KILL CREEK by Scott Thomas
Take four of the world’s top horror writers, add an ambitious media mogul and his tech-savvy girlfriend, mix in a creepy old house where two savage murders took place and a dash of spookery in the form of two deceased sisters, and you’ve got the ingredients for KILL CREEK, Scott Thomas’s terrific debut novel.
Thomas’s premise is both straightforward and intriguing: media tycoon Wainwright invites extreme horror writer T.C. Moore, Christian YA novelist Daniel Slaughter, legendary horror writer Sebastian Cole, and famous but faltering gothic horror writer Sam McGarver to spend Halloween night in the notorious Finch House. No one is any too keen about the idea, but each can use the publicity, not to mention the cash.
The fateful night in the haunted Finch mansion proves disturbing enough, with a few genuinely scary moments as well as a mean-spirited on-air interview by their host, but the next day all four writers leave the house, shaken but apparently unscathed.
The Finch House has let them off easy. Or so it would appear.
The real horror begins later, first foreshadowed by a tragedy that strikes Daniel Slaughter on the day they depart the house. After that, all four experience a period of writing so obsesssive there’s barely time to eat or sleep as each creates their own version of a novel based upon the Finch House. Soon it becomes apparent the Finch House was only toying with them that first night, letting them leave in order to lure them all back for a final, deadly battle with the supernatural.
Thomas’s writing is vivid, even at times lyrical, despite a plot that doesn’t shy away from violence and gore. His characters reflect the reality behind their work and the urgent creativity that’s sometimes rooted in trauma, loss, and physical abuse. To a person, they cover their scars carefully, and the Finch House is all too ready to expose each painful truth.
KILL CREEK is Thomas’s debut novel and a finalist for Best First Novel for the 2017 Bram Stoker Awards. It’s a brilliant beginning that left me already looking forward to his next book.
Thomas’s premise is both straightforward and intriguing: media tycoon Wainwright invites extreme horror writer T.C. Moore, Christian YA novelist Daniel Slaughter, legendary horror writer Sebastian Cole, and famous but faltering gothic horror writer Sam McGarver to spend Halloween night in the notorious Finch House. No one is any too keen about the idea, but each can use the publicity, not to mention the cash.
The fateful night in the haunted Finch mansion proves disturbing enough, with a few genuinely scary moments as well as a mean-spirited on-air interview by their host, but the next day all four writers leave the house, shaken but apparently unscathed.
The Finch House has let them off easy. Or so it would appear.
The real horror begins later, first foreshadowed by a tragedy that strikes Daniel Slaughter on the day they depart the house. After that, all four experience a period of writing so obsesssive there’s barely time to eat or sleep as each creates their own version of a novel based upon the Finch House. Soon it becomes apparent the Finch House was only toying with them that first night, letting them leave in order to lure them all back for a final, deadly battle with the supernatural.
Thomas’s writing is vivid, even at times lyrical, despite a plot that doesn’t shy away from violence and gore. His characters reflect the reality behind their work and the urgent creativity that’s sometimes rooted in trauma, loss, and physical abuse. To a person, they cover their scars carefully, and the Finch House is all too ready to expose each painful truth.
KILL CREEK is Thomas’s debut novel and a finalist for Best First Novel for the 2017 Bram Stoker Awards. It’s a brilliant beginning that left me already looking forward to his next book.
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