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The Thin Veil
Something strange is happening in the small town of Pleasant Plains, New Jersey. People are getting sick. Peculiar noises can be heard from inside their homes. Some of them are acting weird, speaking in unknown languages. Then there are the butterflies. And the green pulsating light coming through the cracks in the walls. Oh, and the hunger. Yes, the people of Pleasant Plains are starving and nothing seems to satisfy their primary desire.
Except for the children. The kids have proven to be quite filling...
Contains two previously unpublished short stories: PURPLE CHEESE and NO MAKEUP.
Except for the children. The kids have proven to be quite filling...
Contains two previously unpublished short stories: PURPLE CHEESE and NO MAKEUP.
- GenresHorror
152 pages, Paperback
First published January 3, 2013
About the author
Tim Meyer
49 books1,053 followersTim Meyer dwells in a dark cave near the Jersey Shore. He's an author, husband, father, podcast host, blogger, coffee connoisseur, beer enthusiast, and explorer of worlds. He writes horror, mysteries, science fiction, and thrillers, although he prefers to blur genres and let the story fall where it may.
You can follow Tim at https://timmeyerwrites.com
OR like his Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/authortimmeyer
You can follow Tim at https://timmeyerwrites.com
OR like his Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/authortimmeyer
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 28, 2026
To quote the great Bart Simpson, “Because no one ever suspects the butterfly.” This was a wild story. I’ll be careful not to spoil anything, but it starts out with a normal small town kind of setting. You have your typical main group of friends, consisting of a heavyset kid who gets picked on by the town bully (Who also has a drunken, law enforcement employed daddy.), the main character, Jimmy, who has two parents and an older sister who doesn’t want to be bothered with him, etc. You get the point. So we have the set up and these mysterious butterflies appear and all the adults start acting like zombies and there’s all this green goo pouring out of them. Think of that old Nickelodeon show Slime Time. Ok, so “the Rand Corporation, in conjunction with the saucer people, under the supervision of the reverse vampires are forcing parents to go to bed early in a fiendish plot to eliminate the meal of dinner. We’re through the looking glass here, people.” Just kidding…that was another Simpsons quote. No spoilers at all there. I promise. The story doesn’t aim to be scary, but moreso like a really fun ride dealing with a entertaining group of kids battling this mysterious plague, which only affects their parents. Lots of goo, action, and unexpected turns and twists. Fun, fun, fun! Fans of all things horror and supernatural will enjoy themselves here. My only critique was that I felt like the end fell flat and ended very abruptly. I also didn’t realize that a fair portion of the advertised pages included two short stories after Thin Veil ended. I feel like the author could have just included one bonus story, and used the space of the other to expand the ending of Thin Veil to make it better.
May 28, 2017
A small town is invaded by an insidious strain of alien beings. It is up to the younger members of the community to make sense of what is going on. Can they stop the invasion in time? This is a fun, quick read which I believe would be particularly enjoyed by YA Horror readers. The novella includes two bonus short stories.
May 18, 2017
Fun, creepy read. Definitely going to have to go back and find some of Tim's other works now that I'm a fan.
September 2, 2017
Fans of Stranger things and Invasion of the Body Snatchers will enjoy this tale of a town takeover by creatures from another dimension. This book is yet another reason why I don't trust butterflies. You have to read it to understand. :)
August 15, 2016
Just finished reading “The Thin Veil”, by Tim Meyer...this was 100 pages of great horror with a spot of science fiction thrown in to make you wonder where did these creatures come from. I will never look at butterflies and dark places quite the same ever again. There was quite a lot in this short read and well worth every second. “Al had heard - from whom he did not know or care - that children tasted better when they screamed.”
Synopsis: Something strange is happening in the small town of Pleasant Plains, New Jersey. People are getting sick. Peculiar noises can be heard from inside their homes. Some of them are acting weird, speaking in unknown languages. Then there are the butterflies. And the green pulsating light coming through the cracks in the walls. Oh, and the hunger. Yes, the people of Pleasant Plains are starving and nothing seems to satisfy their primary desire.
Except for the children. The kids have proven to be quite filling...
Synopsis: Something strange is happening in the small town of Pleasant Plains, New Jersey. People are getting sick. Peculiar noises can be heard from inside their homes. Some of them are acting weird, speaking in unknown languages. Then there are the butterflies. And the green pulsating light coming through the cracks in the walls. Oh, and the hunger. Yes, the people of Pleasant Plains are starving and nothing seems to satisfy their primary desire.
Except for the children. The kids have proven to be quite filling...
June 10, 2015
I grabbed this novella because it was available for free, and started reading immediately after downloading, which is a very rare and unusual thing for me. Usually, I 'collect' most books into my forever overflowing stack where they wait on the border of oblivion, especially if it's about free kindle downloads of authors I've never heard of before...
However, this one had my full attention from the first time I glimpsed the cover and rad the summary. I felt the sudden and overwhelming urge to read it right away (like I did with Longclaws or The Vault) or I would surely miss out on something special. Again, my feeling did not let me down and I was rewarded with an incredible story.
While other books take some time and chapters to really get into it, this one had me glued to the pages right from the start. Everything worked together beautifully. First: the smooth plot line, and though the basic idea of some kind of body snatchers is not new, the author revived the theme in a fresh and original way.
Second: the detailed introduction and development of the characters - I like stories where kids are the good guys up against some evil.
Third: the skilled and fluent writing which made reading a pleasure. I did notice some missing words, mostly articles, here and there, but not to a distracting extent. The shorter novella format was a good choice to keep tension and pace at full volume.
Though the conclusion of the invasion was the weakest part, it was only a minor flaw based on personal predilections and negligible in an overall perfectly crafted and satisfying horror novella.
However, this one had my full attention from the first time I glimpsed the cover and rad the summary. I felt the sudden and overwhelming urge to read it right away (like I did with Longclaws or The Vault) or I would surely miss out on something special. Again, my feeling did not let me down and I was rewarded with an incredible story.
While other books take some time and chapters to really get into it, this one had me glued to the pages right from the start. Everything worked together beautifully. First: the smooth plot line, and though the basic idea of some kind of body snatchers is not new, the author revived the theme in a fresh and original way.
Second: the detailed introduction and development of the characters - I like stories where kids are the good guys up against some evil.
Third: the skilled and fluent writing which made reading a pleasure. I did notice some missing words, mostly articles, here and there, but not to a distracting extent. The shorter novella format was a good choice to keep tension and pace at full volume.
Though the conclusion of the invasion was the weakest part, it was only a minor flaw based on personal predilections and negligible in an overall perfectly crafted and satisfying horror novella.
April 6, 2018
What a cute, adorable story about butterflies and some child's fascination with them. It's just sweet and hits you in the heart the right way.
JK JK JK LOL
Super creepy, a la Stephen King. Meyer uses a bunch of horror tropes (small town, a group of nerdy kids as the protagonists, the sister dating a jock, the town bully's story of redemption, etc) and uses them in an interesting way. Steeped in mystery of an alternate dimension, Meyer uses the 100 pages of this novella wisely; he gives enough backstory for everything to make sense and brings the story to a satisfying conclusion. Not to mention how well-written this book is.
I'm not a huge horror fan, and this is way out of my comfort zone, but I'm impressed.
JK JK JK LOL
Super creepy, a la Stephen King. Meyer uses a bunch of horror tropes (small town, a group of nerdy kids as the protagonists, the sister dating a jock, the town bully's story of redemption, etc) and uses them in an interesting way. Steeped in mystery of an alternate dimension, Meyer uses the 100 pages of this novella wisely; he gives enough backstory for everything to make sense and brings the story to a satisfying conclusion. Not to mention how well-written this book is.
I'm not a huge horror fan, and this is way out of my comfort zone, but I'm impressed.
September 25, 2016
Good creepy story. Had some really cool imagery with the butterflies!
July 2, 2023
With 'The Thin Veil', Tim Meyer shows that he has a great way of combining styles to create not only a suspenseful and compelling story, but also literature. It is intriguing horror about crossing boundaries, butterflies and will.
First, the theme. In my experience, 'The Thin Veil' is about crossing boundaries. This is addressed in the story in two ways: metaphysically and socially ethical. In this, the author is to be complimented for the use of connecting symbolism (butterflies, black and green) and the theme of will, which is a motif in both ways. How this pageturner thereby touches on Schopenhauer's philosophy (will as the driving force of existence, the primal urge to survive) is great!
The significance of butterflies and the colours black and green support the theme. In a scary way, the butterflies refer to the transformation the inhabitants of the city undergo, after which they are ethically no longer human beings. While reading some passages, I kept thinking: this is a fierce metaphor for the past feeding on the future. Inventive yet gruesome.
Black refers to mystery, domination and guilt. These topics are appropriately consistently addressed where the latter creates an interesting tension between the possessed adults (guilt) and the children (innocence).
And the irony regarding green is great! Meyer gives the meaning of green as the colour of life energy, vitality and harmony a lurid twist, which I enjoyed immensely. It complements the theme appropriately.
And so 'The Thin Veil' becomes a horror story about crossing boundaries on a social ethical and metaphysical level. With the symbolism of butterflies and black and green, this is reinforced. Even the most violent events have a meaning and so horror becomes literature.
First, the theme. In my experience, 'The Thin Veil' is about crossing boundaries. This is addressed in the story in two ways: metaphysically and socially ethical. In this, the author is to be complimented for the use of connecting symbolism (butterflies, black and green) and the theme of will, which is a motif in both ways. How this pageturner thereby touches on Schopenhauer's philosophy (will as the driving force of existence, the primal urge to survive) is great!
The significance of butterflies and the colours black and green support the theme. In a scary way, the butterflies refer to the transformation the inhabitants of the city undergo, after which they are ethically no longer human beings. While reading some passages, I kept thinking: this is a fierce metaphor for the past feeding on the future. Inventive yet gruesome.
Black refers to mystery, domination and guilt. These topics are appropriately consistently addressed where the latter creates an interesting tension between the possessed adults (guilt) and the children (innocence).
And the irony regarding green is great! Meyer gives the meaning of green as the colour of life energy, vitality and harmony a lurid twist, which I enjoyed immensely. It complements the theme appropriately.
And so 'The Thin Veil' becomes a horror story about crossing boundaries on a social ethical and metaphysical level. With the symbolism of butterflies and black and green, this is reinforced. Even the most violent events have a meaning and so horror becomes literature.
April 5, 2019
This is my first book by Tim Meyer, he was recommended to me by another author and I will definitely be reading more. This carries more of a cosmic horror feel what with the weird butterflies, space rifts, and ancient gods and beings. I love the fact that the main characters are kids, yet to me I never felt like I was reading a young adult book. There were intense moments, plenty of gore (just for gore's sake which I love), larva being orally birthed. I mean, what wasn't to love!
September 9, 2019
El libro está compuesto por una novela y dos historias cortas.
2.5 estrellas para la novela. Es el tipo de historia que me gusta pero siento que está bajada de tono de alguna manera; no sé si es intencional pero parece que algo que hubiera escrito R.L. Stine. La verdad, la sinopsis me hizo pensar que la historia sería más intensa o bizarra, pero no fue el caso.
Le aumento media estrella por las historias cortas, que tienen un tono más "de terror".
2.5 estrellas para la novela. Es el tipo de historia que me gusta pero siento que está bajada de tono de alguna manera; no sé si es intencional pero parece que algo que hubiera escrito R.L. Stine. La verdad, la sinopsis me hizo pensar que la historia sería más intensa o bizarra, pero no fue el caso.
Le aumento media estrella por las historias cortas, que tienen un tono más "de terror".
April 7, 2020
I had a chance to meet this author at the Scares that Care event last year. Glad he made it - this was a great book. I enjoyed the storyline and character development. Reminded me of a combination of other books with its plague-like storyline. Perfect time to read during COVID-19! 5 not given due to some editing issues only restricting the flow at times. Would give. 4.5 if able. Thanks for the 2 extra shorts at the end! I definitely plan to read more from this author.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews