clearly a self insert with a horrible written representation of women. I don’t care how a woman’s breasts look in a scene. Also each character is a massive cliche and has no depth. A woman who is strong because she was raped? Groundbreaking.Pointless adjectives thrown around that add nothing to the story - I don’t need to know what the characters are wearing in the morning if it doesn’t have any impact.Scares started promising but it really lost its way in the third part. Do yourself a favour and miss this.

The actual pages of the book have the look of being shredded which makes it hard to turn individual pages and gives the book a damaged look.Too descriptive. Felt like the author needed to hit a word count and went overboard with the descriptions.Otherwise, I enjoyed the storyline and I would recommend the book

For a debut novel, this is great! It's not without its faults, but I put that down to Scott Thomas being a fledgling author. Hopefully this is the first of many novels to come.

The book was sold as a brand new copy at full price, and this is what I received. The pages look shredded and can't easily be turned.

This is great, a haunted house story that actually manages to say something original about the trope. The tension builds well, and the story grips in a way that means late nights and missed bus stops.