A Place To Fear

by G.M. Hague

In the small sugar cane town of Hickory supernatural events are on the rise. There are odd, frightening lights hovering above the river and crop circles in the fields. The strange sightings aren’t limited only to the night sky. Glimpses of ghostly apparitions are seen through the windows of shuttered houses-people only recently buried. The situation rapidly gets worse as the eerie lights are more brazen, the dead are seen walking the streets late at night and at the local cemetery the soil over the graves is starting to stir... There is no escape for Michael Garrett and Kerry Wentworth, two newcomers to Hickory. Communications with the outside world are cut off and anyone attempting to enter or leave the town never finish the journey. Hickory has become a bad place to be- a place to fear.

Author’s As I’ve explained in my other book’s introductions my stories are inspired by single ideas and built upon from those. In this case, it occurred to me that human beings from the beginning of time have tried elaborate and sometimes dangerous or even evil rituals to communicate with the Dead-and attempted to bring the dead back to life, too. Theoretically, without much success- depending on what you choose to believe. But for advanced civilisations from another planet it must be pretty easy, right? I mean, for a people who can travel the vast distances of space, resurrecting a human corpse should be a piece of cake.

Because of the references to UFO’s and crop circles A Place To Fear was another of my novels that sometimes earned a science fiction label, but again this isn’t true. It’s about a small town filled with ghosts, walking dead and evil spirits all of whom have a bad attitude towards those people still alive... perhaps alive for not much longer. Why is it all happening and where will it all end?

Of course, you’ll have to read A Place To Fear to find out.

Genres: Horror, Science Fiction

564 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Romancing the Book · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Justin
Review originally posted on Romancing the Book
Book provided by NetGalley

I once lived in a small, rural town, out in the middle of nowhere, Washington. It was surrounded an excessive amount of endless rolling wheat fields, and the roads just seemed to go nowhere. It was a 30 minute drive from our small community of 500 people to the nearest fast food, a Subway, and a 40 minute drive to the nearest coffee shop, a Starbucks.

While I may not be able to directly relate to the surrounding culture of this book, which is mid-1990’s Australia, I can definitely relate to it’s setting. A grisly horror story set in a small rural town, in the middle of nowhere. The inherent close-knitted-ness, and creepiness, of small towns is potentially apparent to anyone who drives through one of these haunts, but having lived there, I can tell you that G.M. Hague paints a real picture of what life is like.

This novel is a story about a small town that comes under a zombie siege directly caused by aliens. Normally, I hate the combination of zombies and aliens in the same narrative. It seems to stretch, and pull, and seem too far-fetched for me to get immersed. I can safely say that in the zombie/alien hybrid arena, this is by FAR my favorite. The author was able to pull both creatures in, giving the zombies a fresh breath of not-cliche awesome. Zombies not dying by being hit in the head? I’m ok with that.

This is a story that has many layers to it, far too many to cover in a short 500 word review. It has horror, zombies, corrupt politicians, infuriating moments, somber moments, and moments where you shake the book screaming “WHY?!” Overall, while a little cliched in parts, I greatly enjoyed this book. If you want a novel that keeps you guessing, and will make you not want to ever walk out in the dark in the woods ever again, this is definitely for you.

[Daniel Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe Graeme lives in the same town but our paths have never really crossed. I read a short story of his for the Shadow Awards and really enjoyed it, so was looking forward to digging into this meaty novel.

Let's try and avoid spoilers, which is particularly apt here as on paper, the components of the book might put people off. It would sound, I imagine, that there's too many things jammed in there, and that elements that would shine in their own books would feel forced when melded together. Hague manages to pull off a combination of horror/sci fi elements with amazing confidence. The book looks you in the eye and says, yes this plot features X, Y, and a huge dollop of Z, so strap yourself in and enjoy it. Another boon for me personally is to sink into a novel that 9/10 would have been a typical small town Americana story. I could see King doing this plot but setting it in a 1950s apple pie town! Here we're in rural Australia, and hey, that's where I live! So this novel landed closer to home than most, so added another level of enjoyment (especially when a new single woman moves to town. I've seen the fallout to this first hand!).

What let this book down I feel was the second half. The first half whipped by, but the latter tends to spin its wheels a bit. The main characters try and fail with the same plan three times, and while the inclusion of the army to keep the characters and setting contained, the time we spend with them didn't really add to the story. The result was a book that felt somewhat padded at the back end.

But I really did enjoy this book a lot, and will be looking out for more from this Australian author.

[Quinlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed it

[Cathy Dunning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read


Different story line so kept my interest. Not quite zombie story. Science fiction thrown in.i like a book hat doesn't have too many mistakes. This had few