
Author Andrew Saxsma has written a deviously fun novella – which actually appears to be the first in a series. The story is wonderfully told, the pacing is perfect, and the plot is gripping. Granted, the plot is ridiculous, but I didn’t care – I was wrapped up in the world and I was able to suspend disbelief. There are some genuinely creepy and gruesome moments. There is a section where hundreds of cattle attack Gene in his truck which is quite unsettling (I kept thinking, who would have thought you could make cows horrifying?). Needless to say, I think Andrew Saxsma is quite a gifted storyteller.
There are some flaws that the author may want to address in this and future efforts. For instance, he missed occasional misspellings, grammatical errors, and inconsistencies in emotion and logic. There are frequent shifts in point of view – often with each paragraph and sometimes within paragraphs. I found the shifting to be confusing and unnecessary – sticking with one character would have been sufficient and more effective. Nonetheless, the story itself is quite good, and I wouldn’t want any of these things to deter someone from reading Old McDonald and missing out on a rip-roaring yarn.