Queensboro

by Thomas Drago

Ashley Smith attends Crow Creek Elementary and is the brightest student in Earle Pruitt’s fourth grade class. She volunteers as line leader, captains the book club, wins the spelling bee, and never misses a day of school. Not in almost five years. Not until Schreck, the impish gravedigger at Holt County Cemetery, snatches her from her bus stop one spring morning.

Shortly after Sheriff Brad Gleason organizes a search party, horror strikes from the nearby woods, claiming the lives of several locals. Mrs. Scott, who runs the town’s sawmill, witnesses the attack. So does Curly, a gullible deputy. They can’t believe what they see. Nobody can.

The impending chase leads to Queensboro, an insidious town along the Haw River and home to Carolina EnTech, a medical research laboratory run by Margaret Ganis, whose prominent birthmark and ruthless fear tactics earn her the cryptic nickname the Red Queen in the local press.

Recently, Carolina EnTech invested in Jacobs Court, luxury apartments they renovated for the corporate executives who displaced poorer inhabitants.

And others, of course—many who disappeared without a trace.

Genres: Mystery

398 pages, Paperback

First published April 24, 2015

About the author

Thomas Drago is the author of the Crow Creek series and teaches drama and English in North Carolina. He attended Northern Arizona University. He has published poems, song lyrics, and short stories, appearing most recently in The Explorer, a local literary magazine. He's a member of the American Theatre Group and the American Film Institute.

Reviews

[Coco.V]

🎁 Crow Creek Series (3 book series) is FREE on Amazon today (2/17/2020)! 🎁

[Ivory R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ashley Smith attends Crow Creek Elementary and is the brightest student in Earle Pruitt's fourth grade class. She volunteers as line leader, captains the book club, wins the spelling bee, and never misses a day of school. Not in almost five years. Not until Schreck, the impish gravedigger at Holt County Cemetery, snatches her from her bus stop one spring morning. Shortly after Sheriff Brad Gleason organizes a search party, horror strikes from the nearby woods, claiming the lives of several locals. Mrs. Scott, who runs the town's sawmill, witnesses the attack. So does Curly, a gullible deputy. They can't believe what they see. Nobody can. The impending chase leads to Queensboro, an insidious town along the Haw River and home to Carolina EnTech, a medical research laboratory run by Margaret Ganis, whose prominent birthmark and ruthless fear tactics earn her the cryptic nickname the Red Queen in the local press. Recently, Carolina EnTech invested in Jacobs Court, luxury apartments they renovated for the corporate executives who displaced poorer inhabitants. And others, of course--many who disappeared without a trace.

I didn't realize until after finish reading this book that it was the 2nd book of a series and do recommend reading the first book prior to this one. Drago does provide a good backdrop so it was easy to follow along but it did take me a little while to piece together how events that had previously occurred tied into current events. It was an enjoyable read that kept me guessing what would happen next. The descriptions were vivid and I could easily picture what was occurring. I admired Mrs. Scott's courage and the love Big Ben had for his son.I found myself rooting for the characters to find the truth and stop the ruthless Ms. Ganis. It was suspenseful to the very end! I would recommend this book to anyone who love thrilling suspense mixed with horror and a little fantasy.

[Valerie Caraotta · Rating 5 out of 5]

A horror thriller with a page-turning plot

In Thomas Drago's Queensboro (crow creek) The reader will encounter horror at its finest with well-developed characters and a plot that is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. When fourth-grader Ashley Smith gets kidnapped at the bus stop by Schreck, a creepy looking gravedigger, a search gets underway spearheaded by sheriff Brad Gleason. In the nearby woods a "deathworm" will appear killing some in the town. It would be in the form of a pasty segmented body that secreted mucus with no eyes. As it launched on victims it would drain their blood.

Mrs.Scott, who runs the town's sawmill would witness the kidnapping which leads authorities to Queensborough were evil Margaret Ganis resides. Here she runs a medical research laboratory Carolina EnTech. A sample of Ganis character is that she killed her sisters by mixing anti-freeze with sweet tea.

When the reader enters Schreck's world they will witness coffins and an intravenous machine with colored hypodermic needles. This blood draining device will reveal Shrek's happenings as will the whereabouts of Ashley Smith. This book is not for the faint of heart as Margaret Ganis's heart and motives gets exposed, more deaths occur, and the action keeps you on your toes.

If you enjoy horror, this is a page turning book. North Carolina's Thomas Drago teaches English and drama and is a member of the horror writers Association. As he adds to his collection of works, more great thrillers are sure to appear.

[Lili's Bookshelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished the second book in the Crow Creek series- like I mentioned before, this isn't really my normal subject matter but it was written by my high school drama teacher, so I wanted to give it a try. I enjoyed Crow Creek, but I think that I enjoyed Queensboro more. It is technically the second book in a series, since it takes place in the same world after the events of Crow Creek and has a lot of the same characters, but the story is almost entirely different. The focus shifts to new characters and a completely different type of evil/horror- as opposed to Satanic demons and the like, the antagonism here was in the form of insidious medical laboratory that preys on lower class citizens and turns people into monsters. It still retains some of the black magic/Christian mystic subject matter, however- conjuring the dead is a big plot point, and Black Jesus returns as a supporting character.
Overall, I was pleased with this book, and thought it was a little better and more fast-paced than Crow Creek (although I definitely liked CC quite a bit, you can check out my full review on it's page). As far as the antagonists go, I preferred Margaret Ganis to Pastor Aken. She was creepier, and I liked her backstory more. As with Crow Creek, it's difficult to recommend this book to a specific audience because I am such a horror novice.

[Terrell Solano · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book for free from a Goodreads First Reads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.

If you are looking for a creepy, well written place to hide from your own THIS IS IT! This entire story is so well written that you will feel like you have stopped reading and are right there in the mix. If you love the horror genre as much as I do, you don't want to miss adding this to your Summer book list!

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been awhile since I've read a horror story and Queensboro certainly didn’t let me down. It’s an exciting read with new twist at every turn which quickly prove addictive. Probably best read with the lights on I’m sure even the most diehard horror fans will love it.

[Ian Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is in the horror genre, and is set in Queensboro, a small town (I think) in one of the Carolinas. There are a large number of characters, and these are quite well depicted. Additionally, the atmosphere of the place is described outstandingly. The reader should be readily able to picture the place, and the people in it. (Whether it a fair representation of people in that part of the world is another matter, though.) If you are looking for writing that shows characterization and setting, you cannot go past this, and it would be five + stars.

For me, however, there were basic flaws that annoyed me. The first was grossly excessive backstory that was irrelevant to the story, except to further portray the characters in situations quite different from what they were facing in the story. Yes, that helps describe what sort of people they were, but for me, the author won this battle maybe fifty times, at the expense of the war. Worse, all this good work with the characters became undone when the horror arrived. Suppose you saw someone, and it appeared there were worms or something working their way underneath the person's skin, what would you do? Generally speaking, these characters do nothing. They are not horrified, so neither was I. Which gets me to my main gripe: for a book to portray horror, apart from the horrible agent, the rest has to be credible. A larger worm with wings picks up a person and flies off. From the description, this is aerodynamically impossible (It would have to be shaped more like a Pterodactyl) but OK, we can leave this aside. So what do the locals do? They charge off to the forest, where they all get attacked and killed by said worm or worms. This is told more or less like that; it is statistics, not horror. Additionally, why were they not armed? Or if they were, why did they not use said arms? Even a machete or a knife would help. But no, they apparently stood there and got sucked dry. There were a number of scenes where I did not really understand the outcome. There was an obvious one, but something else should have happened. Either I am not "with it" or the writing was confused; I know what I think. Then there was another problem. There is an action scene, we get near a climax, and . . . oops no backstory for a few pages so yes, let's have some more. For me, suspense is not achieved by simply stopping and introducing filler. The actual relevant story is rather short, and in my opinion, very excessively padded. I also found the action scenes to be rather poorly written because again the behavior of the characters lacked credibility. There are also a lot of references to a drug, but what does it do? How is it relevant? The worms attack people, just once. Why stop? Where are they now? Too many irrelevancies for me, and too many questions unanswered. I was just not horrified, or even concerned, but merely puzzled.

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book for free from a Goodreads First Reads giveaway! Thank you Mr. Drago for giving me the chance to read it!

When I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down. However, that started to change a little after halfway through. I feel like the author filled a lot of the pages with backstories and flash-backs that weren't really necessary to the overall plot. I felt it was added useless information.

Apparently, this book is a horror story. I wouldn't have guessed it was in the horror genre. I didn't find it really "scary." Honestly, not even the characters seemed very scared most of the time. It seemed like many of the characters questioned certain aspects, but weren't as bothered by them as real people would be. For instance, if I saw someone's skin literally crawling, I'd freak out. I wouldn't be like, "What are those maggots?" and then just move on. I also felt like there were too many heroes. Every main character seemed to be a hero (except for Schreck and Ganis of course).

Another issue I had surrounds Ashley, the little girl who was taken. I expected more of the story to focus around her and finding her. I didn't expect her to be found so soon.

The end was fitting. I like the air of mystery at the very end. Makes you wonder if there will be a book to follow! I didn't like how nonchalantly the characters returned to their lives. It seems hard to believe that the people of Crow Creek wouldn't know what was going on a town away, especially after some of the drama had been brought to their own town. You would think the townspeople would wonder about the worms and be frightened, asking questions.

Overall, the story is pretty cool. It's a really unique way to look at "vampires." I like how I read the story as it was happening from different characters because I got different points of view. I liked the last thoughts of some of the characters as they died. The little memories they focused on in their last seconds showed me what type of people they were (Earle was a family man, Schreck was a victim, etc.).

[Gina Stanish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Queensboro, by Thomas Drago, is a mix between mystery and horror.

Ashley Smith attends Crow Creek Elementary and is the brightest student in her fourth grade class. That is until Schreck, the gravedigger at Holt County Cemetery, snatches her from the bus stop one morning. Shortly after, Sheriff Brad Gleason organizes a search party and the impending chase leads to Queensboro, home to Carolina EnTech, a medical research laboratory run by Margaret Ganis (aka The Red Queen). When horror strikes from the nearby woods claiming the lives of several locals no one can believe what they see. In a race against time, it becomes up to the small group of survivors to find the connection between Ashley’s kidnapping and the massacre in the woods – if there even is one at all.

Like a play this 2015 novel is broken up into six parts which consists of 104 chapters spanning over the course of 398 pages. At first glance it may seem like a lot but each chapter is short and sweet. It’s a page turning thriller that will never let your attention go. Just as the characters – which were all developed in Drago’s debut novel of Crow Creek – are beginning to move forward from the devastating loss that the sinkhole left behind, they are thrust into a dark mystery surrounding their neighboring town of Queensboro. Even though you never truly find out the ultimate goal or the reason behind the madness, Alice in Wonderland meets War of the Worlds meets Supernatural is the only way I know to accurately describe it. The ending, however, left a lot to be desired.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book in return for an honest review.
Here it is.

I thought it was ok but I thought at times I was confused on who was who and what was going on with the flashbacks and such.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars