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The Rift
From the author of the acclaimed If You Go Down to the Woods (HarperCollins) comes a new thriller in the slipstream of Jacob’s The Monkey’s Paw and King’s Pet Sematary.
Joe Jimenez, grieving father and estranged husband, on the eve of the anniversary of his son's death is on the brink of complete despair when he witnesses the arrival of a strange atmospheric anomaly. The rift – a curious tear in the very air of his backyard – appears nightly, and after some experimentation, Joe discovers that for everything that's sent through the rift, something similar, but horribly wrong, comes back. And when something on the other side claims to be in possession of his son, Joe has to make the most important decision of his should he go through and find ou t?
FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing Independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePress
Joe Jimenez, grieving father and estranged husband, on the eve of the anniversary of his son's death is on the brink of complete despair when he witnesses the arrival of a strange atmospheric anomaly. The rift – a curious tear in the very air of his backyard – appears nightly, and after some experimentation, Joe discovers that for everything that's sent through the rift, something similar, but horribly wrong, comes back. And when something on the other side claims to be in possession of his son, Joe has to make the most important decision of his should he go through and find ou t?
FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing Independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePress
208 pages, Paperback
Published October 10, 2023
1 person is currently reading
2943 people want to read
About the author
Seth C. Adams
5 books99 followersRaised on Marvel comics, horror fiction, The Twilight Zone, and other genre entertainment unsuitable for an impressionable young mind, Seth C. Adams knew he wanted to tell stories at a young age.
With a Bachelor's in anthropology from the University of California, Riverside, and completing his Master's in North American History at Arizona State University, as an adult he's learned that real life is indeed often stranger–and more frightening–than fiction.
He currently splits his time between California and Arizona, and is always working on, or thinking about, his next story.
With a Bachelor's in anthropology from the University of California, Riverside, and completing his Master's in North American History at Arizona State University, as an adult he's learned that real life is indeed often stranger–and more frightening–than fiction.
He currently splits his time between California and Arizona, and is always working on, or thinking about, his next story.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
September 8, 2023
So you need to have your tissues ready for this one. It is so much about grief and, as a parent, it really hit hard. I mean, seriously…I started out crying and ended it crying.
It’s also horror. It’s described as a mix of The Monkey’s Paw and Pet Semetary – and it is. It’s a horrific reminder that sometimes you really need to let things go. It’s a whole lot of despair and only the tiniest bit of lightness.
The horror of it is gruesome and graphic.
This was an excellent read. It’s a hard one because it gets you emotional, but it’s a good one!
• ARC via Publisher
It’s also horror. It’s described as a mix of The Monkey’s Paw and Pet Semetary – and it is. It’s a horrific reminder that sometimes you really need to let things go. It’s a whole lot of despair and only the tiniest bit of lightness.
The horror of it is gruesome and graphic.
This was an excellent read. It’s a hard one because it gets you emotional, but it’s a good one!
• ARC via Publisher
October 14, 2023
3.5 stars
The Rift by Seth C. Adams is a horror novel about a man who is trying to deal with the death of his son.
First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Flame Tree Press and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
My Synopsis: (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)
Joe Jimenez is still grieving the death of his 12-year old son Evan. Clara, Joe's wife, left him six months ago, because she was trying to move on. Joe is still stuck.
On the anniversary of his son's death, Joe discovers a strange atmospheric anomaly in his backyard, a rift. A tear in the air. Joe throws things in the rift, and something similar comes back. But the thing that comes back is somehow wrong.
Then he gets a message from the other side. His son is there.
My Opinions:
Touted as being a a combination of Pet Sematary and The Monkey's Paw, it does live up to this description. However, when you are going to compare a book to those two greats, you have to be prepared for some disappointment. My expectations were a little too high because of that comparison. The book was still good, just not as great as those two giants.
It is, indeed, horror/sci-fi. It is also about grief, and family, and letting go.
The plot was good, as was the writing. It is a relatively fast read, although I occasionally got bogged down in the details. It was definitely an emotional read, but sometimes I really disliked Joe.
Anyway, overall, it was good, just not great (and I still blame the publisher for comparing it to Jacobs and King).
For a more complete review of this book and others (including the reason I chose to read/review this book, author information and a favorite quotation or two from the book), please visit my blog: http://katlovesbooksblog.wordpress.com/
October 26, 2023
Due to the disappearance of Joe son Evan he and his wife have separated after there son Evan’s disappearance Joe has never been the same. One day while Joe is taking in his home in its surroundings he notices a rift in the atmosphere somethings he’s never seen before and as the days go by he notices it comes at the same time every afternoon. After a few homemade experiments he notices that you can throw things into the rift but when it comes out it isn’t the same as when it went in. He even figures out a way to breach the opening without going in an even trade‘s messages with the rift and errors in one of these messages that it tells him his son is there that everyone is there and he should come! Joe couldn’t be more excited but when he finally goes to look for his son oh he be trapped there forever come back changed or not come back at all! this is such an original imaginative story and I could not for the life and they think how it would end but just like it had a great beginning and the great middle it had a great ending as well the book flows along with no dull moment they have some action some heart palpitating moments it’s just an all-around great book and so original! I love that and highly recommend it to any horror fan who likes alternate universe type stories you will definitely love The Rift by Seth C Adams I really don’t think you will be disappointed. I want to thank flame tree publishing and NetGalley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.
October 17, 2023
*I received a free copy of this book, with thanks to the author, Flame Tree Press and Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*
This is quite a short book for the amount of dark horror and despair it manages to pack in!
The story starts as a slow and painful exploration of the utter heartbreak at losing a child to a sudden, violent death. When we meet Joe at the start of the book, he has already lost everything. He is deep in a black hole with not a gleam of light anywhere in sight to offer him any hope. Then a ‘rift’ in reality appears in his back garden and slowly lures him into curiosity and experimentation (positive steps), blind to the terrible danger of the hook behind the bait.
Similarly, the reader is lulled into a false sense of security by the logical, sci-fi way Joe goes about exploring the rift and the mild horror that results, until suddenly the book explodes into body horror, gore and destruction on a scale that would satisfy the darkest of horror-lovers!
I can definitely understand the comparisons to Pet Semetary and other similar works, but the author takes this book in a slightly different direction than you might expect, building in a battle between dark and light, choosing death or choosing life, all waged within the struggle of one ordinary man to balance what he wants more than anything else against his will to survive. Once the story gets fully underway, there is plenty of action, as Joe has to fight less metaphorical battles than the one he wages against his inner demons.
For more sensitive readers, this is obviously going to be a disturbing book – it starts with the death of a child and spirals downward from there – but for those who don’t mind, or even thrive on, the dark and disturbing, this is a twisty and unpredictable little read that keeps you guessing about where it is heading and left me slightly surprised at where it eventually came out. And the images of what was inside the rift have stayed with me as nightmare fodder ever since, so it is definitely memorable!
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpres...
This is quite a short book for the amount of dark horror and despair it manages to pack in!
The story starts as a slow and painful exploration of the utter heartbreak at losing a child to a sudden, violent death. When we meet Joe at the start of the book, he has already lost everything. He is deep in a black hole with not a gleam of light anywhere in sight to offer him any hope. Then a ‘rift’ in reality appears in his back garden and slowly lures him into curiosity and experimentation (positive steps), blind to the terrible danger of the hook behind the bait.
Similarly, the reader is lulled into a false sense of security by the logical, sci-fi way Joe goes about exploring the rift and the mild horror that results, until suddenly the book explodes into body horror, gore and destruction on a scale that would satisfy the darkest of horror-lovers!
I can definitely understand the comparisons to Pet Semetary and other similar works, but the author takes this book in a slightly different direction than you might expect, building in a battle between dark and light, choosing death or choosing life, all waged within the struggle of one ordinary man to balance what he wants more than anything else against his will to survive. Once the story gets fully underway, there is plenty of action, as Joe has to fight less metaphorical battles than the one he wages against his inner demons.
For more sensitive readers, this is obviously going to be a disturbing book – it starts with the death of a child and spirals downward from there – but for those who don’t mind, or even thrive on, the dark and disturbing, this is a twisty and unpredictable little read that keeps you guessing about where it is heading and left me slightly surprised at where it eventually came out. And the images of what was inside the rift have stayed with me as nightmare fodder ever since, so it is definitely memorable!
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpres...
October 8, 2023
Warning: Mild spoilers, though I censored them
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.
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I have to admit, I was a little worried going into this one because the few reviews I read were not very positive. I also went into this short novel expecting something quite different than this. That being said, I was very pleasantly surprised (sometimes reading negative reviews makes your experience better!). Let’s start with my expectations; I was thinking this would be a dark and sad story that crawled through Joe’s psyche during his final days. I also thought maybe there would be a little Pet Sematary in the mix, like Joe throwing his son’s corpse through the void and having him step out as some undead oddity. However, I was wrong about all of this. Though the first third or so of this novel is relatively tame – Joe experiments with the void while mourning the loss of his son and wife, who left him – it then takes a wild left turn for someone who wasn’t expecting such a dark fantasy jump. Joe actually passes through the rift and ends up in this twisted world that is monstrous and evil. From this point forward, the story wasn’t at all what I was expecting. There are a couple times a moment seems out of place – like when XXXX falls through the rift and a monster steps out with his XXXX shooting acid-like XXX – but by the time I reached the end of the book, it felt relative enough, not as strange as I’d thought at the time. And yet, that one scene still seems a little over the top by comparison to the rest... Anyway, The Rift is sad, yes, but it didn’t leave me broken as I feared. I have a real problem with children dying in stories and thought this might end up being a DNF. Instead, I never really got too caught up in my head over any of the ways Adams wrote his story. It’s still deeply sad, but he didn’t get caught up too much in the details (except once or twice, briefly) for me to feel the need to abandon the book. This was good. It was upsetting but not traumatizing. I would also like to note I had no idea how this story would end as it ramped up and got wilder and further away from what I'd been expecting; the conclusion made sense even if it was heartbreaking. My bottom line here: The Rift is well-written, dark and twisted, sad, and engaging. I didn’t always sync with it, but I definitely enjoyed it enough to walk away satisfied and thinking Adams will be an author to read again later.
.
.
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I have to admit, I was a little worried going into this one because the few reviews I read were not very positive. I also went into this short novel expecting something quite different than this. That being said, I was very pleasantly surprised (sometimes reading negative reviews makes your experience better!). Let’s start with my expectations; I was thinking this would be a dark and sad story that crawled through Joe’s psyche during his final days. I also thought maybe there would be a little Pet Sematary in the mix, like Joe throwing his son’s corpse through the void and having him step out as some undead oddity. However, I was wrong about all of this. Though the first third or so of this novel is relatively tame – Joe experiments with the void while mourning the loss of his son and wife, who left him – it then takes a wild left turn for someone who wasn’t expecting such a dark fantasy jump. Joe actually passes through the rift and ends up in this twisted world that is monstrous and evil. From this point forward, the story wasn’t at all what I was expecting. There are a couple times a moment seems out of place – like when XXXX falls through the rift and a monster steps out with his XXXX shooting acid-like XXX – but by the time I reached the end of the book, it felt relative enough, not as strange as I’d thought at the time. And yet, that one scene still seems a little over the top by comparison to the rest... Anyway, The Rift is sad, yes, but it didn’t leave me broken as I feared. I have a real problem with children dying in stories and thought this might end up being a DNF. Instead, I never really got too caught up in my head over any of the ways Adams wrote his story. It’s still deeply sad, but he didn’t get caught up too much in the details (except once or twice, briefly) for me to feel the need to abandon the book. This was good. It was upsetting but not traumatizing. I would also like to note I had no idea how this story would end as it ramped up and got wilder and further away from what I'd been expecting; the conclusion made sense even if it was heartbreaking. My bottom line here: The Rift is well-written, dark and twisted, sad, and engaging. I didn’t always sync with it, but I definitely enjoyed it enough to walk away satisfied and thinking Adams will be an author to read again later.
October 11, 2023
It's the eve of the anniversary of Joe Jimenez's son, he was really struggle with his grief, he misses him. Joe has a rift, a tear in the air in his backyard. It's not long before Joe starts to experimenting with the rift. But over time Joe has noticed that what goes through the rift doesn't come back the same, it comes back with something wrong with it and not in a good way. When a note appears saying his son is on the other side of the rift, Joe starts asking himself should he go through or left things as they are. What would you do?
The story is full with emotions, both good and bad. Seth's descriptions mean you are pulled more into the story. I read this in one sitting.
The story is full with emotions, both good and bad. Seth's descriptions mean you are pulled more into the story. I read this in one sitting.
September 26, 2023
Joe Jimenez is struggling with the death of his son when a mysterious rift appears in his back yard. Joe, through his experimentation, finds out that the things that go in the rift, come out wrong somehow. As if that was not bad enough, one night a note comes through the rift telling Joe that on the other side, is the only thing he cares about, his son.
Obviously at the heart of this story is grief over a loved one’s death, and The Rift takes this to an entirely different plane, it is truly heartbreaking at times.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t really particularly enjoy this book; I felt the writing was too heavy for my liking and it slowed down my reading exponentially. Going into this, I was very excited, as the premise sounded great, but sadly it just did not work out for me.
That’s not to say there were nothing in this book I enjoyed. I particularly loved the “otherness” of the other side of the rift, as well as the things inside it, and the descriptions were simply enthralling.
Although The Rift was not a hit for me, I’m sure that plenty of other readers will have more of a success than me, and I would especially recommend it for lovers of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary.
Big thanks to Netgalley, Flame Tree Press, and the author Seth C. Adams for allowing me to read an E-Arc of this Book.
Obviously at the heart of this story is grief over a loved one’s death, and The Rift takes this to an entirely different plane, it is truly heartbreaking at times.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t really particularly enjoy this book; I felt the writing was too heavy for my liking and it slowed down my reading exponentially. Going into this, I was very excited, as the premise sounded great, but sadly it just did not work out for me.
That’s not to say there were nothing in this book I enjoyed. I particularly loved the “otherness” of the other side of the rift, as well as the things inside it, and the descriptions were simply enthralling.
Although The Rift was not a hit for me, I’m sure that plenty of other readers will have more of a success than me, and I would especially recommend it for lovers of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary.
Big thanks to Netgalley, Flame Tree Press, and the author Seth C. Adams for allowing me to read an E-Arc of this Book.
October 1, 2023
“Joe had woken up just the same as he had each morning since: dazed, lethargic, slightly nauseous and with a headache, as if waking up with one bastard of a hangover.”
This is a scifi horror story that deals with cosmic terrors, complicated grief, and complex relationships.
Some parts were absolutely thrilling, some sad, some frustrating. Unfortunately some sections also dragged so I skipped through pages to get to the meat of the story.
I felt this book should’ve ended after the detective visit when Joe and Clara came back. I wasn’t a fan yet another thing going wrong for them and what happened to Rusty. Rusty was such a good pup and this ending totally pissed me off- whyyyyy???
“Dogs that saved people from hellish monster crickets deserved pot roast for dinner.”
Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Flame Tree Press for a copy!
This is a scifi horror story that deals with cosmic terrors, complicated grief, and complex relationships.
Some parts were absolutely thrilling, some sad, some frustrating. Unfortunately some sections also dragged so I skipped through pages to get to the meat of the story.
I felt this book should’ve ended after the detective visit when Joe and Clara came back. I wasn’t a fan yet another thing going wrong for them and what happened to Rusty. Rusty was such a good pup and this ending totally pissed me off- whyyyyy???
“Dogs that saved people from hellish monster crickets deserved pot roast for dinner.”
Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Flame Tree Press for a copy!
October 20, 2023
I absolutely loved this!! It was actually a really quick read - not too short a book size, but honestly once I'd started, I couldn't put this down!
The premise of this sounded like my perfect read - a grieving father who has lost his child - a creepy rift in the atmosphere in his back garden and something on the other side that promises Joe that his son is there.
This gave me Stephen King vibes (one of my favourite authors!) A bit of sci-fi, a bit paranormal, a lot creepy atmosphere and tense moments.
The writing style perfectly created this feeling that hooked me from the start and held me there throughout. I absolutely raced through it and wanted more.
Joe was a great character to explore and the whole thing was really thought-provoking. What would we do at the promise of seeing a loved one again. Would you take that risk or plahbit safe?
I was completely immersed in this and can't wait to read more by this author - I'm obsessed.
The premise of this sounded like my perfect read - a grieving father who has lost his child - a creepy rift in the atmosphere in his back garden and something on the other side that promises Joe that his son is there.
This gave me Stephen King vibes (one of my favourite authors!) A bit of sci-fi, a bit paranormal, a lot creepy atmosphere and tense moments.
The writing style perfectly created this feeling that hooked me from the start and held me there throughout. I absolutely raced through it and wanted more.
Joe was a great character to explore and the whole thing was really thought-provoking. What would we do at the promise of seeing a loved one again. Would you take that risk or plahbit safe?
I was completely immersed in this and can't wait to read more by this author - I'm obsessed.
October 20, 2023
Joe lost his son to a brutal murder, his wife left him and he hasn't gone back to work. He's pretty much just existing in a bubble of grief. Then a mysterious rift opens in his back garden. With nothing better to do Joe experiments by sending things through and seeing what comes back - same but different. But then the rift claims to have Joe's son...
As a parent this one hit me in the feels. This is a tale of grief & horror.
As a parent this one hit me in the feels. This is a tale of grief & horror.
October 21, 2023
The moment I read the blurb, I was hooked on this read. The blurb had a Stephen King-esque quality, which is right in my wheelhouse. I couldn't resist reading it; it's a quick but intense read. I couldn't put the book down and finished it in a couple of hours because the blend of science fiction, horror, and the tragic loss of a child had me completely captivated.
The author skillfully breathed life into the characters. A lot of effort was put into creating the rift to capture the necessary details and convey the experience and evil being unleashed.
I found the read impressive; the book flowed well, and the ending was perfect. It's a must-read, no doubt about it.
Many thanks to @netgalley @flametreepress & @RandomTTours for a spot on the tour.
The author skillfully breathed life into the characters. A lot of effort was put into creating the rift to capture the necessary details and convey the experience and evil being unleashed.
I found the read impressive; the book flowed well, and the ending was perfect. It's a must-read, no doubt about it.
Many thanks to @netgalley @flametreepress & @RandomTTours for a spot on the tour.
October 8, 2023
A short novel of a grief stricken father who encounters a rift tempting him with a chance to find his dead son. I loved the theme and portrayal of grief even if pacing felt a little stretched in places
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
October 15, 2023
**ARC provided by Flame Tree Press/NetGalley**
Joseph Jimenez, on the eve of the one year anniversary of his son’s violent murder discovers a rift in the universe floating in his backyard. An opening to somewhere else. When something on the other side sends Joe a message that his son is inside the rift, Joe must decided how far he will go to get his son back.
Joe and his wife Clara are separated, she has moved out and moved on at least according to Joe’s frequently bitter, internal musings. Flipping back and forth in time, we learn how far Joe has sunk, he has refused to attend his son’s funeral, has not returned to work and has even suggested they give up the family dog. When a mysterious rent in the air appears in his backyard, he becomes convinced with very little proof that his son is alive on the other side. There are early attempts to demonstrate Joe’s logical mind- we are reminded a few times that he was once a science teacher, we watch him test and record interactions with the rift, but when a note comes through saying “your son is here” Joe needs no more evidence. He blunders through the rest of the story, ignoring every clue that the rift is a cruel trick - the biggest of these is that the world beyond as described, sounds like every description of hell ever put down in text throughout history. Red skies, black, scorched earth, flying demons and sightless giants pushing carts full of moaning men, women and children around. None of this sticks out in Joe’s “logical” mind, instead it is most often put to work keeping important information from his wife and coming up with cruel barbs to fling at her in the heat of their many arguments. At one point in a very Jack Torrance-esque manner he mocks his wife in a sing-song voice. Oh the irony of wishing I was watching The Shining for the 347th time instead of reading about a selfish, emotionally-stunted man lash out at his loved ones.
And all this is laid out for us in writing that is over-baked, flowery, like a garden gone to seed - as you’ll see the author seems to be trying to create evocative atmosphere by describing nearly everything with simile. Tools exist on a workbench like “a doctor’s implements on a surgical tray”, people fold themselves into chairs like accordions, and gun muzzles look like staring black eyes. If this was a standard trade size paperback instead of an e-book, I wouldn’t be surprised to find 3 or 4 such comparisons per page. By 50% I was desperate for a door to simply be a door, and not some other more nefarious or nonsensical object. For the entire time I was reading this I was very aware of the author doing the work of writing, offering up sentences over and over in the hopes that one would be the one true sentence.
Grief and despair are frequent subjects for horror, with good reason. Grief is impervious to weapons, it ignores our best logical arguments, and it haunts our every step. In The Rift, Joe’s battle with despair feels like a collection of poorly drawn set pieces. Joe battles demon crickets. Joe fights with his wife. Joe reunites with his wife. Joe gets a friend killed and doesn’t give it a second thought. Joe fights a demon with a foot long dick that cums acid. Joe burns down his own house.
There is no pleasure in writing a 100% critical review, but in going over my reading notes and putting together my thoughts to write this review, I can find no moments that I think worked well, nothing to recommend. Straining for generosity, I will say there are evocative descriptions of unsettling creatures, twisted and decaying but even those are inconsistent - in most scenes they are melting, and obviously corrupted, horrifying while in others where it is needed to move the story along they are perfect doppelgängers able to move about in the real world unnoticed.
And finally, in what feels like an especially horrid surprise for the reader, the dog dies in the end, offscreen at 98%. So thanks for that I guess.
Joseph Jimenez, on the eve of the one year anniversary of his son’s violent murder discovers a rift in the universe floating in his backyard. An opening to somewhere else. When something on the other side sends Joe a message that his son is inside the rift, Joe must decided how far he will go to get his son back.
Joe and his wife Clara are separated, she has moved out and moved on at least according to Joe’s frequently bitter, internal musings. Flipping back and forth in time, we learn how far Joe has sunk, he has refused to attend his son’s funeral, has not returned to work and has even suggested they give up the family dog. When a mysterious rent in the air appears in his backyard, he becomes convinced with very little proof that his son is alive on the other side. There are early attempts to demonstrate Joe’s logical mind- we are reminded a few times that he was once a science teacher, we watch him test and record interactions with the rift, but when a note comes through saying “your son is here” Joe needs no more evidence. He blunders through the rest of the story, ignoring every clue that the rift is a cruel trick - the biggest of these is that the world beyond as described, sounds like every description of hell ever put down in text throughout history. Red skies, black, scorched earth, flying demons and sightless giants pushing carts full of moaning men, women and children around. None of this sticks out in Joe’s “logical” mind, instead it is most often put to work keeping important information from his wife and coming up with cruel barbs to fling at her in the heat of their many arguments. At one point in a very Jack Torrance-esque manner he mocks his wife in a sing-song voice. Oh the irony of wishing I was watching The Shining for the 347th time instead of reading about a selfish, emotionally-stunted man lash out at his loved ones.
And all this is laid out for us in writing that is over-baked, flowery, like a garden gone to seed - as you’ll see the author seems to be trying to create evocative atmosphere by describing nearly everything with simile. Tools exist on a workbench like “a doctor’s implements on a surgical tray”, people fold themselves into chairs like accordions, and gun muzzles look like staring black eyes. If this was a standard trade size paperback instead of an e-book, I wouldn’t be surprised to find 3 or 4 such comparisons per page. By 50% I was desperate for a door to simply be a door, and not some other more nefarious or nonsensical object. For the entire time I was reading this I was very aware of the author doing the work of writing, offering up sentences over and over in the hopes that one would be the one true sentence.
Grief and despair are frequent subjects for horror, with good reason. Grief is impervious to weapons, it ignores our best logical arguments, and it haunts our every step. In The Rift, Joe’s battle with despair feels like a collection of poorly drawn set pieces. Joe battles demon crickets. Joe fights with his wife. Joe reunites with his wife. Joe gets a friend killed and doesn’t give it a second thought. Joe fights a demon with a foot long dick that cums acid. Joe burns down his own house.
There is no pleasure in writing a 100% critical review, but in going over my reading notes and putting together my thoughts to write this review, I can find no moments that I think worked well, nothing to recommend. Straining for generosity, I will say there are evocative descriptions of unsettling creatures, twisted and decaying but even those are inconsistent - in most scenes they are melting, and obviously corrupted, horrifying while in others where it is needed to move the story along they are perfect doppelgängers able to move about in the real world unnoticed.
And finally, in what feels like an especially horrid surprise for the reader, the dog dies in the end, offscreen at 98%. So thanks for that I guess.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 12, 2023
The Rift is yet another in a series of mediocrities from Flame Tress Press. Not sure what’s going on with their line-up, but most of it has been disappointing lately.
Technically, there’s nothing wrong with The Rift. You get a story of a grieving father who has a mysterious eponymous rift appear in his backyard. The man starts messing with the rift and eventually stumbles upon much more than he had bargained for. Because to no one’s surprise mysterious rifts appearing out of nowhere often lead to the darkest of places, especially in scary stories.
The writing is perfectly serviceable. So is the plotting. It all works, technically, but it does leave a lot to be desired. For one thing, it’s overwritten, which is unusual for such a slender book but there it is. Every single thing and action is overdescribed. Exhaustively so. This might have been a much more dynamic novella if not for all the unnecessarily extra details. For another thing, there isn’t that much going here, plot-wise, and what there is, is about as original as the title, which isn’t very.
It just kind of drags and isn’t very exciting and makes you think that there must have been something the author did to go from HarperCollins to Flame Tree.
Besides, he thanks Dean Koontz for help with this book, and talk about mediocrities …
Oh, wait this is on me, actually. I just realized I read his Are You Afraid of the Dark a while back and didn’t much care for it either. I just forgot. Because, like this one, it wasn’t very memorable.
Okay, I’ll try to remember for next time.
Just to be clear. The book isn’t terrible by any means. It’s decent enough. This reader didn’t care for it and wrote a review reflecting that opinion. Thanks Netgalley.
Technically, there’s nothing wrong with The Rift. You get a story of a grieving father who has a mysterious eponymous rift appear in his backyard. The man starts messing with the rift and eventually stumbles upon much more than he had bargained for. Because to no one’s surprise mysterious rifts appearing out of nowhere often lead to the darkest of places, especially in scary stories.
The writing is perfectly serviceable. So is the plotting. It all works, technically, but it does leave a lot to be desired. For one thing, it’s overwritten, which is unusual for such a slender book but there it is. Every single thing and action is overdescribed. Exhaustively so. This might have been a much more dynamic novella if not for all the unnecessarily extra details. For another thing, there isn’t that much going here, plot-wise, and what there is, is about as original as the title, which isn’t very.
It just kind of drags and isn’t very exciting and makes you think that there must have been something the author did to go from HarperCollins to Flame Tree.
Besides, he thanks Dean Koontz for help with this book, and talk about mediocrities …
Oh, wait this is on me, actually. I just realized I read his Are You Afraid of the Dark a while back and didn’t much care for it either. I just forgot. Because, like this one, it wasn’t very memorable.
Okay, I’ll try to remember for next time.
Just to be clear. The book isn’t terrible by any means. It’s decent enough. This reader didn’t care for it and wrote a review reflecting that opinion. Thanks Netgalley.
October 31, 2023
The Rift by Seth C Adams brings to you a marvelous science fiction that thrills you and excites you till the end. At first, the story felt like horror but eventually the plot changed its course. I really liked the concept of The Rift that opens and shuts after a regular intervals. With each page , my excitement and curiosity reached grew more and more in anticipation. Joe's character is of a grieving father, but changes as the plot advances. The mystery deepens when the anomaly starts acting differently. Reading the book felt like I am watching a science fiction movie.
The book is medium paced where we get some glimpses of Joe's past also. Clara's character also grows simultaneously with the plot. For me , The Rift would be an ideal book which I am going to read on a Sunday with a hot cup of Coffee. The ups and downs, Joe's efforts of contacting the other side in hope of uniting with his son was really interesting. What was The Rift? Was Joe's son on the other side with those creatures? All these answers are just waiting inside the pages. Thanks to Netgalley and Flame Tree Press for providing me with an opportunity to read and review the book.
Read more on https://bibliophileverse.blogspot.com...
The book is medium paced where we get some glimpses of Joe's past also. Clara's character also grows simultaneously with the plot. For me , The Rift would be an ideal book which I am going to read on a Sunday with a hot cup of Coffee. The ups and downs, Joe's efforts of contacting the other side in hope of uniting with his son was really interesting. What was The Rift? Was Joe's son on the other side with those creatures? All these answers are just waiting inside the pages. Thanks to Netgalley and Flame Tree Press for providing me with an opportunity to read and review the book.
Read more on https://bibliophileverse.blogspot.com...
October 23, 2023
The Rift
Horror, Sci-Fi
Seth C. Adams
⭐️⭐️
This book was...bizarre. At one point there was a strange mutant/humanoid being that ejaculated acid and had an upside down face on the back of its head and suckers at the end of its fingers.
Each chapter had its own numbered sub-chapters, which was a little odd. I've never seen that before and it didn't add anything to the book or the plot.
The publishers have compared this book to the books by Stephen King but that just left me disappointed and underwhelmed because my expectations were too high.
The pacing is very slow. At just over 200 pages, I expected to fly through this book but instead, it dragged on. It only started getting interesting at around 58%. I found myself skimming paragraphs and actually skipping some pages here and there. I don't feel like I even missed anything important when I did this because everything is so over-described.
I was annoyed by what happened to Rusty (the dog). He protected Joe and Clara during everything they went through, survived a trek through a hellish landscape in another dimension, only to suffer the way he did at the end 😢.
I don't feel like anything was truly answered and I found the ending unsatisfying.
*Thank you to @Netgalley, the author and the publishers for providing this ARC. This is my own opinion and an honest review, which I am leaving voluntarily*
Horror, Sci-Fi
Seth C. Adams
⭐️⭐️
This book was...bizarre. At one point there was a strange mutant/humanoid being that ejaculated acid and had an upside down face on the back of its head and suckers at the end of its fingers.
Each chapter had its own numbered sub-chapters, which was a little odd. I've never seen that before and it didn't add anything to the book or the plot.
The publishers have compared this book to the books by Stephen King but that just left me disappointed and underwhelmed because my expectations were too high.
The pacing is very slow. At just over 200 pages, I expected to fly through this book but instead, it dragged on. It only started getting interesting at around 58%. I found myself skimming paragraphs and actually skipping some pages here and there. I don't feel like I even missed anything important when I did this because everything is so over-described.
I was annoyed by what happened to Rusty (the dog). He protected Joe and Clara during everything they went through, survived a trek through a hellish landscape in another dimension, only to suffer the way he did at the end 😢.
I don't feel like anything was truly answered and I found the ending unsatisfying.
*Thank you to @Netgalley, the author and the publishers for providing this ARC. This is my own opinion and an honest review, which I am leaving voluntarily*
October 1, 2023
I can't forgive the scene described at the ~40% mark. Gross, and unnecessary to the trajectory of the story. More broadly, there is a general sense of 'male gaze' throughout this book that I found uncomfortable and hindered my enjoyment.
On the positive, I definitely get the Pet Sematary comparison, but also think it's different enough to stand on its own. The book succeeds at building a suffocating sense of sadness and desperation. The otherworldly landscapes and creatures of the rift are well rendered and feel like visual representations of the despair and horror Joe feels over his dead son.
What didn't work for me was the relationship between Joe and his wife and many of the sex related scenes felt both awkward and out of left field.
This was a quick read that blended a lot of components. It had emotion. It had action. It had vividly described creepy creatures and events. If you're into visual description/atmospheric books or enjoy exploration of grief, give it a try. Just be ready for the cringy moments.
On the positive, I definitely get the Pet Sematary comparison, but also think it's different enough to stand on its own. The book succeeds at building a suffocating sense of sadness and desperation. The otherworldly landscapes and creatures of the rift are well rendered and feel like visual representations of the despair and horror Joe feels over his dead son.
What didn't work for me was the relationship between Joe and his wife and many of the sex related scenes felt both awkward and out of left field.
This was a quick read that blended a lot of components. It had emotion. It had action. It had vividly described creepy creatures and events. If you're into visual description/atmospheric books or enjoy exploration of grief, give it a try. Just be ready for the cringy moments.
October 17, 2023
I absolutely looooooved this read from the moment I read the blurb. The blurb was giving off Stephen King’s The Langoleirs type vibe, with the rip in space time continuum and the evil inside that rip. I knew I just had to take a read and it is actually a smaller size read. I ended up devouring the book in one day, as
I was so pulled in by the mixture of the science fiction, horror vibes and the heartbreaking loss of a child, who seems to be just within reach.
The author did an excellent job at really bringing this who premise to life. The rift was given a lot of effort to bring in the details needed to really help you experience what it was like and the evil that was being swapped into the world.
Overall, I was very impressed with the read, the flow of the book and the ending we were given. Definitely a must read.
I was so pulled in by the mixture of the science fiction, horror vibes and the heartbreaking loss of a child, who seems to be just within reach.
The author did an excellent job at really bringing this who premise to life. The rift was given a lot of effort to bring in the details needed to really help you experience what it was like and the evil that was being swapped into the world.
Overall, I was very impressed with the read, the flow of the book and the ending we were given. Definitely a must read.
December 18, 2023
Firstly, what a beautiful cover! Secondly, a really creepy but interesting idea for a story. Thirdly, a lot of emotion is worked through between these pages.
Though I was screaming at Joe not to be an idiot, I also haven't gone through his loss, so understand why he made his decisions. The things that come back are horrific and Joe and Clara have way more guts than I ever would.
I feel like I'm left with questions - I still don't really understand what the aim was? Also, I did feel that something near the end was just done for emotional shock value rather than adding anything to the plot.
Overall, a great image of a barren hell which must have been how Joe was feeling inside.
*I received a complimentary copy of the book from RandomThingsTours and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
Though I was screaming at Joe not to be an idiot, I also haven't gone through his loss, so understand why he made his decisions. The things that come back are horrific and Joe and Clara have way more guts than I ever would.
I feel like I'm left with questions - I still don't really understand what the aim was? Also, I did feel that something near the end was just done for emotional shock value rather than adding anything to the plot.
Overall, a great image of a barren hell which must have been how Joe was feeling inside.
*I received a complimentary copy of the book from RandomThingsTours and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
October 2, 2023
2.5 stars rounded to 3. Seth C. Adams' 'The Rift' is not an easy book to review: I found the synopsis quite exciting, the comparison to 'Pet Sematary' even more so, with the result that expectations were admittedly too high and the book didn't stand a chance. I expected an ambitious novel that would stand out from the rest, blending science fiction with cosmic horror; I got a beefed up campfire story with so much description, so wordy, sometimes I felt I had to skip pages to reach the end as soon as possible. This could have been a terrific novella of a hundred pages or so. Perhaps cutting it down mercilessly and skipping some parts would make up for the lack of atmosphere? Well, better luck next time.
Thank you to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for the ARC!
Thank you to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for the ARC!
June 28, 2024
Honestly just giving this 3 stars because I’m a Riverside native lol. But the book overall was less than enjoyable. The pacing was dull and just really felt anticlimactic. I’m left with a lot of questions and no answers and just kind of wondering what was the point? The author spent a great deal of effort on intense descriptions and details that felt like it prevented the story from actually progressing. Just felt a little unnecessary. I really wanted to give up around halfway through but I was already committed to seeing what happened at the end. The Rift also felt very derivative from the Upside Down on Stranger Things. Overall wasn’t blown away.
October 9, 2023
Thank you to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for the opportunity to read rage and review this arc which is available October 10,2023.
If you are going to compare a lesser known horror author to Stephen Freaking King then it had better live up to the hype. This did not live up to the hype. It was flat and boring and was nothing like Pet Semetary. Honestly publishers need to stop doing that bs. It does the authors a major disservice:
If you are going to compare a lesser known horror author to Stephen Freaking King then it had better live up to the hype. This did not live up to the hype. It was flat and boring and was nothing like Pet Semetary. Honestly publishers need to stop doing that bs. It does the authors a major disservice:
December 29, 2024
I wanted to like this. the premise was so interesting and I love a quick sci-fi read. But I felt like Adams either overexplained portions of an already very short book, or didn't spend enough time. Definitely could have lived without the super gross demon with his toxic junk hanging all over the place. I really feel like the story would have benefited from one more round of edits. Again, the premise was cool so I might revisit this author, but this book wasn't for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 13, 2023
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The appearance of a strange rift in bereaved Joe Jimenez's backyard puzzles Joe, but as he interacts with the rift, he finds an entity on the other side claiming to have knowledge of his dead son. Joe must decide whether to enter the rift himself...entertaining and well written.
The appearance of a strange rift in bereaved Joe Jimenez's backyard puzzles Joe, but as he interacts with the rift, he finds an entity on the other side claiming to have knowledge of his dead son. Joe must decide whether to enter the rift himself...entertaining and well written.
January 8, 2024
A good horror/science fiction novel that misses its mark in the end.
For a full review, please go to https://areviewerdarkly.blogspot.com/... and follow me on X @josenher
For a full review, please go to https://areviewerdarkly.blogspot.com/... and follow me on X @josenher
November 21, 2025
Wanted to give a different genre a chance. This was certainly not my thing. Skipped to the end, it ended as I anticipated disappointingly early on. And it had some of the "weird to be weird in a boring edgy oddly-sexualised way" stuff.
Want to read
September 27, 2023 I received an advanced digital copy of this book, courtesy of the author and publisher, via Netgalley, for review consideration.
RTC
RTC
March 13, 2024
Trigger warning is needed for sure but holy shit what a fucked up book. Ending wasn’t an all time favorite but a wild ride from start to finish nonetheless.
March 22, 2025
I didn’t think a dog dying and a happy ending were possible in one book… 2.5 stars
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 2, 2024
A story that is imaginative, somewhat suspenseful and often gruesome. There seemed to be some disconnects in the story line along the way, especially at the end. {H}
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