Pay the Piper

by George A. Romero, Daniel Kraus

A terrifying tale of supernatural horror set in a cursed Louisiana bayou, from the minds of legendary director George Romero and bestselling author Daniel Kraus.

In 2020, while sifting through University of Pittsburgh Library’s System’s George A. Romero Archival Collection, novelist Daniel Kraus turned up a a half-finished novel called Pay the Piper, a project few had ever heard of. In the years since, Kraus has worked with Romero’s estate to bring this unfinished masterwork to light.

Alligator Point, Louisiana, population 141: Young Renée Pontiac has heard stories of “the Piper”—a murderous swamp entity haunting the bayou—her entire life. But now the legend feels horrifically real: children are being taken and gruesomely slain. To resist, Pontiac and the town’s desperate denizens will need to acknowledge the sins of their ancestors—the infamous slave traders, the Pirates Lafitte. If they don’t... it’s time to pay the piper.  

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Historical Fiction, Paranormal, Historical

328 pages, Paperback

First published September 3, 2024

About the author

George Andrew Romero was an American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse, beginning with Night of the Living Dead (1968). He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies."

Reviews

[LIsa Noell "Rocking the chutzpah!" · Rating 3 out of 5]

My thanks to Union Square, Daniel Kraus, G. Romero and Netgalley.
I'll be upfront and let y'all know that this is the sort of story that I would usually give a hard pass to.
However...Kraus just happens to be an author who stirs feelings in me! His stories are downright strange, but he writes characters that are often unforgettable.
That being said.....yeah, here's where I add the big BUT!
The big but here is that this story reads like it was written by two different people. It isn't seamless.
I actually did end up loving a few oddballs! Pontiac? Please I adore that 9 year old! It's difficult for some people to see how a 9 year old girl can be so smart, but I've met some of those little smarty pants before. It's a bit unnerving. I had a friend back in elementary school 2 through 6 grade, and she was a smarty pants too! She loved teaching me animal knowledge, and I taught her how to piss off the bulls, and how to escape them by diving through barbed wire fences! I also took her camping and gigging frogs. She wasn't very good at it, but she did love the frog legs and hush puppies!
I think that maybe the reason I couldn't go all in on this story was because the thought of having to pay for the mistakes of your ancestors is bothersome. I've never and will never like this trope.
I did for the most part enjoy this story, but there were definitely times that I wanted to quit. Too many times!
This book had some truly low key humor going on at times, and I loved that!
Still...just a meh type of story that I'm happy to have read, and now I'm very happy to say adios.

[Char · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something is stalking the humid, sticky, bayous of Louisiana. Children are going missing around Alligator Point and the local sheriff, (well, sort of sheriff), is at his wit's end trying to figure it out. Soon enough, a few adults go missing as well as this book kicks into a higher gear.

I've been a fan of George Romero's ever since my parents took me to see Night of the Living Dead at the drive in theater. The end wrecked me and that was probably the beginning of my love for horror and the fact that it can be a great framework for addressing real world, real time, societal problems. I've been a fan of Daniel Kraus' work since I read his last collaboration with Romero, The Living Dead.

But somehow, this combination of two favorites of mine, just did not work that well. I loved a few characters here, most especially young Pontiac, full of spirit and missing her friend Billy May who was the first child to disappear. I also enjoyed Dave, (the sort-of sheriff). Most of the other characters here, though, just did not connect with me. And even though Pontiac did connect, there became a point where I just didn't care what happened and I wanted it to be over.

I rolled along with this tale anyway, hoping against hope that it was going to get better, but unfortunately, I just got more bored. Then, near the final denouement, this took a kind of environmental detour and that just didn't seem like it fit. I mean, there were very few, if any, statements or discussions about the environment up to that point, (other than the oil man from a nearby town who was buying up Alligator Point by the acre.) It felt like it didn't fit the narrative at all. I have a few other things to say, but I don't want to belabor the point.

This is not the review I thought or I wanted to be writing right now, but I'm being honest. Pay the Piper very much disappointed me and I'm just going to leave it at that.

2.5/5 stars, rounded up to 3 for Goodreads.

*ARC from publisher.

[Gareth Is Haunted · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into this expecting a modern take on The Pied Piper story, what I got was way, way more than that.
Set deep in the wetlands of Louisiana, this supernatural horror tosses and turns, playing with your mind from start to finish.
It's an absolute masterclass in horror writing, delving deep into the lives of a select group of swamp dwellers and then even further into their colonial and a possible new future for all.
Don't not sleep on this cosmic delight!

[Stay Fetters · Rating 4 out of 5]

"All the children say she got the voice of an angel. Pretty rare thing in this here sewer, where all we got is us devils."

Romero will always be remembered for one thing and that's Zombies! He's the Daddy of Zombies and that's what people will always recognize him for. Me on the other hand, I'll forever see him as the great father of Horror and gore. So when I spotted this little gem at the bookstore, it had to come home with me.

I was sold instantly. It's written by two kings in the horror community and the synopsis sounded pretty damn cool. I wish there were more books written in the Louisiana swamps. Now we have this stellar piece of literature.

There was one part that threw me and I wasn't having any part of it. I don't want to ruin it for anyone but you'll know when you get there. It skeeved me out. People may say that I'm overreacting but mind your business then... Other than that, I really enjoyed this book.

[Milica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite read of 2025. Yes, I'm calling it now. In April. Sue me.

[thevampireslibrary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This takes place in Alligator Point, a cursed Louisiana bayou were we are introduced to a myriad of quirky characters, including my favourite Sheriff Pete Roosevelt who's not actually a Sherrif (you'll find out) and has an uncanny ability to quote John Wayne in nearly every conversation (you'll find out why and it might make you cry), the dialogue is witty and contains some rather inventive insults, the cajun drawl helps suck the reader into the hot and humid Alligator Point, although gators will be the least of your worries,
born and bred pointers know all about the legend of The Piper, a murderous swamp entity, but it becomes all too real as children are going missing and horrifically slain. Amongst the visceral gore and downright gruesome imagery there is a melancholy feel throughout, the inhabitants of Alligator Point who we are introduced to throughout seem, forgive the pun, stuck in the mud of their swampy town, slowing sinking into the mire as the reader turns the pages, theres a lingering desperation and the want for something better is palpable, I was rooting for all the residents despite their flaws they seemed to be held down by a supernatural curse infecting their land, a perfect analogy for the book overall can be found in a converstion between Pete and his deputy Spuds (aptly named) were he talks about brown spots in potatoes and how you don't know how far down it goes untill you peel and peel, ultimatley Pointers are paying for their ancestors sins, the infamous slave traders the Pirates Lafitte, if you're familiar with Jean Lafitte he was seen as something of an anti hero to some and during PAY THE PIPER one of our protagonists Pontiac learns that the pirates were not quite the heroes she had thought, "Lies are always prettier than truths." If the reader stands in the bog long enough the the very real horrors propelling this narrative will leak up between their toes, how history can be cherry picked or simply ignored, the Bog itself becomes a character, an insidious entity hungry for revenge, I don't want to say much more as it would spoil it entirely but trust me, you are gonna wanna read this! from two brilliant minds in horror it comes as no surprise that this an absolute masterclass in horror and a must read for fans of the genre, sink into this sweaty stifling supernatural horror

[Brittni | semi-hiatus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Extended review here.

Cutting southward on our horror-filled American road trip, we come to Louisiana. A small bayou village called Alligator Point must face the legendary, ancient evil that lurks in the swamp.

What I loved 😍
The lore and mythos is really interesting. Pay the Piper is ultimately a folk horror tale – legends, arcane symbols, and backwater lore all blend together. There’s a waft of Lovecraftian symbolism mixed in. Up until the end reveal of the novel, the mystery of the evil is interesting and unique. There’s even, of course, a zombie – to no one’s surprise, as this is a Romero novel we’re discussing.

The characters are unique and lively. Each character is written with distinct traits that make them fascinating to read. The sheriff, Pete, has a penchant for quoting John Wayne movies. The main girl, Pontiac, is smart and streetwise having grown up too fast given her family’s socioeconomic status and hardships. Her father, Gerard, and his marbles. The list goes on and on, each character with a distinct trait that ultimately leads to their final fate.

What could have been better 🤔
The writing is rather aimless, like you’re taking a leisurely stroll. The back of the novel has a snippet that describes it as “lyrical”. I agree; the writing is long and slow, written in a toned down Cajun dialect yet filled with idioms and descriptions to the max. I think someone unfamiliar with Southern American, and particularly Cajun, dialects and ways of life would have a difficult time sinking their teeth into this one. The story, while interesting and pleasant to read, doesn’t go anywhere fast. There are so many scenes that, while beautiful or weird, don’t have any impact on the story. The plot elements are but small snippets between the slice of life moments and character stories, culminating in a rather odd, unsatisfying ending.

The ultimate reveal of the Evil feels discordant with the rest of the novel. I will do my best not to spoil you, but after having read 200 pages of the Evil depicted in one way, the change in depiction at the end does not feel satisfying. It feels less like a twist or a complete puzzle and more like the author didn’t know how to make something work with the material he had.

Let’s Talk About Scares! 👻
Pay the Piper is not scary. Oh, there are definitely horror scenes in there and definitely moments that should be tense, however I found that the lyrical, Cajun style of writing didn’t convey any terror or tension to me.

As mentioned above, this is overall a folk horror novel. It’s small town, slice of life, Southern Americana folk horror. It does really well at conveying this through the Cajun dialect and idioms – it feels almost like a folk story at times. There are aspects of psychological horror, cosmic horror, voodoo, and some small amount of body horror sprinkled in as well.

Beyond the Boo! 🧠
There are two main overarching themes here, one which I think is done very well and the other which I think falls flat.

First, this is a story about a dying, small bayou town. The characters are overwhelmingly poor, but overwhelmingly attached to their roots. They have pride in their ancestry and ties to the land, despite their circumstances. Most are alcoholics, driven to drink by their circumstances and coping with life. Most of their homes are original shanties, being reclaimed by the swamp they live in. Death is a way of life, in Alligator Point, and the circumstances driving the characters’ decisions are only too real.

Second, is a theme of social justice, particularly around the “sins of our fathers” trope. This too is hard to discuss without spoilers, so I’ll just leave it at this falls very flat for me because they didn’t do much to set it up in the first two-thirds of the novel. It doesn’t feel like the real motivation, so much as shoved in at the end.

[Becky Spratford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review in the July 2024 issue of Booklist and on the blog [link live on 7/9/24 at7am central]: https://raforall.blogspot.com/2024/07...

Three Words That Describe This Book: Strong sense of place, multiple points of view, vengeance

A strong historical connection to the swamp lands outside New Orleans-- Alligator Point. 1998 setting. Considered with the people and the place in the story's now and throughout history, going back to the slave trade and pirates.

Romero unfinished novel-- found by Kraus in archives. NOT ZOMBIES but does have voodoo Zombi references.

Octopus carvings, cotton mouth snakes, Pirates Lafitte

POV bounces around-- keeps pacing up and properly allowed for full development of the key characters.

Sheriff (Pete), his deputy (Spuds), the teacher (Miss Ward), young Pontiac (9) first name Renee but don't call her that, her dad (Gerard), Doc (former GP and shop owner.

Story is clearly in thirds-- first third is a terrifying open that pulls back and spends time getting readers acclimated to the people and place (with unease of the opening scene never far from the front of your mind). Second third, introduces a key moment-- with a coke bottle-- and the people who will become the most important. Third third begins with a key death and then everything escalates and the story is all out action pin balling back and forth between points of view, the monster is fully unveiled and unleashed.

This is a story as much about a lost way of life as it is an all out horror story. It is also about the past, and the wrongs and hurt, and asks who should pay for that. It is about regret and hope as well. There is a lot there but it is also an action packed story with a great monster.

You don't need my review to know you will read this and enjoy it-- Romero's idea, half finished-- Kraus competing it.

Swamp Horror-- ala The Boatman's Daugherty by Davidson, Evil Whispers by Goingback, and The Toll by Priest.

[Anna Dupre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC!

The bayous of South Louisiana are home to something evil that's snatching children away into the night leaving only their ruined remains behind. For Alligator Point, there's no room for another person to leave, the population clocking in at around 140 folks. Between the oil man buying up land and the rot of cancers, alcoholism, and other afflictions running rampant, the last thing this disappearing town needs is a boogeyman. 9-year-old Pontiac knows something isn't quite right, and she's determined to get to the bottom of things, to make sure her home stays her home.

I know I'm biased about this book in a good way. I was born and raised in South LA, spending weekends fishing, crabbing, and playing in the high tide of the marsh down the bayou. This is a book that thrives on Cajun culture and dialect, using Cajun French and slang terms that you only really hear south of I-10.
Reading this brought back so many fond memories of my childhood, my great-grandmother's use of Cajun French, and all our Cajun quirks that I carry with me still. It's something Romero and Kraus nail fairly effortlessly.

This endearing Cajun charm makes Pay the Piper an immersive read yet also highlights the struggles of life in an impoverished South. This is a disappearing land thanks to environmental issues in addition to infrastructure inequalities. It's a way of life that's full of personality but not without hardships. A sense of unease settles over Alligator Point for these reasons, only to grow into terror with the emergence of the Piper. And frightening he is given the carnage left in his wake.

PTP is a timely read, calling upon the need for change in a world that's built upon forgotten issues of the past.
Pontiac, a brilliant Cajun gal after my own heart, feels like the best representation of this need for change as she records everything that happens around her and fights for what she loves. It's a heartfelt, slow burn story with culture and personality.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

i needed 60% more monster for this to be rated higher

[Alex (The Bookubus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Michael Hicks · Rating 2 out of 5]

In 2019, Daniel Kraus discovered a half-finished manuscript for Pay the Piper amongst the numerous boxes of the University of Pittsburgh's collection of George A. Romero's archives. No notes were left by Romero on where the story was intended to go or how it might conclude, leaving Kraus free to tie up the loose ends based on the clues and subtext present in the manuscript left orphaned by the famous film director's death in 2017. In Kraus's afterword, he writes that it was likely that Romero's partial draft was written somewhere between 1998 and 2004, well before his passing.

Reading this final co-written copy, I couldn't help but wonder if Romero had set aside Pay the Piper because he simply lost interest in it and perhaps never intended on finishing it. Even with Kraus stepping forward to salvage Romero's once-secret project, the end product feels largely aimless and shallow, and I'm not convinced that the world of horror literature would have lost much if this book had stayed buried.

Riddled with shades of Stephen King's IT, an ancient entity, the titular folkloric Piper, is luring away the youth of a Louisiana Bayou shantytown to devour them. Pontiac has lost her best friend, Billy May, to the monster, but this tragedy feels more like a minor footnote in her life. At one point she finds an old, beat-up baseball in the swamp she names Billy May Part Two, and that's about the extent of any care or empathy she shows toward her dead buddy.

If Pay the Piper is notable for anything it is its complete lack of depth and superficial approach to every topic its authors attempt to touch throughout. Instead of complex characters we get cardboard archetypes. Pontiac is The Rebellious Kid. Her dad is The Town Drunk. Pete is The Sheriff. Eventually, they gather to square off against the Piper because the narrative demands they do so, not because they have any great compelling reason to, although revenge does figure into for some of these, of course. The Piper's motivations are hidden in centuries of buried history that ultimately have little to do with anybody, providing yet another layer of disconnect between plot demands and the character surrounding it.

Kraus, and by default Romero, present a skosh of compelling eco-horror late in the narrative, which would have been more compelling if it had played a more significant role in the overarching story. The history of the region and its role in piracy and the slave trade provide some truly interesting background and inform the motivations of the Piper, but it never really goes anywhere, nor does it seem like a compelling enough reason for this monstrosity to unleash hell on swamp-rat kids circa 2024. Instead, it feels more like the authors forcibly reaching for a meaningful explanation, or any explanation at all, and becomes yet another disconnected element that never fully enmeshes itself with the rest of the narrative.

Pay the Piper has plenty of nifty ideas, but they never come together when they need to and lack any depth to make them interesting narrative devices. Why did Romero shelve this unfinished manuscript and keep it hidden away? I'm sure there's plenty of compelling reasons and theories, and Kraus shares a few of his. But the answer simply may be, it's just not that good.

[Yvonne (the putrid Shelf) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love an isolated tale, a tale that seeped in atmosphere and a sense of place. Where you can almost feel it’s weather system – hot sticky heat to freezing temperatures. Pay the Piper was that story for me. Set in the Louisiana Bayou, I could imagine the sticky temperatures and wet marshlands.

As a horror setting that had everything to offer – dark, mysterious, wondering if something could harbor ill feelings below the surface. Colour me intruiged.

This is a bit of a genre beinding read, from cosmic horror to supernatural, there’s bound to be something in it for everyone. Characterisation was strong and accented english a calling card to the past. Difficult topics such parental death and cancer should remain in the forefront of your mind if these are subjects that are triggering. Each character is fleshed out-Pontaic being everything I would have loved reading about as a teenager. She’s spunky, independent and so far removed from everything girly that I found myself rooting for her.

The story reminded me a lot of IT with the unknown monster and a coming of age group of children. That’s where the comparision ends for me. It wasn’t as strong and I did feel that many parts of the story dragged on too DAMN long. There was one part where I considered DNF’ing but I’m glad I stuck with it as the ending left me with a better taste in my mouth.

[Matt M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pay the Piper, the second collaboration between the late George A. Romero and Daniel Kraus (author of Whalefall, one of my favorite books I’ve read in the last year), is a horror novel set in the Louisiana bayou.

Romero and Kraus do a fantastic job at immersing you in the setting (you can feel the sweat and the humidity dripping off the page) and the effective use of Cajun dialect. I’d never spent so much time in a book in that part of the world and it was very well done.

The characters are vivid and feel real, even when they feel larger than life. The beating heart of the novel is the main character, a nine-year-old latchkey girl named Pontiac. Between the nicknames and the time the authors spend developing the characters, it makes it all the more effective as the horrors, real and supernatural, happen.

This novel has a lot of heart, but Romero and Kraus do not pull their punches on the horror. There is some fantastic body horror and cosmic horror at play here.

Overall, this one gets a strong recommendation from me if you’re looking for a horror novel a little left of the dial, if you enjoy strong characters, and if you want a taste of that Louisiana bayou.

Thank you to Union Square & Co and NetGalley for the eARC!

[Donica Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

It had the ingredients, but something was off with the recipe.

[Beardandrun · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tapped out of this book as soon as the (male) authors placed a 9 year old girl in a weird sexual situation.

Overall not very good.

[♡ retrovvitches ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

i started this with my physical copy and switched to audiobook!! i struggled with how the dialogue was written, but it added so much to the story with the accents so i did it for my enjoyment LOL. and i did really enjoy!! the writing was great, i loved the horror aspects of this. some scenes got me with how gross things were getting lol

[Drake Bland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spoilers ahead

I really wanted to give this book 5 stars up until I get to the last third of the story. The climax feels disconnected and weird. Like it’s a completely different story with a different monster. I don’t think there are any real payoffs to how the monster was designed or to how character focused the story was. Instead we get a preachy ending where the monster who has been luring kids into the swamp becomes a giant microphone of water lecturing some of our cast.

George does a great job to make the story character focused and to show us that the piper is a monster that uses a character’s wants and desires to call to them. All our main characters have well established wants and desires. But in the end when we should be getting individual confrontations with the piper, who would be playing into our characters vices, we get an action movie ending. And that’s disappointing. I believe the piper was meant to stalk and hunt more. Possibly becoming more desperate and going after more than just the children instead of preaching and becoming ethereal ocean. Bob fireman’s is really setup to be the final fight and the perfect place for the Piper to do what it does, yet it doesn’t do anything that it normally does. If this was the planned ending then fine, but that doesn’t mean the book didn’t need more of the piper being the piper.

I also believe that the octopus symbols were supposed to hold more power. We never see the piper crossing them, always trying to lure away from them. But the ending we got ignores that completely. They can’t possibly hold power if it can just crush everything instead. Isn’t it odd how there was one where the oilman demon was lurking at the carnival? That was a big clue to the ending. Pontiac should have been stuck between two evils and forced to deal with both. Instead she magically got carried away…

Overall, I appreciate the intended message of the book, the strong characters, and the initial design of the monster. But the ending was so far off from what the book was building that it dragged the whole story down. No one paid the piper they just got lectured by it.

[Shane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second of Romero’s books that novelist Daniel Kraus found when curating Romero’s archive, except this strayed far enough from the world of zombies that it stood out as a completely unique work that paralleled nothing else in Romero’s career. In what Kraus expertly finishes, we get an incredibly involved look at cajun life in the South Bajou of Louisiana, a crumbling of rural community as oil companies decimate the land, which itself is just an echo of its pirate past. What underskirts this is a cosmic horror story about monsters in the swamp, though this is only a background pretext for the haunting memories, mistakes, and failed relationships of those who inhabit the shanties in one of the poorest parts of the country. This is a brilliant portrait of daily life, compassionate and delicate while also containing some of the most ferocious characters I’ve encountered in modern horror.

[unstable.books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Justice for Pork Fat! Thank you so much to Union Sqaure Co. and NetGalley for this ARC!

[Brennan LaFaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s something so intriguing about the Louisiana bayou as a horror setting. It’s dark and mystical, and essentially beholden to its own governance.
In Pay the Piper, Romero and Kraus bring the setting to life first. You can feel your shoe squelch in the mud, feel the ‘skeeters sucking you dry. It’s magic. Then in come the shadows, and they don’t wait long.
This book ranges from the supernatural to the cosmic, all the while resting its elbows on rich folklore, and buoyed by a dynamic cast of characters. Each one flawed and imperfect, but vividly drawn and with full lives we feel privileged to peek into. And the local color, the dialogue, the verb choice. All part of dropping the reader smack in the center of the swamp.
Most of all, it’s a dark book, but hope seeps through the cracks and never completely lets the light go out. After all, “you can have poison in you, and do good with it.”

5 stars for a genre legend and one of the most talented writers working today. Kraus’s ability to chameleon into a story is unparalleled.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

From its hauntingly beautiful swamp imagery to its chewed up characters and moralistic eldritch beings, this expertly-crafted horror novel is gripping, gritty, gruesome and GREAT.

It’s set in Alligator Point, Louisiana, and follows the key personalities there (from sparky 9-year-old Pontiac, who keeps track of the region’s secrets, to drunkard Gerard, reclusive teacher Mrs Ward and wannabe sheriff and movie buff Pete). Each of them struggles with a life on the edge in a swamp filled with death traps and pirate lore, being slowly coaxed away from their homes by the money-offering, land-destroying Oil Man. But deep in the swamp, something ancient waits for the Pointers to atone for the sins of their ancestors. Something that’s growing more impatient by the day and picking their children off one by one.

The story is told in engrossing Cajun and bayou prose and riddled with phrases and superstitions that create real depth of atmosphere and culture. The characters have such specific flaws, totems, dreams and foibles that you almost believe they’re real. And the ‘villains’ are steeped in rich metaphor that makes them as thought-provoking as they are scary.

There are lots of tough topics and potential triggers in this book, ranging from cancer to gore to suicide to slavery, so while I fully recommend it, I’d advise you to check the warnings first.

This is the second work by Daniel Kraus I’ve given 5 stars, and I’m immensely glad he chose to finish George A Romero’s inspired manuscript. They both have such a talent for storytelling.

Thank you to @titanbooks for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

[OutlawPoet]

DNF.

I've tried a few times now and I think it's just a me problem. I liked our Main Character, the speech patterns reminded me of my Louisiana Relatives, and I even liked the mix of fairytale horrors and our small community. I just has some issues staying with this. I kept...wandering.

I think this will work very well for most people and it was just me.

[David Agranoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

So heads up, my reviews between now and next fall will be a little shorter than normal. I am very, very busy planning the 4th international Philip K. Dick Festival in Fullerton, CA from August 20-23rd. It is going to rule, so join us there if you can. I am also working on a SF novella, and the final edits of the sequel to The Last Night To Kill Nazis. Yeah, that is why the reviews have been a little shorter.

*

As an archive nerd who has dug around the PKD papers, the very existence of this project is very exciting to me. In many ways, I am more glad this exists than I personally enjoyed the story. So let me be clear, this is an important book. I hope serious horror readers will check it out.

The first reason it is important relates entirely to the history of the project, when we lost George Romero, he had made a last trilogy of Dead movies, and it seemed Romero was accepting that is all Hollywood wanted from him. I personally was not a fan of the last three Dead movies and found myself wishing that he had gotten more of a chance to stretch his wings. The horror lit world was shocked to learn that Romero had left a Zombie epic half-finished when it was announced that Daniel Kraus would finish it. I had Kraus on my podcast and he hinted at this project years ago. This is the thing I wished we got more of- Non-Dead projects for Romero. There were a few excellent ones like The Crazies, Creepshow and The Dark Half, but also stinkers like Monkey Shines. No matter what, a novel by Romero would have been very welcome.

So the story goes that this was a novel that Romero started at some point and never finished. Daniel Kraus was the right guy to do this, besides being a very good, smart writer, he has finished a Romero (started) novel before and seemed to have a very strong concept of what Romero was interested in as a storyteller.

On its own, I am not sure there is much to Pay the Piper; outside of the context, the novel wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. Interestingly, Romero being a Pittsburgh lifer setting a novel in the bayous of Louisiana. Pay the Piper is a very regional story, with plenty of regionalisms. So plenty of Southern gothic vibes. Alligator Point is as vivid a setting as anything in King’s Maine, so again it had me wondering where that came from.

The characters are a strong point of the novel. There are several of them. As I think back on reading the novel, it is the people in the story, more than the horror elements, that stick out in my memory. Pete Roosvelt and his John Wayne obsessions are better character work that it appears to be at first. How much is Romero and how much is Kraus is impossible to tell, and frankly, doesn’t matter much. The combined powers helped shepherd a story with lots of points of view and kept them straight.

Daniel Kraus is doing important work here. I think this novel is important, which is even more so than being entertainment. I can’t say it was a page turner; the book dragged a bit. That is perfectly fine. The most important thing happening here is honoring the work of a giant in the field.

[Dee Hancocks · Rating 3 out of 5]

A supernatural horror that transports you to Louisiana. I adored the character Pontiac, she stands out from everyone completely. Every character is rich and flawed. We follow a number of POV and this keeps the pace and sets out the plot amazingly.
I haven’t actually read a swamp horror before and it’s certainly an amazing setting for it, I was there at Alligator Point!
The dialogue is full of humour and it’s sharp. The signs of great writing.
The past and how it can still have a hold on the present is just brilliant.
I recommend for those looking for an atmospheric horror.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

[claire :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not even gonna lie, this might be one of my new all-time favorites. Campy prose. Deeply compelling, interesting, and relatable characters. Genuinely scary at times. SO atmospheric. I don’t want to spoil it but the metaphor here works SO WELL. There were a few moments as I was reading this that I was worried it would fall apart in the end, but I actually think this tackled it’s incredibly serious material in an engaging, thought-provoking way. Genuinely this book represents everything good about horror: the monsters and the social commentary. I’m obsessed 😭😭😭

[Em · Rating 2 out of 5]

as others have said, interesting premise but was insanely let down by the climax

[Juan Luna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started off strong but the ending felt disjointed from the rest of the book. There was also a weird chapter with Pontiac.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that you absolutely must be ready to read when you open it. After two tries at the first chapter, I was finally off on this adventure. In fact, once you get into the writing, the characters, plot, dialogue, and scene setting are so rich it’s hard to put the book down and come back to boring reality. That’s not only because the book is well written (granted, sometimes the alliteration is laid on way too thick and frequent, like a magician relying too frequently on the same tricks) — but also because the character development is outstanding. Each character has a clear image, backstory that explains their present quirks, way of speaking, weakness, strength, set of fears, and independence. Meanwhile, the way the two authors weave in Easter eggs throughout backstory descriptions and present events is seamless. Without giving away spoilers, at the end of the novel — when things tend to come full circle — I was stunned at just how many of these planted eggs came back full circle one after another … after the next. Reading the last twenty-five percent of the novel felt like watching a gunslinger shoot an endless row of cans off a fence. It’s clearly not either author’s first rodeo. Speaking of George A. Romero, there’s something subtly entertaining about the tie-in to this book’s “buried bodies” (being intentionally vague for those who might read it) and Night of the Living Dead. I wish I knew how much of the book was written by which author; I felt that the book read as though written by someone with Romero’s movie experience: incomplete sentences that conveyed a feeling without needing to meet the definition of “clause,” the emphasis on smells and sounds and touch-sensory details, the interweaving of French and Cajun languages the way a movie character might use another language without anybody explaining it. These are just my initial thoughts fresh after reading this book. I’m blown away at how perfectly executed it is. I didn’t even really care for the ending, but I wouldn’t change a thing.

[4cats · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneasy read set in the Louisiana Bayou, good use of the Cajun dialect and great descriptive passages of the place helps to immerse you in this tale. You get the story told from different viewpoints and there is a threat looming within the narritive. Loved the character Pontiac a young girl who records everything she sees and comes across in her notebook. Solid horror read.