OK here we go again! One of my favorites books of 2023, "Cold Keep Reprisal," just got a sequel, "Cold Keep Requital" - and what a sequel it is! It's got supernatural monsters, Windigo spirits, a mysterious basement, a malicious girl tormenting her parents, scared kiddies disappearing overnight, a gothic orphanage with a disturbing backstory, sinister plots, Indian lore and deeply flawed characters you easily learn to care about! Picking up two years after the first book, it's darker, meaner, but also funnier and more entertaining! And that ending - taking a deus ex machina finish and turning it into the best of cliffhangers!
James Lurid has really raised the bar with this one: he's captured both a sense of impending doom, as the familiar trio of Walter, Dakota, and Eddie investigate the mysterious orphanage to find Dakota's son, and the sweetly good vibe of friendly banter. Sometimes this hides a lot of darkness and cruelty, the unsettling scenes coming with no warning, demanding from the reader nerves of steel; other times, humor dominates and it's not hard for one to suspend disbelief and happily swallow even the most incredible of twists.
If you've already read the first book, do not miss this one: not only does it delivers in precisely those ways the first book did, it also piles up even more - a good, complex plot, relatable characters, and vain, greedy, truly evil villains you'll love to hate!