July 30 2008
The Summer I Died, by Ryan C. Thomas
In a word, Brutal. Having read hundreds upon hundreds of horror novels in my life, I am more likely to smirk at the depicton of violent acts in most tales rather than experience an actual moment of discomfort. Not that I’m calloused (okay, maybe I am), but that the imagery is always a bit outlandish.
Ryan C. Thomas literally gave me nightmares with this book. The plot is simple. Dumb teenagers stumble upon the backwoods lair of a chainsaw-wielding redneck psycho and get themselves into “trouble”. We’ve seen the same plot in any number of B-movies at your local video store. Yet, somehow Thomas manages to crank up the reality quotient in this phenomenally disturbing first novel. I’m truly jealous of his talent. The Summer I Died needs to be read by all fans of horror fiction.
