Slow and scary, Rick Carter-Squire’s Reality Shift reads like a cross between horror homegrown around the haunted campfire and a teen movie where watchers shriek “Don’t go there,” and “Try the hardware store.” Past abuses have molded its protagonists more than modern science, and the details don’t always ring consistently or logical. But the plot is cleverly intriguing and definitely scary. Character-study backstories offer depth of feeling and emotion, encouraging readers to relate; and the spoken-word mixed-tense feel of the writing offers a certain immediacy too, at least to readers familiar with the culture and style. The story’s filled with horrors, twists and turns, and that last-stand-in-a-last-ditch-townscape feel of small-world, big-monster horror fiction. But, “It’s quiet, too quiet,” thinks Faith as a final battle looms, the past replaying itself and a truly surprising truth slowly revealing its face. The ending’s great, and I just wished the story had moved faster to unfold its mystery.
Disclosure: I received a free ecopy of this novel during a blog tour and I promised my honest review.