When the Devil Climbs

by Drake Vaughn

For years, Russ Grote has been stuck taking small steps to re-create the blissful life he threw away in youth, wishing to toss the former labels as drug addict and murderer. His dream is to reconnect with his estranged son, and Russ is willing to do whatever it takes; even if it means working a mind-numbing job hanging billboards with a motley crew of ex-convicts. If he plays his cards right with his ex-wife, tomorrow he will get the chance.
The day takes a twisted turn when a herd of pigs, infected with a mysterious virus, attack Russ and his fellow ex-convicts, forcing them to take refuge atop a billboard. With limited supplies, they hope to wait until help arrives or the pigs lose interest. Soon, it becomes obvious the bone-chomping monsters are going nowhere.
Help arrives in the form of trucks filled with men in fatigues, wearing gas-masks and toting rifles. Their dreams of rescue collapse when they receive assistance in the form of bullets flying from the would-be liberators.
After hours without food and water, the dark side of the human psyche creeps in becoming a more barbaric threat than ferocious pigs and gun-toting mercenaries.
Russ, determined to meet his son as planned, must face the biggest threat of all-confronting the harsh truth of his past.
'When the Devil Climbs' is a perfect mix of horror, fantasy, and psychological torture. It puts you in the driver's seat with felons, Russ, Harley, Victor, and Slake, employed as billboard-hangers for Soaring Banners.
When the Devil reaches his peak who will be left?

Genres: Horror

279 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 19, 2015

Reviews

[Angela Kalnins · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the Devil Climbs
By: Drake Vaughn
Genre: Fiction/Horror
Setting: California’s San Joaquin Valley
Main Character: Russ Grote

This STORY is unfeasible and frankly, ridiculous. Russ Grote, the main character, and his coworkers, are trapped upon the decking of an enormous billboard by a drift (a herd/or group) of pigs; sick, violent, aggressive and murderous pigs that eat every human they come across—LITERALLY. And, if that weren’t enough of a silly plot, in addition to the serial killing porcine, a group of apocalyptic Mad Max-like human killing machines appear and thicken the plot and crank up the tension. Ridiculous, right?

HOWEVER, I couldn’t look away! I read until my eyes hurt. As silly as the design of this story may seem, the characters are well written, the plot drivers are powerful and the story is compelling. Silly…but, compelling!

Grote is a husband, a father, a hard-worker…an addict, a philanderer and…a killer. A decade of drug use and criminal activity has destroyed his marriage, alienated his son and given him a criminal record and a lifetime of guilt. When he finds himself in an impossible—unbelievable—situation he has no one to blame but himself…and he does.This story is NOT ONLY about the pigs. It’s also about Russ and the struggle he has with himself to define who he really is, what he’s really done and what he’s going to do about it.

The end of the book...well, I do not want to give the ending away…but, I will say this: It was surprising and had me yelling, “NO!”

The only negative I would report about this book is that in some places, the story seems to drag a bit. Just a bit. Otherwise, it’s a great read.

I was told, “if you like Stephen King, you’ll like Drake Vaughn.” I was skeptical, then I was surprised. Vaughn isn’t King…but, he’s not far off. VERY FUN READ. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a bit of light horror to while the day away.

[Carl Alves · Rating 5 out of 5]

When the Devil Climbs is a gritty psychological thriller with some good horror elements mixed in. Four ex-cons are putting up a massive billboard known as Big Bertha. It’s just a typical day until a group of pigs that are carrying some sort of disease show up and kill one of the men. From that point forward, the remaining three are stuck on the billboard as the pigs circle around down below. Without a working cell phone, they are cut off from the rest of the world with no real way of escaping, lest they take their chances with the pigs. All Russ Grote wants to do is to go see his estranged son, who he has not seen in years after being in jail for a spell and going through drug and alcohol addiction, but his goal remains elusive.

I had a chance to get a look at this novel when it was still in its developmental stages and got to see an evolution in Drake Vaughn’s writing, one that in the final stages shows maturity and strength. The novel is tough and gritty, not an easy, uplifting read by any means but one that shows a great deal of realism in its characters. Despite his many flaws, Russ has a sense of humanity, a real underdog. You would like to see him reach his goal of surviving and seeing his estranged son, but there is lingering doubt as to whether that will ever happen. The ending kind of fit the tone of the rest of the novel. This is a good, tight read for fans of thrillers and horror.

Carl Alves - author of Conjesero

[Lily Woodmansee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book kept me guessing. I loved the psychological twists and turns throughout the story.

Drake is excellent with Russ Grote, the main character, who has been released from prison and hangs billboards for a living. On the eve of his reunion with his son, Tyler, Russ and his coworkers are held under siege by a horde of domestic pigs. Only these pigs act as though possessed...

Russ narrates the story in a humorous yet dead-honest telling of his experience.

I love a thriller that is both 'scary' yet psychologically intriguing. It keeps me turning the pages and this one is a page-turner.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a riveting twist of suspense and gruesome horror. The descriptions of the fate of some of the characters is enough to make your stomach turn. Drake Vaughn is masterful at making you feel a surprising tinge of empathy for even the most hardened amoral characters. His psychological hold drags you in and makes you want to read on.
5 stars!

[Desiree Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the Devil Climbs

4 ex-cons; doing what they do best- try to avoid trouble, try to keep and maintain a job, and try to keep from getting locked back up.
Meet Slake, he's the "asshole-of-a-boss" for a company that hires other ex-convicts to hang billboard signs. There's Harley, a lazy-ass drunk who, when he's not napping, loves to spout off racial comments. Victor, a Mexican, ex-cartel, and "newbie" who doesn't believe in "Karma". Then there's Russ. Russ has cleaned himself up after a decade of alcohol and drug addiction, a failed marriage, not having seen his 14 year old son, Tyler, for 10 years, and, of course, spending time locked up for numerous criminal charges. Russ has been on the straight and narrow now and has high hopes for a scheduled trip to finally try and reconnect with the son who doesn't remember him. Russ's plans for his trip include; finishing the job scheduled that day, and don't miss his Greyhound bus from California to Kansas the next morning. Piece of cake, get the job done, get on the bus the next morning, and go see his son.
The work day begins like any other work day. Only one thing concerns Russ, and that's that he just noticed a gun tucked into the waist of Victor's jeans. Russ knows that ex-convicts, as he and the other guys are, were definitely not supposed to have guns. It's obvious to Russ that Victor could not have obtained this gun legally because of his status as an ex-convict. Russ wrestles with his thoughts about whether or not to report Victor to the boss. But Russ is no rat. So, the work day begins. Russ and Harley are heading out together to the work site in the cargo van. Harley is hungover, as usual, and passed out in the passenger seat for the ride. Slake and Victor lead the way in the truck. As they approach the road leading to the gigantic billboard that they will be working on that day, Russ and Harley notice a police officer standing near a road barricade, preventing the men from reaching the quickest route to the work site. Slake and the police officer are in a heated confrontation. The officer is standing his ground and refuses to allow the men access to the road ahead. Slake is upset because the officer will not give a valid reason for not allowing them to continue through. After a while, it seems that Slake understands the situation and plans to return to his truck and lead the guys on an alternate route. Nope. Slake, with his passenger, Victor, spins his truck around near the officer, scattering dust in his direction, and speeds off around the barricade. Russ, with Harley, has no other choice but to follow the boss. After arriving at the billboard, Russ nervously glances over his shoulder numerous times to make sure the officer hasn't decided to pursue them and make their day go to shit. But, no sign of the officer. Time for the work day to begin...
As Russ, Slake, and Victor reach the walkway of the billboard, Harley, having been given the easy task of being "ground man", (the one who remains on the ground with the vehicles), something very odd catches Russ's eye. Dust is flying up into the air and headed towards the cargo van, where Harley is. As the dust clears, Russ is dumbfounded, PIGS?! Lots of pigs! They are charging towards Harley, who has gotten out of the cargo van to check them out. Harley is encouraging one of the pigs to come near him, and it does. Russ just watches while still confused over the large number of pigs that just randomly appeared from nowhere. Then, the nightmare begins. With neon-green snot dripping from the pigs noses and the pigs appearing agitated for some reason...they attack Harley! Harley is in a fight for his life as the pigs begin to maul him alive. He is alone on the ground while the other guys are up high on the billboard watching helplessly. The guys hear gunshots. What? Harley is "packing heat" too?! But the gun seems to be no match for the numerous, blood-thirsty pigs. Harley runs for his life, trying to reach the ladder to the billboard, where his co-workers are screaming at him to run! Slake, Victor, and Russ, watch in horror as Harley is striped of ever bit of flesh on his body. The men on the billboard realize that they are stuck way up there and have no way of calling anyone for help, since Slake made a strict request that all cellphones be surrendered before the climb up, for safety reasons.
Stranded, hungry, thirsty, and scared out of their minds, the men have no choice but to remain where they are and hope that someone reports them missing. That shouldn't be a problem since their parole officers should notice when the men don't report in. But something isn't right about this whole situation. Hours have passed and no one is checking up on them. Slake is having a hard time keeping his attitude in check, Victor is praying constantly and repeating a warning his mother used to always tell him as a child, "Pray to the devil and he shall rise. But curse him and he will not fall. For when the devil climbs, never shall he return." No one understands what this is supposed to mean...but very soon, one of them will. Russ is not only in a fight for his life, but he knows that he may miss this last chance to make things right with his son. This may be the largest fight in his life, but it may also be the last.

When The Devil Climbs is a very unique and twisted story. You've got ex-convicts with hidden secrets, "zombie-like" pigs who are thirsting for human blood, and maybe Victor is right about them needing to all repent for their past sins, before it's too late...and the devil climbs.

A copy of When The Devil Climbs was provided to me by the author at no charge in exchange for my honest review.

[Charlotte Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read other books by Drake Vaughn and this is my favorite. It is set over the course of a long weekend, a very long weekend, indeed. Minute by minute, hour by hour the suspense increases as the plot thickens and we learn more and more about the flawed main characters. Yet we keep rooting for their survival, against long odds. Evil morphs into many forms, flesh-eating swine, deranged villains, and personal demons. A cliff-hanger to the end.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first read the description of this book, I was expecting a typical horror story – virus-infected pigs with a strong determination to attack and kill (and eat) humans? But this book is anything but a typical horror story. Instead, the horror elements are used to guide what's largely a character study of the protagonist, Russ Grote, and his co-workers. Russ is a recovering addict with a criminal history and a failed marriage in his past. As the story begins, he's on a work crew with three other ex-cons heading out to change over a billboard sign. But something strange is going on with the pigs, and the crew ends up trapped atop the billboard with no food, no water, and no way to call out for help. This novel digs deep into the four characters, slowly revealing their pasts and how Russ ended up divorced, alienated from his teenage son, and trapped 80 feet above an infected horde of carnivorous pigs. All four of the men made some extremely bad decisions that twisted and turned escalated into their current predicament, pasts that are revealed as the men – with nothing else to do – reveal their past transgressions to one another (although much of Russ's history is told through his memories rather than his conversations with his fellow ex-cons). Despite the fact that Russ an ex-con who did many terrible things in the past, you find yourself rooting for him to escape so he can have the chance to reconnect with his son and get his "second chance."

Since the story is largely character driven and only secondarily plot-driven, it may seem draggy in places for readers who are expecting a fast-paced horror story with lots of action. But the writing is very well done, and the storytelling is fascinating. I was also impressed with Vaughn's use of dialect, not just in the character's actual speech, but in the overall narration of the book (which is first-person from Russ's point of view). Vaughn doesn't revert to standard grammatical narration between bits of dialogue, but stays in character throughout. You don't feel as much like you're reading a story as you feel like you're reading Russ's thoughts as he thinks them.

This is not a book for the faint of heart, or for the weak of stomach – there are definitely some strong gore elements both in the "current" setting of the billboard and in the characters' pasts. But if you enjoy unusual stories and peeking inside other people's pasts and seeing their mistakes and motivations, then you should definitely check this one out. This is the first book I've read by Drake Vaughn, but it certainly won't be the last!

[Jeanette Andromeda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story grabbed me from the get-go with it’s characters. Russ, our leading man, pulls you right in with his dilemma. He’s on the phone with his very upset ex-wife just trying to talk to his son, since he’ll finally be seeing him for the first time in years the following morning. And right after getting off the phone we’re whirled into the stresses of his day revealing just how dangerous some of his ex-con co-workers might be and placing cops directly in his path to work.

I actually stopped, for a brief moment, opened my my voice recording app and said,” It’s page 15, and I’m entirely hooked. I completely empathize with Russ’s struggle and I’m terrified for what the revelation of that weapon means going into this story.”

What kept me captivated the rest of the way through was the addicting pace of this book.

The team of billboard workers, which Russ is a part of, gets trapped on top of a massive billboard by a “drift” of horrifyingly smart and savage pigs. (Drift is apparently what you call a large group of pigs btw). The scenes directly following their entrapment were brutal.

The green snot dripping pigs are quite frankly, terrifying. Have you ever seen a full-sized pig in person? They’re huge! Imagine being attacked by something the size of a couch. Sure cute curly tails are involved- but you wouldn’t want to be in between a full-sized pig and it’s breakfast- or be it’s breakfast…

Blood, gore, tangible fear, and a desperate hope for the characters’ survival fuels this part of the book. And then it changes.

After a certain point the creature-horror steps aside and the demons that haunt each character’s past come to the forefront. It’s at this point this book goes from riveting- to meaningful. The shadows of the past are explored in detail and- even though they’re trapped at the top of a billboard, we get a huge exploration into the worlds of criminals. Their struggles, their pains, the horrifying moments that haunt them. And once you think all hope is lost and you’re going to have to watch these characters shrivel up into beef jerky, the story changes again.

But these twists are too much fun to spoil. So I’ll stop here.

Anyone into gore, science fiction, and/or stories that plumb the depths of the human psyche will absolutely adore this book. So much so, that you won’t be able to set it down, even if you’re trying to do the dishes … or take a shower.

[Ronald Keeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Russ, Victor, Harley, and Slake, all ex-convicts, gather to begin work on changing the contents of Big Bertha, a gigantic billboard located in the middle of a field near a highway, but still in the middle of nowhere. As three men ascend to begin the task, Harley stays below with a vehicle and is eaten by a herd of virus-ridden pigs which seems to communicate by some sort of a telepathically transmitted plan that allows the ever increasing herd to act in unison towards a common goal. That goal is to kill, destroy, and eat the three remaining survivors.

With a beginning like this, a few questions occur to the reader. How can three people stranded on top of a billboard provide the material for more than a short story? No problem; there was a boat, a fish, and Melville, so this might work out. Not to put author Vaughn in the same writer category, but this author explores each of the characters thoroughly (even the short lived Harley) looking for character flaws that led them to be ex-convicts that in turn led them to such a dead end (pun intended) career. Russ, Victor, and Slake react to Harley in different ways so the reader gets a clear picture of Harley. The remaining three reveal their flaws through conversations with each other during their lengthy period of being trapped. There is not much more to do, except to survive in the face of no food, no water, a hot sun, and no realistic hope of being rescued. Victor harps on the idea of their ultimate fate and his acceptance of it, much to the annoyance of the other two.

The reader is thus faced with interesting character sketches, an interesting and informative account of the degradation of the human body without food and water, the effects of this degradation on the human mind and spirit, and a very interesting observation on addiction in its various forms: alcohol, narcotics, and addiction to anything. There are observations here that should interest anyone involved in AA, NA, or other addiction treatment organizations no matter the level, patient or sponsor.

Then there is the great ending. It is multi-part. Even if the reader anticipated a part; it would be difficult to anticipate the entire conclusion. This is a fast paced, entertaining, worth-while read.

[Tamera Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holiday ham evokes memories of home and family. Sizzling bacon entices the senses. Lunch meat is commonplace for most luncheons. Most of us enjoy the salty flavor of pork. But how often do we think about the animal we eat? A pig is often thought of as a penned animal, docile for the most part, lazy and fat. They are often dirty, enjoying slop and rolling around in the mud. A few lucky pigs have even become treasured pets.

But what happens when a pig goes feral. Or a group of them? Crazed eyes, grotesque snot and a shrilly whine might become your worst nightmare as they arrive to chew on your hide.
When The Devil Climbs by Drake Vaughn gives us a glimpse into Russ Grote’s world. A convicted felon, Drake works along others like himself, hanging billboard signs. The work is tedious and often dangerous. Electrocution and taking a nasty fall are particularly worrisome to the men. Working with harden criminals brings about its own set of problems. Tempers mount along with grudges. And it doesn’t help if the boss is abusive and treats you like crap. But this hardened group of men are up against a new challenge – pigs. But not just any pigs, no these pigs have a taste for blood and will do anything to get it.

The Devil Climbs will leave you thinking about that other white meat. Perhaps you won’t want to eat that bacon after all. Vividly descriptive, The Devil Climbs is a well-written belly churner filled with glorious detail.

A must read for die hard horror fans.

[David Royce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book starts as a horror novel and quickly, but effectively, becomes a psychological study of what men will do when faced with their demise. It never draws away from the horror aspects, but rather uses the mental aspects to accentuate the already terrifying circumstances. I highly recommend it.

To read my full review, please visit my website: http://horrorcabin.com/when-the-devil...

[Jeanie Loiacono · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don’t read this before you go to bed. I made that mistake and woke up seeing green foam oozing.
CJL