SCATTER

by Mindy Macfarlane

"There is a sound that only the dying can hear. Can you hear it yet, Russell?"


After witnessing the aftermath of his wife's untimely death, Russell Clark finds himself hundreds of miles away from home at a casino resort tucked away in an unfamiliar town. While there, he encounters strange situations and stranger people, including a menacing figure that he swears has it out for him.

With every passing night, Russell's sanity spins further out of his control and even in the face of his mounting losses, something sinister keeps pulling him back in. Can he beat the odds and hit it big, or does the house always win?

Genres: Horror, Novella

163 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 9, 2023

Reviews

[Peter Topside · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a bit of an odd experience. The entire beginning portion was almost totally dialogue without and sort of context, action, or anything at all for the reader to take in. And then the story progressed into sections where there was an overuse of details without much dialogue to break it up. There was also an entire page with a random diagram of the casino where everything took place and another instance where it just listed 15 detailed voicemails. And those were just a few of the very distracting instances, along with formatting issues on the Kindle version. So, that all really threw off the flow and impact of the story, which was already on shaky grounds. The idea here was our lead, Russell, mourned the recent loss of his wife, Lauren, and ended up at a sinister casino. Most of the first half is Russell lost in his own thoughts and is very slow. Things didn’t really pick up until just past the halfway point where there was a very hard pivot to horror. Before then, I was really struggling to find a genuine purpose for the story. There was some good atmosphere in the casino and some of Russell’s interactions with the side characters were enjoyable. But there were just a lot of barriers here that made it hard to enjoy the book. On the plus side, I really liked the antagonist, The Swindler. Just a very unique creature that was utilized quite well. And I didn’t necessarily dislike the characters, premise, or how it all played out. This just really needed some intense development editing to make it all come together.

[Stitching Ghost · Rating 5 out of 5]

It doesn't happen very often that a book manages to get under my skin the way this one did. The imagery was fantastic, the grief aspect was wonderfully done, the main character was compelling and the buildup to the ending was, in my opinion, perfectly paced. If you're looking for a quick shot of grief horror with just a touch of the strange and a sprinkle of liminality this one might be for you.

[Bryan Moyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a dark tale that shows the main character's descent into madness brought on by grief and a newfound gambling addiction. You can feel the pain the trauma of a sudden, unexpected loss causes him. His escape to a casino is understandable. The strange things that begin to occur heighten the tension of the story while adding further cracks to his psyche. The storytelling was well done and did a great job of keeping you guessing as to what was really happening and what wasn't right up to the end.

[Diana | Indie Book Addict · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had quite an opening, and it definitely left me wanting more. Following Russell after the death of his wife was very surreal. Russell was an enjoyable character that had one hell of a story to tell. I was truly hooked until the end and that’s where it fell flat for me. The ending felt like such a let-down compared to the rest of the story. Maybe I missed the point, but it felt very out of place to me.

[Puff · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.2 ⭐️ I am not a huge gore fan the older I get, and the writing did start a little awkward/clunky. Particularly in the conversations between characters, but holy macaroni, was this a fun surprise. Like saltburn, I could research and reread a paragraph or a line and talk about them for hours. It touched on some bigger themes I didn't see coming and did it SO WELL. By the middle it became a fever dream of visuals and descriptions that made me feel like I was reading a screen play (in a good way). A quick read - would rec to Chris and Em.

[Emma E. Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scatter was a beautiful mindfuck of gore, liminal spaces, psychosis, and grief. I was excited to read this book as soon as I heard it featured a bloody lathe accident, but I wasn't expecting the depth and gorgeous detail I found in this quick read. Lynchian, brutal, bizarre, and full of twists, this truly had everything I crave in a story and I think may be a new favorite of mine. I will definitely be revisiting this book as well as picking up any future titles from Macfarlane.

[Paige Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a thought provoking read and I was completely mindf***ed! This book is going to stick with me for a long time. I can’t wait to see what future projects Mindy comes up with next! Don’t sleep on this one guys. This was so good.

[Kayla Frederick · Rating 5 out of 5]

After the untimely death of his wife, Russell goes on a road trip to get away and process what’s happened. That’s how he finds himself at a casino. But this isn’t just any casino. There’s something strange about it, and whatever it is, it’s got its eye on Russell.

I’ve read so many books that I’ve gotten pretty good at predicting where stories will go. I couldn’t do that with Scatter. The author took this story in ways I couldn’t guess. I would best describe this story as a mix of Needful Things and the backrooms creepypasta. It was a psychological horror that explores the madness of a deteriorating mind.

A short story, but a powerful exploration into addiction, grief, and loss.

[Tom Quane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good story but...

This is a very good story, but it is in dire need of editing and formatting. It is very difficult to read the way the paragraphs are formatted, single sentence paragraph with three line spacing had me feeling like I was reading a grade school term paper that had to be so many pages long. There were also spelling and grammar errors, nothing major that could have been fixed by a good editing.

[Mallory Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Absolute boring. Time I’ll never get back.

[Kevin A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. The story itself was captivating, although I felt the writing style was rough and unrefined. It’s quite possible that I just didn’t “get it”, but the ending made absolutely no sense to me at all. If anything, the reader is just left with a bunch of unanswered questions. Also, aside from the opening chapter, there wasn’t much to classify this as splatterpunk or extreme horror. If anything it was some kind of acid trip or fever dream that never makes much sense.

[MK Richberger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grief

Felt this was a pretty accurate description of grief, isolation, and addiction. It reminded me of The Shinning with the setting and slow decent into madness.

[Horror Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic shorter novel that's creepy, mysterious, bloody at times, and a great example of grief horror done right.

A man's wife has a horrific accident at the factory they both work at. She is pulled into an industrial lathe with noone around. When her husband and coworkers come back from lunch, they find her in parts scattered around the room.

The husband, understandably, is a wreck. He can't stay home because of the memories so he gets in his car and drives aimlessly.

He eventually finds himself at a huge resort/casino. An almost self contained city within the city. He decides to stay for a week and purge his mind of what happened.

And this is where this book takes us on a creepy, disturbing, almost fever dreamed ride that demands your attention.

Strange people, stranger events, giant centipedes, his newly acquired gambling addiction, and much more are all told in a way which will leave you guessing at answers of the truth about this resort and the other characters he meets.

The theme of grief is at the core of this story. And it's written believably and with a sense of loss which readers will recognise.

But that doesn't mean it's not frightening. Oh yeah, there are some pretty gruesome scenes in here that you'll remember after you finish reading. This book is bloody when it needs to be but doesn't use it just for its own sake. It fits the narrative and, as it goes along, the creepy factor just increases.

I highly recommend this book.

[Asia Guerrero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!

I love grief horror and when it's mixed with supernatural elements, I'm obsessed! The way Mindy writes is so beautiful and raw and I look forward to reading more from her!

[Phrique · Rating 5 out of 5]

🃏🃏🃏🃏🃏/5

I’ve never been shook by an opening scene in a book, so much so, that I felt compelled to message the author and ask them why they are like this. That was til Scatter came along and put an end to that. It’s probably due to my profession and because that same profession made me EXTRA sensitive to all the Final Destination movies, etc. Regardless, to say that Mindy Macfarlane knocked me on my ass in the first round it pretty spot on.

Quick synopsis:
Russell recently lost his wife to a grizzly accident that he witnessed, on repeat. Losing his soulmate prompts him to do a lot of strange things in order deal with his crushing grief. Namely heading to a fantastical casino resort that turns sinister pretty quickly. The characters, situations and atrocities he witnesses are too intense to be believed. That’s nothing compared to when we meet a truly enthralling character simply known as “The Swindler” who throws some major wrenches into this already fucked up fever dream.

SO this story is heavyyy, and bleak. Macfarlane’s attention to detail and imagery really kick you in the chest at times. She was extremely heavy handed with the grief, but that made it feel all the more real. Alright this is where I’m going to lose some people & that’s ok, I don’t blame you…but I have to get a little “woowoo wanderlust natural deodorant coachella girl” on y’all. I found out that our author is a fellow pisces. Being one myself, I know we are naturally inclined towards the inner workings of the mind more than say…the nefarious Aries but I DIGRESS. A pisces can use their powers for good or they can use their powers for bad. Mindy, as much as I loved the story, used them for badddd. In the best way possible of course. Not only did she literally barrage you with some fucked up imagery, but when she was done and we recovered…she said JK ONE MORE TIME. The car scene was just…Oh Mindy. (Thanks for showing them we do more than cry tho.) This was a great, grizzly, DARK, mindfuck that I enjoyed immensely & recommend to everyone…even those punkass geminis.

[Milt Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mindy Macfarlane's 'SCATTER' is grief horror at its finest: in the short space of a novella, the main character undergoes such a tremendous collapse of his emotional reality, that all ties that bind him to the socially acceptable everyday world get slowly eroded, and it's no longer possible to understand what's real and what's not. Apparently, a strong invasion of the supernatural upends his life (nods to the Backrooms at some point), though it might be better to look at this without allowing doubts to creep in: take everything in your stride, take it as it comes, otherwise the novella won't make much sense. Once the story's outlandish indulgences are acknowledged, you'll fall headlong into a sort of body horror conspiracy, tense and fast-paced, told in a confident, yet utterly traumatic sort of storytelling style. The ending is deceptive: it appears to keep the story grounded in reality, until it doesn't; fans of the supernatural will love it. From first page to the last, Mindy Macfarlane's novella messes with your heart. I’ll surely be looking forward to what she will do next!

[Jim Glover · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great read!!!!

So I purchased this book because I loved the cover. That doesn’t always work out for me, but this time it paid off. It’s a short read but so well worth it.
Follows a man whose wife is brutally killed. When I say brutally, that’s not giving it enough credit. Her death was disturbingly awesome. Kind of like the Final Destination movies, you only watch it for the death scenes. Well this scene should be in those movies! It was great!
But the husband is grieving and decides to go to this casino and stay for a while. The people at this casino though, well let’s just say they aren’t exactly the most normal people you will meet. And things just keep getting stranger and stranger. And I have to admit, this book has one of the greatest endings I have read in quite a while!! A wonderful twist that made my jaw drop. Definitely check this book out. Sooooo good!!

[Benzo Monroe · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing read.

This is a very unique horror story. I will not go over the plot. Other reviews and the description do that better than i can without spoilers. It explores the themes of dealing with loss and grief in a great way.
The writing and descriptions are so vivid without being overwritten. The author does a great job of making everything feel like a strange dream at the slightly best of times and a surreal nightmare during the worst events. The running themes of winter by Vivaldi is an amazing touch and bring you into the strange surroundings.
All in all, it's just an amazing book and one of the most well written books in this genre thay I have read. I highly recommend and will be on the lookout from the next work from Mindy MacFarlane.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think a casino is a great place to set a horror story - the atmosphere of them is so eerie and uncanny that it lends itself well to feeling unsettled and overwhelmed.
This is a simple story of grief, but it's told in an interesting way, and it doesn't feel too heavy-handed like some other attempts. Grounded horrors like losing your spouse and gaining a gambling addiction are mixed with surreal ideas and settings, that create a very unique story. The book isn't very long, which works well for the premise.
Sometimes things went a bit too nutty and I could barely tell what was going on, but I liked the small town vibe and the general creepiness of an out-of-town casino. the description of the accident at the start was very good also.

[Kirsty Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crazy, dizzying and sad are the words I'd describe this book as. A depressed fever dream pulling on the themes of grief and addiction this is probably one you'll love or hate. The writing pulls you in and paints a vivid picture of the emptiness felt by Russell. This started as a struggle as, like Russell, I was trying to make sense of things. Once I allowed myself to let go I fell into the story quite hard (maybe because I suffer with depression?) and came away with a feeling of loss myself. I'd like to read this again to see what the impact on me would be the second time around, that's rare for me to say. 4.25*

[Siobhan Falen · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5 Stars

When sudden tragedy strikes Russell's life, he's left to figure out how to survive his beloved wife and gets lost down the ever-spiraling drain of gambling. But there's something in the casino that wants more than his money and there are certain prizes he's willing to cash it all in for.

The concept is solid: eerie hotel; desperate addiction fueled by horrific loss; strange, bloody nightmares and threatening image somewhere between dreamy and hellish.

However, this does need editing and some smoothing out. It feels partially cooked, like pancakes with the center still doughy.

There is potential here as the creep vibe is strong, but it needs some TLC.

[Love to Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simplified summary:
After his wife's gruesome death, Russell finds himself in a bizarre casino.

Opening lines:
"Hey mom, I'm on my lunch break, can I call you back later?"

Review:
This book starts off with a gruesome bang and then turns into a bizarre fever dream. I liked the fast-paced nature, but there were times I wish it would slow down a bit because so much would happen in the span of one short chapter. Regardless, it was very entertaining and had a very satisfying ending. I'm excited to see what else this author puts out.

[Sophia Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read in someone else’s review that this is a book that makes you want to read a 3,000 post long reddit thread filled with theories, i would completely agree. the writing started out a bit awkward and the beginning was not the hook i would hope for, but the rest of the ride was wild and fun and extremely vivid. i have more questions than answers, but in a way that feels satisfying. fantastic debut novel, Mindy!

[Lee Glenwright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short version: Scatter, by Mindy MacFarlane drew me in.

Slightly longer version: With lean prose that at times - to me at least - showed almost Ketchum-like leanings, with nothing there that didn't need to be. Utilising dreamlike, metaphorical, and sometimes fragmented imagery, MacFarlane's writing evokes an almost hallucinogenic deconstruction of grief and loss. Scatter marks Mindy MacFarlane as someone to watch out for.

[Jim Groves · Rating 4 out of 5]

The loss of a loved one can drive you to incredible lengths just to see them again. What would you do for the opportunity? McFarlane explores this premise in Scatter. I enjoyed it, using a casino in the way McFarlane does is very effective and makes sense. A quicker read, it's worth taking the time.

[John Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book opens with one of the most graphic scenes I have read in quite some time, and while some will be turned off by it, I felt it was essential to set up the surreal journey that the main character goes on through the rest of the book.

Russell, the MC, proves to be a wholly unreliable narrator, leaving the reader feeling as though they never know what is real and what is in the mind of a man who just lost his wife in tragic fashion.

The surrounding cast of characters are also good, and there are a whole number of nuggets dropped to keep you guessing what is going on all the way to the end. Scattered is a twisted tale of grief and loss that was really well put together.

[Kate Lantry · Rating 4 out of 5]

What Did I Just Read??

This book is a dark, twisted fever dream path through the land of grief. It's a stream of consciousness featuring addiction and death. What's real and what only exists in the mind of the main character remains a mystery, and I'll be thinking about this one for a long time.

[Ben Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scatter was eerie, unique, a tad cynical, and I loved it. Fans of Chuck Palahniuk will enjoy so much about this; the story, the setting, the tongue-in-cheek nihilism, the spare but descriptive writing. I smiled and cringed in equal measure. Mindy has my attention and I can’t wait to see what else she’s planning.

[Amanda Noel · Rating 3 out of 5]

What the what?!
I didn’t hate it, but I did want a little more. This book was more phycological than anything. The twist at the end left me “confused” making me want more and with a ton of questions for that I am giving it more stars for its awesome ending. However it wasn’t a page turned like I prefer.

[Han · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one, and thought the story was unique! That being said, I heard about it through a splatterpunk group, and went into it with this mindset. It wasn’t splatterpunk or extreme, but Mindy is absolutely one to watch and I can’t wait to see what she does next!