The irony in reading a book titled, WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU, while I'm coughing and hacking in my recliner with doggy home health aide #1, is not lost on me.
This fascinating tale from Ken Brosky was published through Timber Ghost Press last summer, and it was an unexpected dive into the human psyche. The power of free will, desperation to survive, and desire to be more were the themes that buzzed around my head as I read the story.
Emma comes home to the town of Seven Sisters after spending years away as a successful business woman, bringing with her a shipping container holding strange cargo. She revisits the dilapidated, near-ghost town, wandering around as a blizzard blows in, catching up on what people have/haven't accomplished and who the younger generations are. It doesn't take long for things to go sideways once a couple of the local kids realize there's a monster beyond all imagination on the loose, and scramble to survive.
The setting and the characters are so important in this story. It's so easy to imagine what Seven Sisters looks like, since I grew up in a town that's probably pretty similar. Buildings falling apart, everyone knows everyone, and generations of families are trapped - but as we learn through the character development, many of them are trapped by their own devices (whether mentally or physically).
There's no predicting what characters will survive their encounters and who won't, and the monster is a fascinating design I've never encountered before! The body horror coming from destruction, transformation, and re-purposing is intense, and I love the escalation at the end. If a slow burn isn't your style, the beginning might be a little difficult, but the ending definitely carries the torch straight to the end.
Where to find Ken:
Twitter: grendelguy
IG: grendelguy
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