‘I’ve done something unforgivable, and it followed me here…’

Samantha Eaton delivers a horror tale through the vessel of atmosphere and originality with a different take on the creature feature that carries a certain sophistication.

With a main character in high school, the expectation to take the ultra dramatic teenage angst route would appear obvious but not here, our hero ‘Cara Hughes’ is presented in a more grounded way along with her life much like many of the horror elements in this story that is packed with mystery and unpredictability. Of course we do see the usual school politics and antics of kids who are that age which is delivered through snippets of flashbacks that plant seeds for what is unfolding now and what is to come. Hysteria spreads quickly among the students along with rumours that whisper murder or worse.

‘My body may be in the classroom, but my mind wanders…’

From the start readers are fed an atmosphere which is this book’s ultimate strength and captures the forest setting, theme and personality of every major character. Something is out there and it has taken lives and even loved ones so when a missing presumed dead sibling returns, for ‘Cara’ it sets her on a path of realisation that a sinister presence is watching.

‘Someone was watching me tonight. Just like they have been watching me every night for weeks. I wonder if, one of these nights, they’ll want to do more than watch…’

The journey of realisation and then revelation kept me turning pages while I also found myself savouring certain face off moments between ‘Cara’ and the unknown forcers that were both immersive and gripping. For anyone who enjoys atmospheric horror with a slow burn and the presence of kittens every now and then, this one is for you because there is something out there.

5 Stars