Those Across the River

by Christopher Buehlman

Haunted by memories of the Great War, failed academic Frank Nichols and his wife have arrived in the sleepy Georgia town of Whitbrow, where Frank hopes to write a history of his family’s old estate—the Savoyard Plantation—and the horrors that occurred there. At first their new life seems to be everything they wanted. But under the facade of summer socials and small-town charm, there is an unspoken dread that the townsfolk have lived with for generations. A presence that demands sacrifice.

It comes from the shadowy woods across the river, where the ruins of the Savoyard Plantation still stand. Where a long-smoldering debt of blood has never been forgotten.

Where it has been waiting for Frank Nichols…

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, Werewolves, Audiobook

356 pages, Paperback

First published September 6, 2011

Reviews

[Noëlibrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I began this book yesterday when I was supposed to be weeding, continued it when I was supposed to be making dinner, and finished it when I was supposed to be sleeping.

At 3 o'clock this morning, I had a terrible nightmare in which someone was eating my feet, and I woke up and tucked my feet firmly under the sheet and was certain that I couldn't fall back to sleep, but I was too scared to stay awake.

I slept horribly, just as Mr. Buehlman intended, the lousy bastard.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh, we fell in love! And Eudora looks like a Sphinx. She is Sphinx-like. Like a Sphinx, she is. And we sweat! It is so hot that we sweat, and we make love a lot. Like, A LOT. LOTS. And we get sweaty. Like the sweaty Negroes. There are Negroes about and sometimes I suck up to the Negroes, and sometimes the Negroes make me feel awkward. And sometimes, kinda racist. While I sweat with my sexy sphinx-like Eudora. And The Great War messed me up, and The States War messed everybody up, and there is a sad dark secret across the river, like the malignant shame of racism, or the soul sucking horror of war. Plus, werewolves!

[jv poore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ignorance is bliss. Sometimes, "because we've always done it" is the best answer. Some things are better left alone, even when they appear to defy logic. So, when a well-meaning couple move into a odd little town, to embark on a simpler life their efforts to be helpful have quite the opposite effect.

When they question the apparently illogical practice of farmers sending pigs, as offerings, across the river; while times are so tough that the meat of those pigs could sustain several families in town, they set in motion the unimaginable horror that not only ruins their lives, but wipes the small town off of the map.

This creepy tale is well woven. Pulled in quickly, I found myself turning the pages so quickly that I finished this book in one day. This book could make the likes of Dean Koontz, Steven King and John Saul feel the shivers. If you love horror and are looking for something different, this is the book for you!

[Vicki Herbert - Vacation until Jan 2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The legend of
the Look-a-Roo...

THOSE ACROSS THE RIVER
by Christopher Buehlman

No spoilers: 4 1/2 stars. When Frank and Dora move to the small town of Whitbrow in Georgia, they are quite unprepared for the strange ways of the townfolk...

Every month
When the moon is full...

An elected family from town takes two of their pigs festooned with ribbons and flowers across the river and turns them loose...

The pigs are never seen again, but their squeals can be heard all night long. When Frank inquires about this custom, he is told...

The Legend of the Look-a-Roo...

The local legend went something like this: When the moon is full, the Devil comes from the Megiddo woods across the river looking for a new soul to steal and flesh to eat...

But...

The Devil also likes to eat pigs because they have hooved feet like his. Don't ever go across the river at night...

And beware...

The black dog called the Look-a-Roo. He is the Devil, and if he sees you, you will die...

One-two... don't look at me Look-a-Roo
Three-four... who's'at scratchin' at my door?
Five-six... gotcha while you pick up sticks
Seven-eight... gotcha if you stay out late
Nine-ten... I'm never goin' home again

This is a creepy little story that I've read three times and will read again. It got off to a slow start, so I removed 1/2 star, but once you're past the first 25%, it really takes off and becomes a real page-turner.

I agree with one review that warned about spoilers, so be careful what you read. I would compare this excellent novel to HARVEST HOME by Thomas Tryon. It's rare to find such an original horror story.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Sigh* . This book had such great potential and loads of missed opportunities.

It follows a couple, Frank and Eudora, moving to a small town in the Depression-era South. Frank has inherited a house and land that stretches back generations and he travels there to write what he hopes to be a bestseller about the violent history of his great grandfather's slave plantation that lies in the mysterious woods across the river. Soon, after arriving, the town is terrorized by...dunh dunh dunh! Those Across The River!

The novel begins in a very similar way to 'Salem's Lot, with no major action happening until about halfway through both books, instead focusing on the going-ons around the small town. But while Stephen King's novel took this time to really get to know the small town so that when the horror happens to the community, it's truly affecting, Buehlman's novel spends a large chunk of its time with Frank's mostly unnecessary dreams about his time in war and the couple's extremely healthy sex life. They literally make hot, sweaty, love every other chapter! Now, I'm no prude; I love sex just like everyone else and would love to have it all day like this couple, but I don't care about reading it when I should be reading about things that truly develop the story. And I may be biased about dream sequences, because I rarely think they work very well in stories, but for the life of me, I still can't figure out what they had to do with the story in any way. I mean, I guess they developed Frank's character a little, but maybe I could've just read one, not FIFTEEN repetitive dreams! Most of those pages that featured sex and dreams could've been used for something more useful.

I won't spoil what lies beyond the river, but the time spent building the suspense was effective and creepy, and once the action kicks off, it's at times very exciting, but eventually, it feels like Buehlman just ran out of steam and couldn't figure out how to finish it. A true, satisfying climax is missing! A great build-up of what lies across the river, and then the potential just peters out. The great character of Martin Cramner has SOOO much potential for interesting ideas and scenes, and nothing much happens with him either! Again, this book really had many chances to be great, and they were either flubbed in the messy storytelling or hijacked by hot sex or dreams of trench warfare.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only thing worse than a bad book is a book that starts out promisingly good and then goes straight to hell.

What I liked:

The book starts out brilliantly, with a narrator whose speech patterns are spot-on for the time period of 1935. It drives me nuts when historical novels sound as though they're populated by modern actors. The place-building was very well-done, which meant that when a pall started to fall over the small town, the reader really feels it. The ability to make a reader cringe in anticipation is an incredible authorial skill, and I salute Mr. Buehlman for his talent in creating dread.

What began to bring my grade down:

This is a purely personal nitpick, mind, but once the villains turned out to be werewolves, I was flat-out let down. With all the build-up and dramatic tension, I was expecting something more than a hoary old take on the Southern Rou-garous.

What made me want to stomp up and down on this book until it begged for mercy:

Jesus H Christ, the racefail. I was already a little >.> about the repeated use of racial slurs against the black characters in this book, though I realize it is completely historically accurate. It just seems that there's historically accurate, and then there's abusing the privilege. There's a scene where a black man regards the narrator's wife, and the narrator is filled with the urge to shout epithets. So all of this wouldn't have bothered me until...

**MAJOR SPOILERS**

The head villain turns out to be a slave who revolted against his master. And who proceeds to turn and therefore steal and rape the hero's wife. Because there's no weird cultural narratives about black men running off to do bad things to white women, or anything. Of all the opportunities to create a viable and terrifying villain, you go with the slave who turned against his master after years and years of torture? REALLY? And do horrible horrible things happen to the adulteress wife? OF COURSE THEY DO.

It's just so fucking clueless. I mean, you have these black savage characters, but then there's a white man who's ALSO a werewolf, only he's able to control his nature. Someone just needs to hit this book with the clue bat until it goes back to the promise it showed in the beginning.

[Char · Rating 4 out of 5]

Those Across the River is my first Buehlman, but will not be my last. In fact, I downloaded another of his books just now.

I recently got a new phone that came with some fancy earbuds, so I decided to head over to Overdrive and check out an audio from my library, so I could try them out. I saw this book available and remembered that my friend Tressa had just recommended me a book by this author a few days previous. I downloaded Those Across the River knowing nothing about it, and I think that was the best way to go in to this story.

Set mostly in GA in the early 1930's, a damaged WWI veteran moves down from Chicago to a house he has recently inherited. In the letter he received about the inheritance he was warned not to actually live in the house, but of course, he does so anyway-along with his fiance Eudora. What follows is a well told, atmospheric and creepy story that went in a totally different direction than what I expected. There's nothing new or extraordinary here, but a well told and atmospheric story is always welcome on my Kindle, (and now on my phone!), and I enjoyed this immensely.

The narrator, Mark Bramhall, was absolutely phenomenal-I loved his Southern accents and voicing-they brought the story alive for me. I will be keeping an eye out for more of his work in the future. As for right now? I'm on to my next Christopher Buehlman book!

I highly recommend the audio of this novel!

[Dirk Grobbelaar · Rating 5 out of 5]

By and by I slept.
And, alas, I dreamed.

A singularly lyrical and beautifully written debut novel that creeps right up on you.

It will be dark soon.

The story burns slowly for the first half of the book, but it manages to create an almost unbearable amount of tension. Those Across The River just drips with atmosphere. The author works with a standard horror convention here, but by cleverly introducing elements of the Southern Gothic and setting his story in the 1930s, when memories of both the American Civil War and the First World War can be drawn on, he has possibly created a masterpiece.

I heard the news the next day at the general store.
Friday the thirteenth.
A hard-luck day, all right.

Some comparisons have been drawn with Stephen King, but I imagine that this is more akin to the works of Peter Straub, especially as far as the pacing is concerned. However, Buehlman does not, with this novel, strive to reach the same scope of such established authors. Rather, he keeps his story fairly lean and tidy, to powerful effect.

Gooseflesh went up my left side as I remembered what had been watching me the last time I was here.

Across the titular river lies the woods. Don't go into the woods. The woods become a character in the hands of Mr Buehlman, and will cause you more than a little discomfort...
And that's not saying anything about those who inhabit the woods. Those across the river.

My parameters of belief were becoming more and more negotiable, and they weren't nearly done stretching.

The degradations, depravity and mayhem of the last third or so of the story stands in stark contrast to the measured earlier sequences. Some may argue that this is where the book falls apart. This is certainly where things fall apart for the protagonist(s) and I doubt if there would have been a better way to punctuate exactly this. Things do go belly up in more ways than one, and you will squirm a bit before you're through. What were you expecting?

This was like a temple to madness.

In conclusion: this was, to me, a fine example of Literary Horror with some edgier elements toward the end. I am going to rate it highly. It raises some questions and does not quite answer all of them, leaving just enough food for thought...

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frank Nichols, a disgraced professor, receives a letter by mail from his aunt that he has never met before. She is dying of cancer and has left him her house in Georgia and she has tasked him with selling it and keeping the profits for himself. She is adamant that he does NOT move there. Ignoring her plea not to live there he and his wide Eudora leave Chicago and make there way to Georgia and their new home that they lovingly name Canary House.

While there he has plans to write a novel about his great grandfather, a slave owner and wicked man, who was killed by the very slaves he kept. He becomes friendly with the locals in an effort to gather information about all the local history.

One story they all seem to tell is that you must stay out of the woods across the river. An old wives tale to be sure. Something Daddy's told their children at night to keep them in line. Nothing more.

Until one day when he decides to venture into the woods he was warned against. What he finds will haunt his nightmares until he's dead and buried.

Do you dare to take a stroll through the woods?

I recently read Buehlman's, The Lesser Dead, and absolutely loved it so I was eager to get my hands on his debut, Those Across the River, and it was another rip roaring (snarling?) good time. I love how he has the ability to weave humor and horror together, for example:

"It was late August when I went to interview Bessie Wilcox at the Sunny Rest nursing home just outside the mill town. I hate the euphemistic names they hung on nursing homes, as if old folks were small children who didn't know what was in store for them. If I opened one I'd call it Yelling All Night Manor or Chafing Acres. Granted, I might not attract many tenants, but they would be realists."

As for characters boy did I love Frank and Eudora. It's always such a pleasure to read a book where the couple is truly in love. Their banter together was pitch perfect. In fact, I liked all of the quirky town folks. The characters really made this a pleasure to read if you don't mind a little blood, guts, and gore of course.

Now as for *those* across the river? Yeah, I didn't like them so much. You best run and run fast or better yet just avoid this town altogether. Frank and Eudora should have heeded their warning to stay away but hindsight's a hungry bitch! 4 stars!

Thanks to Overdrive for the loan!

[Sara the Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Tennessee Williams wrote horror fiction this is what it would read like. "Those Across the River" is old school horror written by a poet. This is what I want every horror novel to be when I pick it up.

Haunted by a scandalous past Frank Nichols and his beloved wife Eudora have arrived in Whitford, Georgia, where Frank is hoping to revive his nearly decimated academic career by writing a book about his ancestors who once owned a large plantation in the town. Whitford has a great many secrets and some traditions that seem ignorant and downright idiotic to the young couple. As one might expect things do not turn out at all well when they decide to try to change things in this sleepy little southern town. There are things in Whitford that don't like change.

Buehlman spends a terrific amount of time painting the people and the town itself with a wonderfully broad and colorful brush, we come to know these people intimately. Which makes what happens in the final parts of the book so sad and terrifying. I came to care about characters that a less talented author would have treated as set dressing.

Another key to the wonder this book held for me is the passionate, deeply loving relationship between Eudora and Frank. These two absolutely adore each other. They have gone to great lengths to be together and the reader can feel the strength that bond gives them.

Buehlman is also careful to tease his readers very carefully with the mystery that surrounds Whitford. We see early on that something just ain't right here but Buehlman takes his sweet time getting there and the tension is terrific. There are some amazingly gripping scenes in the bayous surrounding the town that made my hair stand on end and all I was reading about was a bunch of men searching through the swamps not knowing what they were even looking for.

For those with weak stomachs? It isn't really until the final pages that things take a turn for the graphic. Its been several months since I read the book and there's still one image that I haven't quite been able to scrub from my brain. But I honestly think that has more to do with the power of Buehlman's word choices and how he crafts the scenes and less to do with the actual moments in the story itself.

I truly loved this book. It was haunting and horribly violent yet romantic and deeply sad. Buehlman is an incredibly gifted wordsmith who's every novel I look forward to snapping up.

[Nina The Wandering Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

To everyone who read and “loved” this book….did we read the same book?!

As a POC, I'm pretty disappointed. I wanted to like this book so badly. I kept wrestling with my inner thoughts. I kept asking myself, am I being too sensitive? Am I too easily offended whenever white male authors use "historical accuracy" as an excuse to portray black characters so poorly? Maybe I'm being too hard on myself. What I do know is that my emotions throughout my reading experience of this book were discomfort, anger, and disappointment.

I did read one Goodreads review where this was said, "...there's historically accurate, and then there's abusing the privilege." I couldn't agree more.

This book--with it's compelling writing, small-town secrets, dark history, and vicious monsters-- sadly wasn't for me.

[Ellen Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

“But when I make a good [taxidermy] mount I feel like I beat God in a small way. As though the Almighty said, Let such critter be dead, and I said, 'Fuck You, he can still play the banjo.”

Creepy, unexpectedly funny, and all around a great read.



Look. The woods are fucking scary.

And what's deep in the woods, across the river? Well. That's even scarier.

Christopher Buehlman does a great job of atmosphere. The dread, the southern heat, the creeping badness is all super present. He takes a caring and delicate touch with devolving his characters, intricately carving their personalities before soaking them in blood.

I feel like when I review, I either spoil the plot to fuck-it-all heaven, or say very little about it. For this one, I'll say little, aside from crowing that it's monstrously enjoyable. You get these hints only: infidelity, torture, chompy-chompy, nightmares, SPOOKY TREES, an eccentric taxidermist, guns, racism, and the repeating nature of history and violence.

That's all you get. If you enjoy spooky funny things, just go read it.

That's it.

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Atmosphere, atmosphere, atmosphere.

The very best horror books evoke dread by setting, in my opinion, and Buehlman excels at it. Like all the best horrors, as well, we're put in a cold pot of water set to boil, and it's up to us to figure out just HOW the world is about to end.

In this case, it happens to be one of the delightfully descriptive werewolf stories I've ever read, firmly placed in Georgia during the Great Depression. The evocation of time and space is particularly good. I loved the poverty and the moonshine and the mute and sometimes not so mute acceptance of the vagrants, the wild, and the desperate. Best of all was the history that preceded this, slowly revealed and explosively executed.

Any fan of horror should love this if you love excellent craft. :)

[Panagiotis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Όταν τέλειωσα το Between two fires του Buehlman, είχα πει πως σίγουρα θα διαβάσω όλα του τα βιβλία. Τέτοιος ήταν ο ενθουσιασμός μου και τέτοια η βεβαιότητα πως είχα βρει έναν συγγραφέα που θα αγαπήσω. Που θα τον τοποθετήσω δίπλα στους άλλους δυο που έχω μέσα στην καρδιά μου. Είναι κρίσιμος ο αριθμός των αγαπημένων συγγραφέων: πρέπει να είναι αρκούντως μικρός για να δικαιολογεί τον τίτλο αυτής της ιεράρχησης. Πρέπει όμως να επιτρέπει στον αναγνώστη μια ασφάλεια πως σε μια εύλογη χρονική συχνότητα θα διαβάζει βιβλία που καλύπτουν πλήρως τις αναγνωστικές του ανάγκες. Επίσης, καλό θα είναι να πρόκειται για ζωντανούς συγγραφείς, αλλιώς να έχουν αφήσει πίσω τους μια τεράστια εργογραφία.

Ο Buehlman με τούτο εδώ το βιβλίο εισέρχεται πανηγυρικά στην κάστα των λίγων, συμπληρώνοντας την τριαρχία της προσωπικής μου κορυφής. Μεταφέρει τον αναγνώστη στην Αμερική της κρίσης, μετά το τέλος του Α’ Παγκοσμίου πολέμου. Όπου ο πρωταγωνιστής, ένας ιστορικός ακαδημαϊκός, μαζί με την συμβία του, βρίσκουν καταφύγιο από το παρελθόν, σε ένα σπίτι στην ύπαιθρο της Τζόρτζια, σε μια μικρή πόλη. Ο τρόπος που κλιμακώνεται το μυστήριο και ακολούθως ο τρόμος που κατοικεί στα δάση εκείνης της περιοχής, είναι όχι μόνο υποδειγματικός για το είδος, αλλά ξεφεύγει από τα όρια και τις συμβάσεις του είδους. Δεν εντάσσεται σε κάποιο γνωστό είδος η γραφή του και αυτό τον κάνει ξεχωριστό. Εμένα στο νου μου έφερε τόσο σύγχρονους όσο και κλασικούς συγγραφείς. Πρέπει δε να λατρεύει τον Sloane. Ίσως επικοινωνούν με κάποιον τρόπο μέσα από τον σχεδόν έναν αιώνα που τους χωρίζει και ο Buehlman σ’ αυτό το βιβλίο συνεχίζει την σύντομη αλλά σπουδαία κληρονομιά του συγγραφέα των ασύλληπτα εξαιρετικών δύο ιστοριών του The Rim of Morning. Γιατί έχει κι αυτός έναν τρόπο να μιλάει για πράματα παράξενα και σκιαχτικά, δίχως ποτέ να ξεχνάει πως γράφει πρωτίστως λογοτεχνία. Διάβασα διάσπαρτα σχόλια που τον συγκρίνουν με διάφορους παλιούς σπουδαίους Αμερικάνους, οι οποίοι δεν έχουν καμία σχέση με το λεγόμενο genre fiction και αυτό επιβεβαιώνει την γνώμη που σχημάτισα για τον Buehlman: είναι ένα σπάνιο είδος συγγραφέα, ο οποίος αντιμετωπίζει μια εγκληματική άγνοια από κοινό και κριτικούς, ενώ θα έπρεπε να απολαμβάνει την φήμη ενός πρωτοκλασάτου δημιουργού.

Η ευρυμάθειά του συγγραφέα, οι εξαιρετικοί του χαρακτήρες, ο λίγο μάτσο αλλά την ίδια στιγμή αυτοσαρκαστικός πρωταγωνιστής, που με οξύνοια και μια κλασική αντρική γοητεία φέρεται και άγεται, οι ουσιαστικοί διάλογοί του και ένα γοητευτικός ορθολογισμός που διακρίνει την αφήγησή του (και προδίδει ένα αμιγές επιστημονικό μυαλό αν όχι ιδιότητα, του συγγραφέα), μου φέρνει στον νου το Gene Wolfe, τον έναν από τους δύο μέχρι πρότινος αγαπημένους μου συγγραφείς. Πόση χαρά λοιπόν που αυτό το βιβλίο επιβεβαίωσε τις προσδοκίες που είχα ήδη από το πρώτο του πως επρόκειτο να αγαπήσω τον Buehlman και ανέλπιστα μου εμπλούτισε την πολύτιμη, βραχεία λίστα των αγαπημένων συγγραφέων. Για αυτό το τελευταίο και μόνο, θα πάρει 5 αστέρια.

Θα κλείσω κάνοντας μια μικρή αποτίμηση: αυτή τη στιγμή οι δύο από τους τρείς αγαπημένους μου συγγραφείς είναι εγκληματικά άγνωστοι στο ευρύ κοινό. Είτε τα γούστα μου είναι βλαμμένα είτε ο υπόλοιπος κόσμος μαστίζεται από χαζομάρα, αδικία και μια αυθαιρεσία στις προτιμήσεις του - η αξιοκρατία είναι χωλή, ανεπαρκής. Τείνω να πιστεύω το δεύτερο. Όπως έχω ξαναπεί δεν έχω πίστη στις αρετές της ανθρωπότητας, πράγμα που αποδεικνύεται έμπρακτα μέσα από την μικρογραφία της εξίσου άτακτης και χαώδους αναγνωστικής κοινότητας.

Διαβάστε και στηρίξτε καλούς συγγραφείς! Για να βγαίνουν κι άλλα καλά βιβλία και να περιορίζονται οι ανοησίες. Αυτές που πέφτουν στα χέρια των αρχάριων και διαμορφώνουν ολόκληρες τάσεις στον κινηματογράφο που τις τρώμε στην μάπα κάθε χρόνο.

[Sleepy Boy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Officially my new favorite author. Read this novel close on the heels of ‘Between Two Fires,’ and it did not disappoint.

It flows and reads effortlessly, with a unique twist on an age-old myth. The blending of the southern gothic horror with ancient was quite the feast for the mind. 


I love the doubts cast at times as well by the author; this slight, tiny hitch/twinge permeates throughout the story of “Is it real?” and that is pretty choice in terms of story.

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hopefully I’ll have time to share some thoughts on the next few days, but a fun book

I don't normally read horror or "creepy" books but this was one of my "given" books in a "bossy book challenge" and so I had no choice but to read.

A young couple move to a small town that seems the perfect community (doesn't it always ?). Despite seeming to settle down things are under the surface quite tense, and when a long held tradition in the small town is discontinued things begin to fall apart.
The wilderness across the river starts to become the focus of all the bad things happening in the town. In that wilderness are the ruins of a long deserted colonial hose that holds many secrets, and before things get any better in the town, these secrets will come out and create chaos.

An interesting book that grew on me as i worked my way through it. Yeah I quite enjoyed it.

[Latasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

2nd listen- 6/2019
wow! i still love this book so much! the story is so good and Mark Bramhall is phenomenal!! he does so, so, so good reading and with all the accents. this is still my #1 favorite audio book 2 years later.

this is my favorite audiobook ever. I'm not saying what its about. read the description but do no read any reviews. This book surprised me so much and I loved it.

[Sadie Hartmann]

I can't wait to share my thoughts on this--I'm going to start doing some "Backlist Book Reviews" on my TikTok for PandiPress.
Keep your eyes peeled!

[Gabyal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lento, lento, lento, remonta al final pero me ha costado acabarlo. No había leído nada del autor y ganas de volver a hacerlo ni de chiste, tendría que pasar un tiempo largo para que intentara volver a leer algo suyo.
El final para mi gusto decepcionante, vamos la idea es buena no lo niego pero puff ha sido frustrante su lectura

[Lizz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t write reviews.

It’s comforting that this was his first book. Many writers reach this point and level off there. They make a career of it. It’s not good, but it sells somehow. As a starter though, it’s forgivable.

Let’s just say he introduced a new character at the end of the book, with a backstory, in order to have another pointless death. The climax was long (it felt like almost half of the book) and uneventful, not really tying up any loose ends. I mean the guy goes out of his way to kill off some other guys because… I’m not sure why, but doesn’t even try to find his wife. The premise was neither novel nor surprising. The characters were forgettable and their motivations either nonexistent or unclear.

If you enjoy average horror stories you might like this. I don’t want to steer anyone away from a book. However, I didn’t like it.

[Lena · Rating 4 out of 5]

"WHEN NIGHT CAME DOWN on Whitbrow it came down hard. It came down like an army that had been waiting for the chance to sack and plunder the roost of its ancient foe."

I think I'm going to have to read everything Christopher Buehlman writes. This is horror the way I like it: old monsters in new worlds, well constructed plots, and a shocking lack of pity for his characters or even his readers.

Frank and Eudora are disgraced Yankee educators who made the questionable choice to move down to small town Georgia when Frank's estranged aunt leaves them her house. A house she tells them to sell. A town Frank's mother ran away from at 15. A town near a plantation renowned for its cruelty and infamous end. A plantation owned by Frank's great grandfather.

I could hear the screams coming from miles away...


I begin to think you can't read a Buehlman book without noting the ending(s). The last ten percent of the book the story could have ended on nearly every page. Each ending would have left a different tone but the quick succession of them left me and Frank dizzy, grasping for conviction.

[Shainlock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, there wasn’t much actual werewolf. The mystery was interesting. I had it figured out thanks to the clues. The end was odd and I just felt kinda meh.

[Fiona Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I'm not good enough for you to eat," I muttered into the rain, too tired to choose between thinking and speaking. You or I wouldn't have heard it. But their ears were very good.
"Maybe just your heart," he said, without iron or double meaning. It wasn't like speaking with a person. He was just a shadow against other shadows.
"okay," I said.
Having my heart eaten sounded good and final. I wanted to lie down with the dead. I wanted to be numb and blind and without memory. But that's not what happened.
I kept my memory.
Especially the parts I didn't want.

Those Across the River starts slow, to the point where I almost gave up - but when it gets going, it pushes the throttle through the floor.

Frank and Eudora move to the small town of Whitbrow following an inheritance from Frank's aunt - and sure, maybe in the will she emphasized several times that they simply had to sell the house, but given their disgrace, and how short jobs are in what's winding up to the Great Depression, beggars cannot be choosers. She was loopy on pain medication at the end, so no need to treat this as anything other than a means to a new start, surely?

Well, if that was so, there wouldn't be much book. And when things do start to head down that horror path, the tempo really picks up and the story was a very satisfyingly horrific read, whether we're talking unexplained goings-on or slave-owning ancestors with a sadistic bent, or just small towns in the US who practice a monthly sacrifice. That sounds like a lot, but it actually all melds into a cohesive and well-told tale, one I ended up enjoying after the bumpy start.

[Chris Berko · Rating 5 out of 5]

I almost gave up on this book. In the beginning I just wasn't feeling it. But then, oh my god, but then it began to pick up. After spending time making sure you get to know and care for the characters Mr Buehlman throws them into a maelstrom of depravity, violence and suffering. I was thoroughly impressed with the originality and subtlety in which the antagonists are presented; never cheesy, never clichéd, but while not new they are definitely freshly rendered. There were times I set the book aside and said to myself, damn... that's fucked up, but the momentum of the story makes you keep going. It forces you to deal with, in intimate fashion, the absurdity and confusion the narrator himself experiences. I'm glad I finished and I think the fact that when I kept telling myself I wasn't going to like it only led to my loving it that much more. I read too many reviews before starting the book, so while reading, in the back of my mind I knew what was coming. But that knowing still did not prepare me for what was to come. Totally fun, if being scared is your idea of fun, this book is a five star read no doubt.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now, read this carefully. When I put something under a spoiler tag it is a spoiler so if you don't want to know don't read it...okay?

I see a lot of 5 star ratings here. okay I'm happy for you if you liked the book that much. I wasn't all that "chuffed" with it. For me it seems just another werewolf book.

We start out with a somewhat slow build up in a "kind of" typical horror story opening. Our protagonist inherits a house and is warned not to live there...but does anyway as it will save money and (are you ready?) "It will give him a place to write".

After a while things go very, very badly...we finally have the answer to the "MYSTERY" unveiled before our "very eyes" (though I assume most have already spotted it) and we get the "gritty" climax.

There is the tragic side of our story and what may be an ending you didn't expect (but I doubt it).

All in all it seemed to me an okay story with a pretty good atmosphere. I suppose I may have just read too many books for this one to hit me as it seems to have hit so many readers. I kept thinking of the movie The Howling in some ways.

Well, maybe you should try it yourself as many people really like this one. decide for yourself. For me, not great.

[Lukasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

Uneven, but Buehlman's writing is great, and when he wants to scare, he scares well.

[Tom Mathews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whitbrow is a forgotten backwater Georgia town in a forgotten backwater time. The time is 1935, back when Huey Long was assassinated on the statehouse steps in Baton Rouge. But few people remember such things anymore. None of the houses and precious few of the businesses in Whitbrow have power, and the hardware store owner moonlights as the Sheriff. None of the local residents ventures over the river to where the ruins of an old plantation are said to lie, a plantation whose owner was so evil that his slaves rose up and killed him. People tell stories to explain why they won't go there, but they know they are just stories. Yet every month the town gets together and holds The Chase, a ritual older than anyone can remember. Despite their scant resources, local farmers donate two hogs, which are then decorated with garlands of flowers by local girls, taken across the river on the makeshift ferry and released. None is ever seen again.

Enter Frank Nichols, a wounded Great War veteran escaping a checkered past, who hopes that an inherited house might provide just the new start that he and his young 'wife', Eudora, need. While Eudora replaces Frank's deceased aunt as schoolteacher, Frank settles down to write a book about his grandfather, the aforementioned evil plantation owner. In his quest for understanding, he is drawn over the river in search of the ruined plantation. What he finds sends him scurrying back across the river, uncertain what exactly he encountered and whether he wants to share what he has seen with others.

As Frank and Eudora begin to adapt to life in Whitbrow, they are are invited to a townhall meeting to discuss whether or not to abandon The Chase. What they decide will change Whitbrow forever.
Christopher Buehlman's debut novel is an atmospheric and spooky tale told in a sultry southern prose. It has a pagan feel to it reminiscent of Thomas Tryon's 'Harvest Home' one of my all-time favorite horror novels. It is told with great appreciation of folklore and its roots and it is also intensely erotic.

Buehlman introduces us to multifaceted characters who are intensely human, with strengths and weaknesses, characters that we can both admire and dislike, often at the same time. This is not the type of book where, shortly after being introduces to a character, you can check them of as black hats or white hats. This is, after all, a southern town and everyone has their secrets.

The review copy of this book was obtained from the publisher via the Amazon Vine Program.

[Steven Walle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent read. I recommend you do not read it at night, however.

This book is about a man who is haunted by dreams of the war and his wife move down to Georgia where the small town of Witblow stops a long running tradition of "Chacing the Pigs." As soon as this happens, all hell breaks loose. There are scarey things which live in the rhelm between belief and disbelief.
I would recommend this to a mature audience.

Strong language and explisit descriptions of sex
Enjoy and Be Blessed.
Diamond

[Lou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Francis Nichols inherits a house and its possessions from his departed Aunt in Whitbrow. But this comes with a stark warning from her to sell the property and keep the money and not to live there. She warned him that bad blood lies in that dwelling and the place will smell out what's in you and claim you for it's own.
Something insidious is gathering attention from across the river. One by one people go missing and turn up dead. This story is a good old chiller of an intriguing tale of something in the woods mysterious. There is going to be some hunting as the towns folk try to stand their ground instead of running. Once I passed halfway of this story I was totally gripped and it became a real page-turning story, I really did not expect it to be that kind of horror was really enjoyable ride. The main protagonist and his partner should have never came to this town as his Aunt advised, 4as the town's future looks bleak. They are about to reap the bad seeds they have sowed as the produce show their faces.

Review also here

[Dr. Cat in the Brain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this in a single sitting.

Really loved The Lesser Dead by the same author.

This novel struggles with formulaic elements but when it shines, it's exceptional.

Set-up is far, far superior to the pay-off.

The PTSD war nightmares are brilliantly executed and realised. Especially the repetitious elements and how it re-writes the history you experience to prey on fears and anxiety. Extremely accurate. I should know. I got PTSD from surviving violence, so I've had these kinds of dreams.

The ending reminded me a bit of Storm of the Century, but the talented prose and emotional accuracy will bring me back to this author again in the future. Loved their takes on classic monster movie creatures.

7.5/10