The Sundowner's Dance

by Todd Keisling

Jerry Campbell just wants to be left alone. Grief-stricken over the death of his wife Abigail, the elderly widower and recent retiree is desperate for a change of scenery. When his realtor suggests a new home in Fairview Acres, a retirement community in the Poconos, Jerry figures it will be a nice place to spend the rest of his days in solitude.

Until he moves in.

Weird neighbors. Nightly block parties. Strange noises across his rooftop at all hours. Worst of all is Arthur Peterson, chairman of the Fairview Acres Community Association, who seems obsessed with coaxing Jerry into participating in these neighborhood activities.

At first, Jerry shrugs off the incidents and eccentricities, telling himself he doesn’t want to be the guy who complains about everything—but that all changes one evening when Katherine Dunnally appears on his doorstep with an ominous warning: “You need to leave. The worms…they dance at nightfall…”

His neighbors all say Katherine suffers from a form of dementia called Sundowner’s Syndrome, but as the weeks progress and the strangeness mounts, Jerry begins to suspect there is something else going on in his neighborhood. Something that has to do with the huge stone in the community park…

Heartfelt and unsettling, Todd Keisling’s latest novel, The Sundowner’s Dance, propels readers through a terrifying exploration of grief, dementia, and perhaps the greatest horror of all: growing old.

Genres: Horror, Lovecraftian, Thriller, Fiction, Cults, Mystery, Mystery Thriller

338 pages, Hardcover

First published April 22, 2025

About the author

TODD KEISLING is the two-time Bram Stoker Award®-nominated author of Devil’s Creek, Scanlines, Cold, Black & Infinite, and most recently, The Sundowner’s Dance, among several others. A pair of his earlier works were recipients of the University of Kentucky’s Oswald Research & Creativity Prize for Creative Writing (2002 and 2005), and his second novel, The Liminal Man, was an Indie Book Award finalist in Horror & Suspense (2013). He lives in Pennsylvania with his family.

Reviews

[Char · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bette Davis once said "Old age ain't no place for sissies."

Jerry Campbell is recently widowed and just wants to be left alone. Being in the house where he lived with his life for so long proves to be too difficult and Jerry finds himself checking out Fairview Acres. A nice, quiet, community of retired folk in the Poconos. It all sounds perfect to Jerry and he decides to move in. He soon learns that not all is what it's cracked up to be. His neighbors have parties nearly every night, and there are strange noises from his rooftop every night as well. One night, one of Jerry's new neighbors Catherine comes to visit and tells him he needs to leave. Jerry is confused, but is later told that Catherine is "sundowning", (an awful form of dementia), and that he need not pay attention to the things she said. Things like "The worms. They dance at nightfall." Jerry is curious, though and he finds he cannot leave well enough alone. He begins to investigate and you're going to have to read this to discover what he finds out!

Evil in a small town is one of my favorite tropes. Shake that up with some cosmic, cult action and you have the recipe for the perfect book for me. I have loved Todd Keisling's work since I read Devil's Creek and until now, it's been my favorite book of his. This one, though, pushed all my personal buttons as if it knew they were there and where they all where.

All the scares here weren't of a culty or cosmic nature. Many of them were scares that people face every day. Sundowning, Alzheimer's, Dementia-if these things aren't freaking scary, I don't know what is. Add to that the daily indignities the sick and elderly face, forgetting things like your own children's names, losing the ability to physically take care of yourself or to recognize your surroundings. Lastly, what if you saw someone do something sneaky or nefarious? Who is going to believe you? That might be the most terrifying part of it all.

Grief also plays a big role here. Jerry, being an introvert and having had no children, has no support system whatsoever. No one to check in, make sure he's eating or not getting depressed-he has no one. That's one more scary thing to pile on right? Finding oneself alone at the end of life and discovering that you're the one who made it that way.

A note about the narrator Malcolm Hillgartner-his performance was top notch! At first I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy something with an elderly narrator, (I have no idea if the man himself is elderly), but his performance here was nothing short of incredible. Well done, sir!

I loved the constantly building sense of dread, confusion and paranoia. I enjoyed the constant questioning of the main character as to whether or not these things were really happening or were they all in his head? The atmosphere seemed to become denser and more dark with every page to the point where it almost felt suffocating. Then the denouement blew everything apart!

To sum up, we have grief based horror, cult horror, cosmic horror, and elderly horror all mashed-up into a beautiful ball of excellence titled: The Sundowner's Dance.

My highest recommendation.

*Audio ARC from publisher

[Monica · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book committed the two unforgivable sins in the book of Monica: it was boring and depressing.

[thevampireslibrary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full review to follow I need to digest this but lemme tell ya it was tasty
Todd is a fav author of mine, I loved this it's everything I look for in a horror
Thanks as always to shortwave for an earc


Here's the review hehe

What's scarier than growing old? A story about growing old written by Todd of course, an intimate portrayal of loneliness, grief and anxiety amidst a backdrop of, there's no other way to say it, undeniably
creepy shit, Todd's characters possess such authenticity that it is difficult to believe they are mere words on a page and not actual living breathing humans. I really enjoyed the setting and cast of characters in this and felt a real bond and connection with each of them, this felt a little like Stranger Things but they're all grown up, highly recommend to horror fans, and uhm you may (100% will) cry 🫠

[Casey Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in a quiet, eerily idyllic retirement community, this story follows Jerry Campbell, a grieving widower who moves into Fairview Acres, hoping to close the final chapter of his life quietly. But Fairview has other plans! There are strange neighbors, murmured warnings, odd sayings and occurrences that build a sense of existential dread. Something is stirring beneath the facade, and Jerry, still mourning the love of his life, finds himself drawn into a mystery that warps reality and memory alike. And while that horror slowly builds, another chilling realization is that something is happening to Jerry…and no one believes him. Maybe not even himself.

Early on, I had said "this feels like Coneheads meets Jim Jones", and was gratified when Jim Jones is discussed in the book. What Keisling does here is horror, but anchored in real human emotion and fears. As Jerry navigates grief, the weirdness of the neighborhood, and the slow erosion of self, Keisling forces readers to confront some of the things we tend to push down within ourselves, especially as we get older—loneliness, aging, irrelevance, losing your mind. I love that the demographic of the main characters is older. How many books do I read with older folk being the focal point? Literally none. It's used as a lens for dread, showing how the end of life can feel like a slow disappearance. It's a sad horror sort of. Really good!

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

I'll say it once and I'll say it again. We need more horror novels with elderly protagonists. This was so good!

[Adrienne L · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 ish

The writing is solid, and I do like an older protagonist, but the story never really pulled me in all the way. I appreciate that Kiesling made his MC a senior citizen, as well as a man still coming to to terms, not only with the grief over his wife's death, but his own lifelong struggles with depression and anxiety. I wish I had liked this more, but I still think it's a good story.

[Katie T · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[David Swisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure there is another author who can write something so full of heart and love that also has a content warning for 'gratuitous wormage.'

Todd fills the pages of The Sundowner's Dance with grief, love, and loads of cosmic horror. Our hero, Jerry, is a character you'll be rooting for the whole time, because Keisling makes sure that you FEEL his emotions as you journey through the novel. The suspense builds as we learn more and more and the climax is perfect. The ending is a MFer though. It got me right in my dark heart. I loved it.

Read this book! Read Todd Keisling

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Promising start, but it got pretty drawn out and repetitive in the second half.

[Jocelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

There was so much to love about this book, but my favorite was that the protagonist’s (and antagonists….) were retirees and the elderly. Say no more. I need to be careful due to spoilers but it was fantastic.

Interesting premise, I had fun. Good writing, I stayed interested and found the writing descriptive and visual. Certain parts were delightfully disgusting.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this heartfelt, supernatural read. Not as heavy on the horror, but it still had its gross-out moments.

Beware the drinks in this retirement community from hell.

[Aaron B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got a beautiful edition of The Sundowner's Dance by Todd Keisling from Shortwave Publishing in the 2nd quarter subscription box. A widower's grief drives his move to a retirement community where numerous eccentric neighbors baffle our MC with rah-raha community spirit and odd sayings. The Worms dance at nightfall! Beware! It's a good book and you should read it. By the Moon's Eye!

[Ghastly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Todd Keisling’s *The Sundowner’s Dance* is a gripping horror novel that unravels reality with unsettling precision. Paranoia and fear seep into every page, heightened by sharp prose and haunting imagery that linger long after the story ends. The audiobook delivers an immersive experience, its exceptional narration amplifying the tension and emotional weight. While some familiar themes emerge, the execution remains chilling and memorable. A deeply atmospheric journey into terror that earns a strong four stars.

[Horror Haus Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

This was a solid horror novel with some pretty good creature features. I don’t read too much cosmic horror but this one did a good job of holding my attention. I really enjoyed the characters in the book, they all kept the story EXTREMELY interesting. Definitely worth the read if you’re into the crossbreed of sci-fi/horror.

[Michael Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Note: This review originally appeared at FanFiAddict.

Reeling from the loss of his wife, retiree Jerry Campbell decides it’s time for a change. The house he and Abby called home is too big and filled with too many memories. He wants to retreat and spend what little time he has left in solitude. Fairview Acres, a retirement community in the Poconos, looks like the perfect escape. But no sooner than he’s moved in does the strangeness begins. His sleep is disrupted by late, all-night parties and strange noises that sound like somebody is walking across his roof. His neighbors seem a little too invested in his life and punctuate their concerns with strange phases, like the oft-spoken “By the moon’s eye.” And then Katherine, another widower who may be suffering from dementia, appears on his doorstep warning him about the worms and insisting he leave Fairview while he still can.

Slowly but surely, the oddities begin to pile up, and author Todd Keisling does a sublime job of ratcheting up the tension and creeping paranoia that provides The Sundowner’s Dance with a pervasive sense of dread. Obviously there’s more going on in Fairview Acres than meet’s the eye. The community itself is built in the bowl of a meteor’s impact crater, with the meteor itself a prominent feature on display at the heart of Fairview. And then there’s the nightly parties and the mysterious drink the revelers consume, a concoction they refer to as a “potion.”

The Sundowner’s Dance reads like a lost episode of The Twilight Zone by way of The Prisoner, seamlessly mixing cosmic and cult horror and topping it off with a thick dose of small-town conspiracy vibes. Keisling perfectly paces the plot, slowly revealing the various aspects behind these horrors and the history of Fairview Acres in a way that keeps the pages effortlessly turning.

While those mysteries are intriguing on their own, they’d be nothing without Jerry and Katherine, and the bond that forms between them. Personally, I found a hell of a lot about both these characters to be relatable, and much of what they went through felt incredibly familiar, at times uncomfortably so. There’s a raw honesty to the way Keisling writes about depression, anxiety, and dementia that make it clear these are all topics he’s personally experienced or has otherwise impeccably researched. I know from following Keisling across various social media sites that he’s personally acquainted with depression and anxiety. I’m not sure how much he’s dealt with elder care and coping with a parent’s dementia, but I suspect based on what I’ve read here that he certainly has more than a passing familiarity.

Like Jerry and Keisling, I’ve also suffered from depression and anxiety for the bulk of my life. Although Jerry didn’t realize what he was dealing with mentally and emotionally until he was in his fifties, it wasn’t until Abby entered his life that he had a support system to help him cope and to encourage him to see a doctor and find better living through chemical assistance. So much of Jerry’s story not only rang true but mirrored so many of my own experiences and thoughts, from being an introvert seeking solitude to realizing the simple truth that I probably wouldn’t still be alive if not for my wife’s love and care. “Abby had made him feel strong and capable,” Keisling writes, “had cheered him on when the chemicals in his brain were hellbent on destroying him from the inside.” I’ve lost count of how many times my own wife has done this for me, and I can only imagine how lost I’d be without her. Keisling captures these feelings of being so lost and adrift at sea eloquently and accurately.

I lost count, too, of how many times I nodded in recognition at Keisling’s portrayal of dementia and the reactions of those left to cope with an afflicted loved one. Dementia’s a terrible, frightening ailment, and Keisling is spot-on in his description that it can steal “a personality, a soul, and left a stranger in its place,” in addition to robbing one of their dearest memories and leaving them confused, lost, paranoid, and angry. Dementia turns the person you once knew so well into a radically twisted stranger. One character recollects to Jerry about a time their dementia-addled father pulled on a gun on them, not recognizing him and convinced he was there to steal the old man’s stamp collection. Although my own father was unarmed, I couldn’t help but recall the time he was convinced I had come home to kill him and steal his silverware, and then, just as fast, mistook me for somebody else entirely. On another occasion I was peppered with questions because he thought I was his long-deceased brother, and then ranted at because he was convinced his various illnesses were the result of a conspiracy between Russia, China, and Al-Qaeda. My dad never warned me about worms, or that the moon is watching, like Katherine does, but Keisling’s handling of dementia certainly rang uncomfortably true with my own lived experiences.

Is there a more fitting topic for horror than the process of human aging? Of the tortures and transformations once must endure, or to bear witness of in others? Of the losses one accumulates across a lifetime until you’re left alone with only your grief and your memories? And that’s not even getting into the abuse and exploitation of the elderly, and how growing old and frail and ever-more reliant on others makes one a ripe target for predators and scam artists, a topic that lies at the heart of The Sundowner’s Dance. Granted, the predatory relationship here is far more Lovecraftian than the poorly worded emails from Nigerian princes offering grandma a huge inheritance if only she responds with her SSN, and at least twice as insidious.

A lot of what makes that danger work so well here is just how grounded it all is. Fairview Aces and its inhabitants feel familiar. We all know that nosey neighbor, and we’ve all dealt with the disturbances they can bring, from loud music and late-night parties to shooting off fireworks until 1:00 AM on New Year’s without a care in the world about how their actions might affect those around them. We know the greed and ego and selfishness of these types of communities and the people in them. Jerry and Katherine, they feel real, and their growing friendship is natural and naturally charming. They’re not just characters on the page, but familiar faces with stories we can relate to. The narrative is informed by so much real-world, lived-in experiences, not to mention earnest tenderheartedness, that we can’t help but go along for the ride once Keisling starts to unearth the dark, rotten underbelly at the core of this piece of Americana and expose it in the moonlight. And that moon’s eye everybody speaks of? Well, as Tom Cullen might say, M-O-O-N, that spells trouble.

[unstable.books · Rating 5 out of 5]

*will post review soon*

After some reflection, I have returned. In this story, we follow Jerry. He just wants to be left alone. A grieving widowed retiree, Jerry is desperate for a change. And boy does he ever get one when he moves into Fairview Acres. Weird things begin to ensue almost immediately upon moving in. How much of this is in his head? Is he becoming senile? Is this a weird sort of cult? Why is everyone partying all night like they are still in college? And why oh why is there so much squelching?? I loved this book. Todd weaves together a tale of grief, loss and a dash of cosmic horror. And he does so masterfully. Thank you so much to Shortwave Publishing for sending me a print ARC. Alan, owner of Shortwave, designed the book himself, down to that stunning cover. This book releases April 22, 2025 and you can preorder directly from Shortwave's website.

[C.J. Daley · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, my infinite thanks to Shortwave Media for the physical arc!

A novel that tackles grief and aging as much as the terrors within the small town of Fairview Acres. Jerry Campbell is a recent widower. He hopes that the sale of his family home for a new and smaller location will help him with accepting the loss. But when his realtor notifies him that his offer was accepted almost simultaneously with a buyer wanting his old place, the strangeness just keeps stacking. Welcoming neighbors, but nightly parties that always seem to start after sundown and last through the night, strange noises across his roof as he tries to sleep, a mid night warning from Katherine Dunnally that may be more than dementia delusions, and worst of all, Arthur Peterson, the association lead, giving off almost Nosferatu-level weird vibes.

This novel falls under what some may call “old people horror.” The lead is elderly, as is a majority of the cast, and it certainly contains the aches and pains of those getting on in years. I don’t have a slew of experience with this (if you’d call it) sub-genre, but it did bring to mind the likes of Mark Towse’s Nana, with its oddly over-aged community members and its cosmic twists. Sundowner’s is imbued with terror and heartfelt moments, like the tenderness that forms between Katherine and Jerry, and disfigured horrors that push cosmic into the realm of creature feature. With fantastic parallels that seamlessly blend the horrific nature of dementia with an alien withdrawal that mimics its memory losing effects.

But what I truly loved the most about the novel was Jerry. A lead that appears to be a grumpy old loner, is actually just a grieving, socially awkward and anxious man. So used to having his wife with him as a salve, he’s unsure of how to tackle this last stage of life. Not only is he dealing with the loss, his aches and pains, his uprooted life, the attempted continuous communication from Arthur, but also the absolute preternatural atmosphere of the Fairview community. And while the novel delivers on the small town feel, there’s much bigger things happening to turn the wheels. I found Jerry to be incredibly grounding throughout the read because you too may be a little grumpy and standoffish if your entire new town was giving off funky vampiric vibes. I really appreciated how he was witty, intelligent, still strong, and a cohesive lead that broke a lot of the conventional elderly tropes.

A first for me from the author, but I truly enjoyed it.

https://fanfiaddict.com/review-the-su...

[AgoraphoBook Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25

The Sundowner's Dance
Todd Keisling

A horror story that falls somewhere between Cocoon and Body Snatchers.
I had a fun time with this one.
Recommended.

[Leilin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the idea of horror playing off the reality of aging, losing one's autonomy, one's memories, one's mind even... but unfortunately this did not entirely ring true to me and thus missed the point, horror-wise.

I would have loved to hear more about being stripped out of agency, being disbelieved because you're old and people - even your family - think you are losing it, being stuck in a weakening body, a flailing mind and having no recourse to fight a caregiver who's actually a monster...
Which, btw, is what happened to Kat's husband - this was the real horror, imo
However, while most of those things are hinted at, they are ultimately left unexplored. And when the plot does linger a bit more, it often doesn't make a good use of it: for example, the protagonist, Jerry, spends a good bit of his time distrusting what he is seeing or brushing aside what he is told, preferring to assume instead that he is losing his mind. But it's not like there were any signs of cognitive decline for him to be worried about. While being alone in a crowd because no one believes you would be a terrible feeling, being the one deciding to not trust yourself for no clear reason doesn't exactly have the same "horror" impact.

And my god, the man is only in his 70's! That's not that old, in a Western country!

That's part of the problem I have with this story and how hard it was for me to connect to it.
I liked Jerry very much, but he didn't always felt real to me. The fact that he talks about himself like he's in his 90's (at best) is one thing, but his dialogue is also pretty cringey, and not in a way that captures the endearing nature of older people jokes and perspectives. If there's an elderly equivalent of the annoying "precautious child" trope, that could very well be this. In general, his reactions do not always feel very logical, in regard to who we are told he is. Finally, I liked a lot of what was done with the description of his anxiety and depression, but it lost me in how it was portrayed in the facts, how it came about and left, which I all found a bit on the artificial side.

And this was a pattern with this book. In general, conceptual descriptions of aging, grief, mental health, etc. were on point, sensitive, delicate, tender even... but their portrayal in how they happened on the pages didn't ring as true to life. I understood his depression, his anxiety and his grief but I never felt them, which I think was a big condition for this book, whose intrigue is otherwise good but not extremely novel, to really shine.

Lastly, the concept of loving again after being widowed was pretty botched in my opinion. In part because we are once more skimming through the concept more than we are experiencing it, but also in pretty large part because I REALLY disliked Katherine. This woman is so codependent, it is painful. She is constantly de-prioritizing her own daughter for the man she just met. And look, I am sincerely all for older people (re-)learning to put themselves first, to embrace the possibility of a new and exciting love again, etc. but this woman left her daughter tied up in her own basement to go shag the neighbor, while there was nobody preventing her to at least free her first. When she finally remembers the existence of said daughter, she feels a bit guilty but proceed to stay at the guy's for the rest of the night anyway... WHAT? She is unable to apparently function without support, preferentially from a man - she never takes a stand, she just waits around, obeys peer pressure and latches onto Jerry whenever he's in sight. That's it. So the ending, which is supposed to be emotionally charged, left me entirely unmoved. Your mileage may vary.

Something I thought the author did extremely well, tough, was the admixture of humour within the horror: I found that this was managed very well - not too "in your face", never broke the mounting tension/dread, just enough to make Jerry feel more relatable and likeable. In general, while I didn't always like Jerry's lines, I found his internal dialogue very endearing.

With all that in mind, the character who was the most consistent (both in terms of their attitude and their voice, thought or spoken), was Lisa, Katherine's daughter. This makes me think that maybe writing old people was a bit out of this author's wheelhouse. Still a cool idea, one that offered several very heartfelt, if more theoretical, explorations of grief, aging and depression, but one that kept me at arm's length in the actual unfolding of those things, amidst the plot.

Favorite quotes:

The swell of grief was as instant as it was heavy. A sucker punch of reality, time, and gravity. Getting older would mean losing her again in the most insidious of ways. His memories of her would disappear with time, beginning with the little details he hadn't considered savoring in the moment. What she had for breakfast the day after their wedding, or what she wore on a random Wednesday ten years ago - all the fractured minutiae of a life in forgotten moments, cracked and chipped and flaking away like an old painting. She would become the suggestion of a person distinguished by his most intimate and dear memories, less a person and more of a concept, a slippage from present to past tense, here and gone. A face out of focus. Forgotten.

You will kneel before your goddess.
"Joke's on you," he grunted, shuffling his way to the bathroom. "I've got two bad knees. I ain't kneeling for anybody..."

There were times he expected her to stop him, tell him this was all fucking crazy, but she didn't. That made him wonder what she'd seen or heard but hadn't mentioned because it seemed too weird. Giving voice to something so strange meant making it real, tangible, something that had to be dealt with in the confines of reality, even if the subject itself did not belong there.

[Marguerite Turley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damnit Todd! I bawled my eyes out at the end of this, so freaking good! Jerry has lost his wife and two years later he’s ready to pick up the pieces and move out of the house with too many memories. Little does he know the house he’s looking at that seems pretty perfect is in a place that’s far from normal. Todd blends some incredible cosmic horror with the fear of growing old. This story seriously tugged at my heartstrings with having both of my parents suffer from dementia, he creates a beautiful love story out of one man and one woman’s grief but also scares and disgusts us. The perfect combination!! Kiesling is a huge talent who knows how to write heartbreaking characters that you just want to pick up and dust off, tell them everything will work out. I needed a good cry Todd, so thank you for writing this magnificent story!!

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

Wow! Still digesting this one...

We have a recently widowed retiree, Jerry, who is looking to move to a new home, away from all the memories. He's steered towards Fairview Acres, a gated retirement community. Almost immediately, he's met by some "eerily nice" neighbors, and another who tries to warn him to get out while he still can. Katherine, he is told by the estate manager, has a form of dementia called "sundown syndrome", that gets worse at night.

"The worms . . . they dance at nightfall. . . ."

I loved the characters of Jerry, Kat, and her daughter, Lisa. The fact that the novel centered on the elderly made it "new", and really brought the terrors--the mental, depression, sorrow, along with the . . . otherworldly--home. These felt like REAL individuals, and I was invested in their lives from the start.

Overall, a great novel with levels of horror, and depth, that I didn't expect. Another fantastic read by author Todd Keisling.

Recommended.

[Matthew Kilpatrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

-NetGalley Arc-

The good: well-paced, didn't take too long to get to the creepy stuff. decently written if nothing mind-blowing.

The not-so-good: a lot of elements seemed overly familiar/lifted from other things. Way too many uses of "A penny for your thoughts" which is just a phrase I'd like to see banished from the English lexicon entirely.

[Renee Godding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fans of Iain Reid’s We Spread will delight in this cosmic horror story about the terrors of growing old… Highly recommended!

Following the death of his wife Jerry Campbel isn’t so much looking for a new start, as a place to spend his final years in peace. Elderly, aching (physically and mentally) and grief-stricken, he expects to be among likeminded people when he moves into a retirement community in the Poconos. But life at Fairview Acres isn’t what he’d imagined it to be. What begins with strange noises at night and the homeowners-associations chairman’s almost cultlike obsession with forcing Jerry to join in with their neighbourhood-parties, soon turns into something far darker.
Some neighbours exhibit strange behaviour at night, which the others chalk up to “sundowning”, a form of dementia. But Jerry suspects there may be more at play; something that goes beyond these individual cases and affects the community as a whole…

What I loved
Five-star horror novels are rare for me, but The Sundowner’s Dance fully deserves the distinction! This had so many of my favourite things balanced and blended into the perfect concoction. Cosmic horror, cult-like-vibes in American suburbia, and that age-old universal fear that gets me every time: the fear of growing old and all that comes with it. The Sundowner’s Dance wraps all of that up in a tight suspenseful narrative with some genuine moments of terror, sparks of levity and a whole lot of emotional core. At its heart, the story explores themes of the grief of outliving your spouse that you can barely remember living without, the fear of losing yourself and your dearest memories to dementia, and the relentless cosmic horror of ever-progressing time and aging. It (incredibly!) wraps all that in a supernatural story without ever cheapening the emotional weight of its themes ánd without using dementia as a cheap plot-device for memory-loss. I genuinely didn’t expect this story to have the emotional impact on me that it had, yet there I was near the end, silently grieving (with) our protagonist…
A story this emotionally impactful couldn’t happen without well-written characters. I always appreciate a little variation on the ‘dumb-teenage-protagonist” cliché in horror. Jerry wasn’t born yesterday (literally); he has enough life-experience and baggage to know when things don’t add up, and acts accordingly. He’s emotionally and literally mature enough to carry the book on his shoulders, and does so brilliantly.
If all of this talk of the stories “emotional core” made you worry whether you’ll be having a good time along the way; Todd Keisling has got you there too. Thanks to the tight pacing and the occasional moment of levity, friendship and humor, I flew through this book in 2 sittings and wished I could’ve started it all over again by the end.

What I didn’t love
If you’ve somehow avoided the Goodreads description and are interested in this book based off my synopsis or the tagline alone, please don’t go back to read it before you delve into this book. The synopsis gives away two spoiler-y elements about the direction of the plot that I would’ve loved to discover organically through the story.
To the publisher: please consider taking out the mention of worms and the rock in the park and allow us to draw those connections ourselves.

Overall, this was one of my favourite horror-reads of the year so far, the ideas of which will linger in my mind for quite a while after flipping the last page.
Many thanks to Shortwave Media and Highbridge Audio for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is absolutely my favorite Todd Keisling book to date.

The Sundowner’s Dance is a brilliant cosmic horror love story. Yes, love story. At its beating heart (and it has SO much heart) this book is about grief and love and aging. It’s also about the darkness that can come with all of that. The loneliness and sadness that can envelop you after losing the love of your life. How do you go on after the heartbreak of losing your soulmate? Also, who are you after you lose the person you’ve loved and shared a lifetime of memories with? When the shadow of the person you loved is no longer there to comfort you and be your anchor.

Jerry is such a wonderful main character. We really get to know his thoughts and feelings and struggles that come with all of those questions. Aging is terrifying enough as it is but having to do it alone when you feel like you have nobody is on another level.

Finding community and friendship and even love later in life is so important and is so refreshing to read about in a book. I feel like it’s not often talked about and Todd Keisling did a masterful job with this book. There is always light at the end of the tunnel, even if it’s short lived.

[Bibliophantasmama · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Sundowner’s Dance is a cosmic horror story about aging, dementia, and ultimately love. I really enjoyed this story of Jerry who, after the death of his wife, buys a house in the Fairview Acres community where all is not as it seems on the surface. I loved the characters and the increasing creepiness that propels you through the story as you learn more and more about this unique community and the mysteries within. In addition to being a great cosmic horror, The Sundowner’s Dance tackles questions of grief, isolation, mortality, dementia, and the importance of love. I listened to the eALC of this audiobook. Malcolm Hillgartner did a great job with the narration and really brought Jerry, Arthur, and Kat to life while keeping the pace of this unfolding mystery. I definitely recommend, especially for fans of cosmic horror

[Rebecca White · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is what I love about the horror genre. Authors are able to take some heavy and uncomfortable topics and bring them to light in a whole new way.

Keisling’s writing is beautiful and heartfelt and truly unsettling. Our main character, Jerry, suffers from anxiety and as someone who has also suffered with anxiety a majority of my life, it was engrossing to read just how relatable this character was.

The creature(s) feature of this novel was truly disturbing. The ending was intense and the epilogue left me in tears.

[Ashley Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I fell in love with the dread/horror of aging with the book We Spread by Iain Reid. This one had similar themes with gross cosmic horror added in. Really enjoyed this one and I hope it finds its audience!

[Tessa Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Way to stick the landing, Todd!

[Kieran · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This book started off really strong, Gerry and Katharine are easy to like and root for and an unsettling vibe is quickly established. Unfortunatly I liked this book less an and less as it went along. I still enjoyed reading this book.

Free copy recieved from NetGalley.

[Jody Blanchette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a love story, with a little gore thrown in. It really is my favorite kind of horror, horror with heart. Keisling creatively distracts you with the creepy retirement village, but the heart of the story is Jerry.
The elderly are hardly ever spotlight in horror book. Let’s be honest, they can’t outrun attackers and they’re not commercially sexy. So, basing a story about a retired accountant who lost his wife, and is looking for a place to quietly see out the rest of his days.. doesn’t sound promising or exciting. Wrong!! Old people can party! Especially with a little supernatural help. Poor Jerry just wanted peace, but ended up with more excitement than he can handle.
I really enjoyed this book. Figuring out what was going on in Fairview was fun, and I’m glad Jerry didn’t chicken out. Seeing a new relationship form, gave me hope. It may have ended a little sadly, but it was perfect.