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The Crymost

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There is a place just outside of town where the people of Knoll, Wisconsin take their sorrows and their worries. They don’t talk much about it, and they don’t discuss the small tokens they bring as offerings to the place known as the Crymost. After all, this is Knoll, where certain things are best left unsaid.

The Crymost however, will not remain quiet for much longer. Something ancient has awakened in that remote, sorrowful place, and time is running out for its inhabitants. Long-kept secrets will need to be unearthed before the entire town succumbs to the will of a powerful, dark stranger who works hand in hand with a hungry entity crossing Knoll’s borders, invading its homes and executing a soul-draining grip on its citizens.

312 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 22, 2019

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Dean H. Wild

13 books62 followers

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5 stars
74 (37%)
4 stars
61 (30%)
3 stars
50 (25%)
2 stars
11 (5%)
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4 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
1 review
April 26, 2020
Great Read

I have never written a review, felt I must after reading this book. Many writers have been compared to Stephen King which I believe is a great compliment (I am a big fan) none have even achieved the potential until now, in my humble opinion. To Mr Wild please keep writing.
Profile Image for Veronica Strachan.
Author 5 books40 followers
June 8, 2020
An impressive slow burn small town horror

This is a beautifully written story, and while that might seem an odd thing to say about a horror tale, it's true.
Wild has the soul of a poet, his descriptions eloquent, clever, and revealing. He carefully uncovers the cast of characters, peeling back the layers with each action and chapter until we are thoroughly invested in their well being, their fears, and their foibles. The author knows his small towns and is obviously a great observer of human nature, so even when the odd American reference lost me, the surrounding story brought me back.
The supernatural element in the story sneaks up on you, grabs you by the throat, and keeps you glued to the page.
I hope he writes more.
Profile Image for David Veith.
565 reviews3 followers
October 4, 2022
Overall, a very fun read. Had a good pace set to it. At times things were a little vague/unexplained which did make it a bit off at times, but not enough to deter from the main story line. Loved that it was set in WI and mentions places I know ha-ha. Wish the Crymost would have been explained a little more. Also, felt weird that many times the characters were in a rush, but then would detour from the main mission to go to bed, or the Dr. Yes, those things are needed and made it a bit more realistic. At the same time though it feels like they didn't have the proper sense of urgency. In the end a very good read though.
Profile Image for Jay Ward.
104 reviews3 followers
July 31, 2020
It's very hungry

Throughout the book I kept imagining the preacher as the one from poltergeist two the movie. The really creepy old man with the long white hair. Maybe just me lol but it made the book even scarier. Something eternal sleeps on the edge of the quiet sleepy town. It's waking up, it's very hungry, & oh so very mad. Run before it's too late!!!
556 reviews8 followers
July 13, 2020
This story is well written! Really liked the characters. Creepy!
Profile Image for Christine.
122 reviews4 followers
July 6, 2020
Mr. Wild's writing style reminded me of early Stephen King. I found it to be a great story for his first novel. Looking forward to seeing more from this author. And I was so appreciative that it was a stand alone!! Thank you Mr. Wild. I am tired of authors filling their stories full of gobbledygook just to drag it out several books to rip off the reader. I no longer purchase books that are a part of a series regardless of how interested I am in the story.
Profile Image for Brianna Carosi.
426 reviews8 followers
June 1, 2020
Character driven and engaging. There are alot of parrellels between this and Stephen king's It. A faceless horror commits and unspeakable act approximately once every generation. Despite having read stories like this before I still found it to be enjoyable.
1 review
April 10, 2020
I don't usually read this type of book, but glad I stuck with it! I liked it!

It started a bit slow but all came together in a very interesting way. I would definitely recommend it. Good job!
Profile Image for Donald Barker.
30 reviews1 follower
April 13, 2019
“The Crymost” by Dean H. Wild (Bloodbound Books) ISBN: 978-1-940250-32-8.
“The Crymost” a first novel by Dean H. Wild. This is an extremely well written work of fiction. The author is possessed of great descriptive powers which he employs successfully in the creation of characters, scene, action – some of it darkly sexual – and suspense. As for the plot; at its core is the age old battle between good and evil with much focus on the dangers of procrastination. This is perhaps not the greatest of human frailties but it is certainly one of the most common. All too often in the face of the unpleasant or threatening we postpone taking action until too late. In “The Crymost” this is used to generate and maintain a sense of agonising, nail biting tension.
The setting is Knoll, formerly Mellor’s Knoll, a typical American small town, but one with an unusual geographic feature: to wit, a small lake, surrounded by marshland, lying at the foot of a nine hundred foot crag of unstable limestone. This is the crymost, originally the lachrymose. It is a sombre, melancholy spot into which, at times of sorrow and grieving, townsfolk tend to cast momentos of loved ones recently lost. It seems a harmless practice if just a tiny bit morbid. But there’s something in the lake – the crymost – maybe a supernatural force, maybe an alien being. Who knows? The precise nature of the beast is never revealed. But it is powerful and it is evil. It operates on a long, slow cycle running close to a hundred years. It sleeps, it wakes, it kills and it eats. The evidence is in the town records dating back to antiquity. Outbreaks of wholesale death blamed on T.B and other diseases. But this does not bear scrutiny. There was no disease, just dying, just a terrible taking of life.
The time of killing is nigh, the beast is emerging from slumber. However, this time the town is equipped with a means of defence put in place by survivors of the last killing, a weapon capable of destroying the crymost, of burying the monster in its lair. But over time the weapon has been all but forgotten and allowed to decay. Only two old timers know of its existence and passing their knowledge on to younger, more able members of the community, not to mention persuading them of a need for immediate action, proves a decidedly uphill task. Furthermore, emerging from dormant state, the beast, aware of the threat to its existence, does all in its not inconsiderable power to inhibit the weapon’s deployment. Thus, with battle lines set, havoc is unleashed and rages incessantly, holding this reader at least glued to the edge of his seat all the way through to a highly explosive ending.
“The Crymost” by Dean H. Wild, a first novel of agonising, nail biting tension. One can do no less than award it five stars.
D. A. Barker: author of “Killing for Christmas,” “What am I?” “Night Flight to Frankfurt” and, in composition “Suzanne.”
32 reviews
June 14, 2020
Excellent

Best book I have read this year. Could not put it down. Looking forward to reading more from this author
Profile Image for Tracy.
517 reviews153 followers
August 30, 2019
3.5. Review is up on www.scifiandscary.com.

“Knoll liked to keep its own and it demanded, quietly, a brand of commitment. Even idyllic peace bore a cost”

Small town horror. It seems to be a fairly popular sub-genre. Stephen King makes millions on it. Numerous other authors have crafted amazing stories centered around a location in which everyone knowing your name isn’t always the best thing. Where secrets abound and communities rally against horrors of all types. Some of my favorite authors like Christopher Sorensen, Kristi Demeester, Ania Ahlborn, Tananarive Due, Adam Cesare, Kealan Patrick Burke, Shirley Jackson, David Joy, and so many others, have crafted captivating worlds around small town locales.

The Crymost, by Dean H. Wild, is centered around the quiet, unassuming town of Knoll, Wisconsin. Locals have a tradition of visiting The Crymost, a kind of quarry, to offer up objects of sentimental value in honor of loved ones that have passed, to ask for help, and so on. Something wakes up. The synopsis does a great job of drawing a potential reader in – it is what initially made me sit up and take note.

Overall, this is a good book. The pacing is decent, there is a great up tick in action at the end, and I was definitely rooting for the group of protagonists as they endeavored to beat an ancient evil. It reminded me of IT a little bit, minus the coming of age thread. I’m giving this one 3.5-4 stars. I had fun with it, I think others might enjoy it, and I’ll pick up another book from this author. There were some parts that didn’t work for me and these things might work for another reader.
Profile Image for Lindsey Hawkins Gould.
338 reviews4 followers
May 1, 2020
Enjoyable

I enjoyed this book. It had a good storyline and a good pace which kept my interest. I'll look for more works by this author.
Profile Image for Joshua Grant.
Author 22 books277 followers
January 28, 2020
Dean Wild slowly builds unease in his suspenseful horror novel The Crymost! The residents of the small town of Knoll have always placed trinkets of their sorrows in an area outside of town called the Crymost. Now something stirs there, something with dark plans for the residents of Knoll. Wild knows how to take his time growing the suspense (which I mean as a compliment)! This novel builds to its creepy end in a way that sticks with you after you put it down! If you like a novel more heavy on the suspense side, then definitely check out The Crymost!
Profile Image for Mark Lucas-Taylor.
550 reviews
April 29, 2020

If I’m brutally honest then I did feel as if I’d already read this in a better format by Stephen King.
HOWEVER I really did enjoy this novel and the fact it is the author’s debut is why I believe it merits 5* stars.
Profile Image for Stacy Krueger.
9 reviews1 follower
March 10, 2019
A good book

This was a good book. It’s set in a fictional small town in Wisconsin and accurately channels rural Wisconsin! I recommend it.
Profile Image for Will Blosser.
49 reviews19 followers
January 18, 2021
In Dean H. Wild’s The Crymost, the quiet little town of Knoll has its quirks. The people have their odd peculiarities; their old ways. One such quirk is the Crymost- a quiet place just outside town where people go to mourn their losses. They take little trinkets, momentos from their lost loved ones and cast them into the Crymost as a way to help put their sorrows to rest. But the Crymost is more than just a local tradition. Something is stirring in its murky waters, something that has long lain dormant. Its awakening will be catastrophic for the little town. When Mick Logan, a once-outsider turned local begins to uncover what is happening, he sets out to save his town by any means possible.

The Crymost continues the long-standing tradition of horror novels set in sleepy little towns with secrets. While this broad premise is nothing new, the success of such a trope lies in the author’s ability to bring the little town to life. In this way, I think that Wild has knocked it out of the park. Knoll is a town with a rich history, full of real characters and complicated relationships. Wild walks a fine line between oversharing about the town and keeping it mysterious; giving us enough backstory to make Knoll seem genuine without filling unnecessary pages upon pages with exposition.

Perhaps the best crafted aspect of Knoll is the relationships between the characters. Wild doesn’t go all in with the “everybody knows everybody” schtick. I think that when every single person knows every single other person in the town, to include their entire backstory and daily life, it tends to be a bit unrealistic, even in tiny little villages. Instead, most of Wild’s characters know most of the others, but sometimes it’s as simple as a recognized face in the crowd that they can’t put a name to. This approach just felt more organic and realistic. However, just like in any small town there are certain central characters who everybody does know, like the village president.

Moving past the setting, the story laid out in The Crymost is a unique and interesting one. As the trinkets that have been offered to the Crymost over the years start mysteriously returning to their owners, Mick Logan begins to discover the history of some terrible thing that nearly wiped out the town several decades ago. As he keeps digging, he and a few others become convinced that the mysterious event is coming back once again. The one thing that just didn’t sit well with me is in the way that the heroes attempt to stop this from occurring. I won’t go into detail, but there is a sort of hail mary defense that the townspeople concocted in case the darkness ever came back. The idea is simple, and while it is done in a cool way, I think the over-simplicity of it just sort of fell flat for me.

Putting aside this shortcoming, the story and climax are executed wonderfully. The story starts off fairly benign, and it doesn’t seem like there is going to be all that much blood and horror. However, as the story builds towards its climax, things start really going off the rails. Wild is not afraid to take drastic measures in his writing, and is definitely not afraid to kill off your favorite character. Nobody is safe. What begins as a sort of abstract, off-putting sort of tension ends up as an adrenaline-pumping scramble for sheer survival.

One final aspect that I feel compelled to comment on is Wild’s successful crafting of characters that you really get attached to. Not every character is likeable, and none of them are even close to perfect, but as the story unfolds and we watch these characters struggle and learn and strive, we grow deeply close to them. Even characters that start off the tale leaning closer towards the ‘unlikable bad-guys’ end of the spectrum end up earning themselves a good deal of empathy. This blurs the line between the ‘good guys’ and the ‘bad guys’ and makes for a very interesting dynamic. And as anyone can tell you, having characters that you genuinely get attached to is one absolutely vital pillar of horror. If you don’t love em, you won’t care when they survive, and you surely won’t care when they die bloody.

All things considered, The Crymost is a great read with a living and breathing setting, a unique plot and truly exceptional character work. It’s a bit of a slow burn, with things not really taking off until the final act. If you enjoy historical horror, supernatural mysteries, or the small-town-with-a-secret vibe, you’ll likely enjoy this. If you’re looking for a thrill-ride or blood soaked gorefest, this probably won’t satiate you. Clocking in at nearly 300 pages (paperback), this wasn’t a short Sunday read, but I did remain engrossed throughout. If you have a penchant for a good horror-mystery, give Dean H. Wild a shot, and let me know how you like it!
Profile Image for Morgan Bernard.
95 reviews2 followers
March 1, 2019
Even though I received a free kindle version of this book, I'm definitely going to go ahead and buy a hard copy to add to my bookshelves! I loved the subtle transition from slice-of-life rural Wisconsin to a full-blown paranormal nightmare. And it's always awesome reading about places I actually know in real life :)

The novel follows the story of Mick, a retired teacher who relocated to the town of Knoll after a horrible incident of schoolyard violence led him to a psychological break. Now an active member of the Knoll community, Mick begins to notice strange happenings around town--misplaced manhole covers, strangers in anachronistic clothing, and an eerie glow over the town's legendary place of mourning--The Crymost.

The setting in this novel was phenomenal. Wild does an excellent job painting a vivid picture of small-town Wisconsin, with all the local charm, petty politics, and friendly gossip that entails. But beneath the quaint little town lurks a power older than memory, an eerie and hungry force. I love how Wild is able to use a mix of urban legend and realism to give readers a sense of unease, slowly introducing increasingly creepy elements to truly horrify.

The story pacing is a bit slow at first, but with the smooth writing style and short chapters, the plot quickly picks up. I really cannot express how much I loved the increasing creepiness of this novel. The general sense of eeriness and unreality quickly transforms into a horrifying paranormal experience, complete with rotting ghosts, terrifyingly violent "accidents", and even some pretty graphic sexually explicit body horror. So reader beware.

Although I loved so much about this book, I will admit I was a bit put off at first with the prospect of another story focused on the "good ole' boys" of a small town--the adventures of a homogeneous group of middle-aged men. But the story quickly incorporated a collection of character of various ages and backgrounds (including those dealing with mental and chronic physical illness), as well as more key female characters. I especially loved the relationship of trust and interdependence between Mick and his wife, Judy.

Overall I loved The Crymost and give it 5 out of 5 stars! I would recommend it for any horror fans out there, especially anyone with a soft spot for novels set in small-town America.
Profile Image for Iseult Murphy.
Author 32 books144 followers
July 8, 2019
Something hungry is coming to the small town of Knoll. Will the residents manage to defeat it before it feasts?
This book had a lot of things I love. Creepy undead dudes, a hungry, ancient evil, preternatural terror. It ticked all the boxes and I enjoyed reading it. I particularly loved the idea of the Crymost - a huge green pond where the townspeople threw their keepsakes of dead loved ones to help them grieve. What didn’t work so much for me were the characters. All the pieces were there, but I wasn’t invested in them. Overall a fun read.
9 reviews
April 3, 2021
This took time to get moving, but was a nice read once it did. JUST like every Stephen King book ever written. I think the author actually is Stephen King, though I’ve no proof this is the case. This book just reads so much like King, I cannot help but think he is pulling a fast one.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews

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