The Buddy Snatchers

by Devin James Leonard, Crystal Lake Publishing

Alcoholic man-child Cal McCarthy wants one to stay sober long enough at his ten-year reunion to win back his high school sweetheart.



But reconnecting with old friends reveals he isn't the only one pretending to be someone he's not-almost everyone in town seems different.



Something has infiltrated Cal's tiny Adirondack village and found its way inside the residents, altering their minds and taking control of their bodies. After a decade apart, Cal must rely on fading memories of his friends to figure out who's been infected, who's simply lying-and who's just grown into someone he no longer recognizes.



A paranoid, character-driven small-town horror novel about addiction, identity, and the terrifying possibility that the people you used to know might already be gone. Perfect for readers who love Invasion of the Body Snatchers-style dread, unreliable narrators, and horror that hits as hard emotionally as it does viscerally.



Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing-Where Stories Come Alive!

332 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication October 9, 2026

Reviews

[Horror Reads]

Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets The Thing with an irreverent sense of underlying humor in this perfectly paced and often gory novel.

Cal is an alcoholic and he's just fine with that for the most part. Even through blackouts, memory loss, hangovers, and a couple of accidents, he convinces himself he's just having fun. It's his school's ten year reunion coming up and several of his friends and former classmates show up in town to have a catch up of sorts, including a woman he's been obsessed with since high school.

But that's going to be interrupted by worm like creatures who invade human bodies and take them over. However, they appear normal until they get you alone. Through some humorous trial and error, the group is going to discover ways to force the worm creatures out without necessarily killing the host but it's not exactly painless nor without consequences.

There's a lot of history with this group and as tensions build among them about who could possibly be a host, secrets and revelations are going to be revealed which complicates matters even more. And they might be too late to stop the spread.

This novel is gory in places, frightening at times, and has a deadpan sort of sense of humor which will give you a laugh every so often. But between the chuckles is a book about addiction, misremembered events, and government conspiracies. I highly recommend it.

I received and ARC of this book through Crystal Lake Publishing. This review is voluntary and is my own personal opinion.

[Josette Thomas]

When it is time for a class reunion and everyone is hoping to share their life; no one expects anything out of the ordinary. This group of friends has the usual type; the pretty one, the nerdy one, the military one, the smart one and the degenerate. When the unimaginable happens, the goal becomes survival. The lengths to which everyone involved attempts to survive is the horror of the story. Friends turn on each other and cause even more emotional stress. This book read like a movie. The feeling of the creature sliding down Cal’s throat is something I can never unsee. Also, the government somehow is always involved in hiding dangerous things and when the sh1t hits the fan said government figures want to cover it up by any means necessary. I have some questions about what was reveled at the end of the story…does that mean there is another book in the works? Enquiring minds want to know.

[Christopher Dahman]

Review coming soon