Tuesday, June 21, 2022

2 Bloggers 1 Book - A New Hunter Shea!

 


If you've been around for any period of time, you know how much Stormi and I LOVE Hunter Shea, especially his creature-centered books.  So when we saw he had a new one coming out, PLUS that it was on Kindle Unlimited, it gave us both an excuse to pick it up. So read on to see what I think about it and then hop over to Stormi's at  Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My! to see what she thought as well.


TITLE: To the Devil, A Cryptid
AUTHOR: Hunter Shea
PUBLISHER: Severed Press
PUBLISHING DATE: May 13, 2022
PAGES: 161
SOURCE: Kindle Unlimited

FROM GOODREADS: Down in Texas, even the legends are bigger.

Some say the Goat Man is just an old folk tale, meant to scare people from wandering too far into the woods. For a group of Satanists, crossing the infamous Goat Man's Bridge is the first step to appeasing their Dark Lord. When their sacrifice goes wrong, hell is birthed on Earth. What rises from the ashes under a lightning-slashed sky will crave only two things: to bring about chaos, and bathe in the blood of the dead.

An ex-con, pastry chef, paranormal podcaster and terrified teen fight to stay one step ahead of their destruction as the town around them is crushed under the horns of the horrifying cryptid now possessed by demons from hell. The Goat Man has arrived, and it won't leave until there is nothing left alive.

MY THOUGHTS: This book was such a quick, fun read that I would recommend it to anyone who loves creature-centered horror.  Everyone loves to tempt folklore and for years, people have went to Goat Man's Bridge trying to conjure evil spirits or perhaps get a glimpse of Goat Man himself.  When the book opens, you have a group of Satanist, trying to connect with the Dark Lord when things go horribly wrong - which I would guess seems to happen whenever the Dark Lord is involved.  However, one of the townies, who wants nothing more than to rescue cats who are coming up missing, gets caught in the crosshairs and suddenly, all Hell breaks lose.

What happens next is a blood and gore fest in a small Texas town, teens and young adults trying to stay alive and a perverted priest who may be their last chance (Who FYI isn't really perverted).  I loved all the action and the Goat Man himself is pretty scary.  As I mentioned, the book flies by and I couldn't wait to see who would die next.  The ending was a tad sad which I didn't really expect coming from a Shea creature book but it was a perfect way to tie this up without a pretty package and red ribbon.  My only complaint is how the main characters in the book kept splitting up and then running into each other again.  I mean, how much would this really happen in an end-of-the-town scenario.

That being said, I still loved this book and Shea continues to cement himself as one of my favorite horror authors.  The man can't write fast enough for me and seriously, if you love horror and haven't tried him yet, this is a great place to dip your toes.  Just don't do it off the side of Goat Man Bridge.

RATING: 4 PAWS