Kealan Patrick Burke has a fiendish imagination – which is great for his readers who enjoy his jolting horror fiction. His latest work, Sour Candy, had me transfixed from the outset when our protagonist, Phil Pendleton, has a chance encounter with a disheveled woman and her six year old boy. The woman appears traumatized beyond repair and the boy is capable of an unearthly and brain-shattering scream which sends all the other shoppers scrambling. Phil isn’t so lucky, and through a series of events he becomes the identified father of the child. What transpires is a novella of incredible ingenuity and gut-wrenching horror. You feel all of the shock that Phil feels as he finds himself trapped within the clutches of this kid.
My favorite horror sub-genre is the “creepy-kid” horror tale. The little boy in this book, who goes by Adam, is a devilishly creepy (and fun) character who hits all the right notes for unsettling your nerves. The story has a brisk pace accompanied by twists and turns I didn’t see coming. I was swept up with the story, and couldn’t help wondering (with a certain amount of envy) how the author came up with this riveting plot line.
For heaven’s sake, read it. And stay away from little kids and their stressed out parents in the candy aisle of Walmart.
My favorite horror sub-genre is the “creepy-kid” horror tale. The little boy in this book, who goes by Adam, is a devilishly creepy (and fun) character who hits all the right notes for unsettling your nerves. The story has a brisk pace accompanied by twists and turns I didn’t see coming. I was swept up with the story, and couldn’t help wondering (with a certain amount of envy) how the author came up with this riveting plot line.
For heaven’s sake, read it. And stay away from little kids and their stressed out parents in the candy aisle of Walmart.
RSS Feed
