Kill Creek
"I've only dared to read it in the daylight." --Kaly Soto, Deputy Weekend Editor, the New York Times Book Review At the end of a dark prairie road, nearly forgotten in the Kansas countryside, is the Finch House. For years it has remained empty, overgrown, abandoned. Soon the door will be opened for the first time in decades. But something is waiting, lurking in the shadows, anxious to meet its new guests... When best-selling horror author Sam McGarver is invited to spend Halloween night in one of the country's most infamous haunted houses, he reluctantly agrees. At least he won't be alone; joining him are three other masters of the macabre, writers who have helped shape modern horror. But what begins as a simple publicity stunt will become a fight for survival. The entity they have awakened will follow them, torment them, threatening to make them a part of the bloody legacy of Kill Creek.
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I feel like I start every review of a book club book this way, but once again it is true: If it wasn’t for my club, I would not have read this book. It started out interesting with the characters who lived in the house first and after tragedy strikes things just go downhill from there. Four characters get an invitation to the house known as Finch House aka Kill Creek. Those characters are Sam McGarver, T.C. Moore, Daniel Slaughter, and Sebastian Cole. Each one is well known for writing horror with unique twists. Another set of characters who are part of the team that set the story in motion are Kate and Justin aka Wainright. Everyone in the story knows about the ghost story surrounding the house, but no one is prepared for what comes next. Throughout the story I did not like all the characters’ attitudes toward each other. Sure, there are rivalries in all industries, but within this book the rivalries were childish. The pace of the book was too slow for my liking. In fact, by chapter 12 nothing interesting had happened yet. By that point I was getting bored with the story even though the narrator is great! The only parts I enjoyed were specific scenes and one liner such as “We’ve officially joined the circus.” Frankly, the characters weren’t wrong. This entire book is a circus! There is no character development, and the plot went from being somewhat solid to a complete mess with no ending. My rating of 2 ½ stars is because this book was definitely not my style. I just did not have the patience for the mess of this book. I am the type of reader that does not want to be hand-held, however this book gave no answers and when it finally came together the answers made no sense! Of course, fiction isn’t real so out there explanations are perfectly common, but as a reader I like to be able to make connections and form opinions based on those connections. Kill Creek had none of that. I feel like I was thrown into a world and given nothing to navigate it with. I feel a book should adequately equip the reader to follow the plot line and be able to see where a story might be headed even if the outcome isn’t clear until the end. I’m all for books that lead me on an unexpected path and ultimately may have an unexpected ending, but all I felt at the end of this book was I was glad it was over. I would not recommend this book to readers searching for a thrill because it isn’t worth it here. For me, the thrill happened after the book was finished!
Kill Creek starts off with a bang, introducing the infamous Kill Creek house and all the tragedy it’s seen. Thomas sets the scene for a truly epic haunted house story and I was absolutely loving it for the first half of the book. Unfortunately, once I hit the halfway point I started to lose interest because the cryptic, gothic horror elements start to disappear and soon the novel reads more like an over the top action horror than a genuinely scary haunted house book.
There’s nothing wrong with the action packed climax but it just wasn’t my cup of tea. It took me a long time to finish the second half of this book, while the first half I basically flew through. I was so invested in the characters and the haunting of Kill Creek, so when it took a 180 into R rated Scooby Doo territory it was a little jarring.
If you’re like me and you love gothic haunted house tales, this is not it. It may start that way, but it quickly fades into a more action packed gore fest near the end so if thats not your thing and you strictly want gothic horror all the way through, I’d probably skip this one.
If you love all horror and want a fun read then I honestly would recommend it. While I didn’t love the second half of the book, I did still enjoy it’s original take on the haunted house genre. It does get a little cliche or cheesy at points, but it’s in that B movie horror way that’s more fun than annoying. This wouldn’t be one I add to my best haunted house novels list, but it is one I’d recommend to horror or action fans.
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