I read this book when it first came out.....I just realized I hadn't reviewed it yet.

I've been reading horror as long as I can remember.....I started reading Stephen King at 12/13 yrs old. This is.....without a doubt....the scariest book I've ever read! I don't normally find books scary at all....with this book, I actually got creeped out! ( )

The prologue itself drew me in to the story very quickly. There was definitely some very creepy and hold your breathe moments throughout the book. However, I felt that from the middle of the book and on, the story seemed to drag out. Towards the ending came some great events but then the ending fell a little flat. My overall rating is 3.5 stars rounding up to 4. I would still recommend this book as the story telling itself was well done. ( )

I gave this an extra half star because the first quarter of the book had a good thing going. It was an interesting concept.

The characters are not well written and particularly the writing of Faye was HORRIBLE. Felix was like "Oh she's so fiery and mysterious" but in the book she was just a smart alec. Like okay....

Very cringy and anticlimactic.

This book would have been WAY better in two steps- 1) if Felix had just broken up with Faye and; 2) figured out what was going on at Pale Peak with his will-they-won't-they romantic/platonic/new bestie Nathan.

As a note, I did listen to the Audible version of this book and respectfully I don't think the voice actor helped the book.

Overall? This is a no from me. ( )

I wanted to stab this book with pointy claws. Very poorly written. This book desperately needed an editor and someone to rein in the main character.

There were unrealistic situations in the “normal” worlds of the character's lives. No, not the supernatural ones – Those were actually (marginally) fine. I'm talking about: beyond super-understanding co-workers and bosses; neighbors that would have been calling the police on a daily basis; strangers willing to step in and let the main character walk all over them; a crazy number of side characters keeping secrets to absolutely no purpose; relatives that bowed and scraped to the main character once he got “tough” with them … God, what a douche.

The main character was one of the worst Gary Stus I've read in a good long while. There were pages upon pages of the main character spelling out what a wonderful and virtuous person he was.

Then there was the Magical Indian trope. I'm so sick of it. Either create a person who has a Native American background and who is well-rounded and has seen some shit in their lives, or stop using the trope. I'm just so done with it across the board for everything. It's just shorthand for lazy writers.

And the author killed them off for absolutely no reason. They are supposed to be the smart ones. Felix is just a dumb jerk to everyone (including Faye), yet the two older, wiser native people sacrifice themselves. WHY? They knew the history. Why would they do this for either Faye or Felix? They had known them for like, what, a week?

I nearly threw in the towel at the point where some magic herbs vaguely solved the problem of the huge, scary dream monster. Our tough little Felix Stu almost defeats him by loud words, but is defeated by puke. Hating to puke is his character flaw that proves he's not a Gary Stu! OH, NOES!

I managed to finish it, but this was a huge disappointment. Maybe it would have been better on audiobook or better as a drastically reduced creepypasta. I don't know. But, yeah. Felix Stu. Awful person. ( )

It has been a minute since I’ve read a book this quick. But whoo did it give me the creeps. Of course I stayed up late to finish and will absolutely have trouble sleeping, but recommend for a good solid scare of a read. ( )