No Escape

by E.B. Lunsford

You think you know the story. A cabin in the woods. A group of teenagers wanting to let off steam before graduation. What could go wrong?

You think you know the villain, but he's not another nameless psycho killer. The cameraman makes unique films for profit.

Think again. It will be a weekend like no other. Hold on tight because this will be one hell of a ride.

Genres: Horror

242 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 16, 2020

About the author

E.B. Lunsford is a writer, a mother, and an animal lover. She’s been an avid reader for most of her life and loves anything horror related. Some of her biggest influences are Richard Laymon, Jack Ketchum, and Steven King. She likes poker, golf, video games, and rock music. She also works as a grill cook and competes in armwrestling. You can find out more about her by visiting her website, eblunsford.com.

Reviews

[Mort · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those times where I really wished we could add half a star...

This was an impressive and brutal debut.
If you are waiting for me to say 'for a woman' - you need to wake the fuck up and smell the expensive perfume: Women can think up just as much sick shit as any man, if not more. Anal bleaching wasn't discovered by a man, my friend...
No, this story is impressive for any AUTHOR in this genre.

E.B. takes an overdone story - kids in the woods, killer (what's with this deranged bullshit I keep hearing - do you mean not the perfectly sane person doing the killing?) on the hunt, lots and lots of gore...
However, she does it well enough that I wasn't reminded of either TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE or FRIDAY THE 13TH.

I am not going into the details here. All you need to know is that it caters more for the extreme fans and she does this story proud. Her writing is good, it flows really well and it is (thank goodness I can say this) one of the most polished self-published extreme horror stories I have ever read. This shows me she is serious about not only her career, but providing quality for her fans.

Read this if you are into the genre - she does not disappoint.

I also have to mention just one more thing - there was a minor niggle for my personal taste toward the end, and that is the ONLY reason I can't give this five stars, but this story is better than my usual 4 stars.
Damn that half
star...

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

'No Escape - most definitely not!'

This proved to be a really enjoyable, well worn, regular psychopath in the woods, creating chaos around a set of decrepit old disused cabins, type horror story - but with a twist or two thrown in!

An amateur movie-maker working alone in the wilderness is short of new cast members to take part in his productions when a group of young teenagers decide to go visit the same location for a hard-earned weekend away from their normal lives back in the city. Could this stroke of luck really provide the new cast members to star in future short movies for this ultra-progressive, deranged and deadly film entrepreneur? The performers have arrived, the props are ready, the stage is set, so let the action... pain, violation, mutilation and death...begin to roll.

Although very violent, dark and disturbing at times, the excellent storyline and detailed backgrounds proved to be extremely well crafted and superbly constructed, and is certain to guarantee the gruesome interest and 'misguided' pleasure of any true horror fan reader.

A brilliant effort which proved to be highly entertaining and gave full value for money.

I applaud E.B Lunsford on her debut novel - definitely a job well done, from a fine writer who possesses so much talent in this genre. Keep them coming!

Rating: 3.9 darkly disturbing, action-packed stars.

[Sea Caummisar · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars rounded up to 5
As I read this book, it played like a 80s horror movie. It has all the elements of an oldie horror. Kids in cabin. Check. Demented stalker. Check. Too much sex. Check. Gore. Check. Even a preggers female that begs for her life. Lol. All the stuff that makes me laugh.
This would be a perfect third run movie at the drive in
The writing style is what I call straight forward. That at times I'm being told, and not showed. When you read as much as I do, you enjoy the reprieve of an author's vision and not having to work my brain too hard.
So a bad guy is making porn. Decides to get into snuff work also on the dark web.
This is such b class , that many times I was screaming in my head at the characters: ya know, telling them they weren't running fast enough, or hiding good enough, or fighting back good enough. The same I do with most horror movies. This is a fun book. And I won't even go into the twists

[Rajeev Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Killer stalking sexually charged teens at a remote location may sound cliched but it definitely isn't in the hands of E.B. Lunsford. The characters involved have been fleshed out enough to make the reader care for someone's head being lost, throat and other trappings of life being cut, or every orifice being used in multiple ways. Sometimes, even when you know that John or Jane is going to end up hanging naked from the ceiling in chains and some psycho is going to turn them into mincemeat, it's still fun. That's why splatter horror will always thrive and the final girl trope is immortal.

[Simon McHardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very polished, a memorable read with fantastic twists and turns, well developed characters and an exciting story. Well Done E.B. I'll be coming back for more of your work in the future.

[J Heidecker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won a copy of this book in a raffle from the author and was extremely impressed with her novel. Although the plot may seem familiar, a group of teens go on a weekend stay at a friend's isolated cabin and encounter a sadistic serial killer, the difference between those tropes and this book, is that this book is very well written with characters that I actually cared about and dialogue that sounded natural with reactions that were realistic given the situation the teens find themselves in. This was a great read for splatter lovers. I believe the book is dedicated to Richard Laymon, and throughout the read I had major Laymon vibes. I even think that this novel surpasses Laymon because although very Laymonesque, the women characters were actually fleshed out (not with rumps and breasts) but with attributes that made them feel like real people. Some pretty disturbing scenes of torture and rape but were not gratuitous as they play a pivotal role in the plot of the novel. An author I will definitely be looking at in the future who has crafted a great, quick read with tight concise prose and believable and empathetic characters. Definitely check it out if horror/splatter is your thing. Great job, E.B.!

[Rayne Havok · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this quite a bit. Debut novel my ass, this was great begining to end and didn't feel like the start of something. I think the author could look back for years-and tons of stories-and still be proud of this one. Looking forward to more

[J.D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary

Nicole and her friends just want to have one last fun weekend together before they graduate and go their separate ways.
Mark's estranged father's cabin in the woods seems like the perfect place.
They don't realize that there is a crazed killer lurking around their cabin until it's too late to escape.

Personal Opinion

I had a hard time deciding if I should round this up or down from my 3.5 star rating.
I did have a few major issues with the ending that were making me lean towards a 3, but decided to round up to a 4 for the things I did really enjoy about this book.

On to the review…

This story had the typical slasher in woods set up but took it to a whole other gory and disturbing level.

The slasher was very well done with some backstory and a few glimpses of his twisted perspective throughout that really stood out.

The kills themselves were brutal with some more graphic sexual acts mixed in to make this book stand out even more from the typical slasher stories.

For being a self published debut, the spelling and grammar were also very well done.

To avoid spoilers I'm not going to go into details but the ending just did not work or add up for me.

[Ankita D · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book lives up to its title; there is no escape form the cabin, no escape from the killer's brutality and no escape from the violence and gore. It is an errotic horror story, well more of a story with horror and brutality than errotic for my liking. The author's writing style is straightforward and clear, and she has developed the characters of the protagonists well. It was a fine read for me. Those who like to read horror with sexual violence and brutality will definitely enjoy this book.

[Jerri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am revising my one-star rating to 2. This because while this story didn’t appeal to me, it wasn’t written poorly. Perhaps this is more my fault for not reading more reviews before I purchased it. I saw a glowing review from someone whose reviews I usually see in a similar light and I needed a “horror in the woods” book for a reading bingo challenge. Sounds like a no brainer, right?

Up until about 65% in the story was ok. Not great but ok still. I felt like I was receiving the campy slasher I expected. At around the 65-point mark, the heroine decides that (while literally running for their lives) this would be time to take a break (in an obviously dangerous place) and have sex with the new guy she has the hots for (her boyfriend/true love having passed away in the recent past). Perhaps you too might have rightfully questioned if you’d accidently fallen into a Richard Laymon novel.

Alright, I admit perhaps I was remiss by not noticing this was an erotic horror novel. I am not wasting time to go back and look for clues that I may have missed warning me of this fact. I enjoy extreme horror. I am not triggered by rape or torture but I don’t enjoy it either. The last of third of this book centers around the explicitly detailed sadistic rape and torture of the psycho’s victims. This was a waste of time for me but at least I can check off that BINGO square.

[Daniel Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay to get this straight out there, this would be four and a half stars. Quibbles just over some personal preferences, but we'll get there.

This is my first outing with Lunsford. I'm reserving my splatter reads between more general horror to finding female writers in the genre, and thus far have not been disappointed. On the surface, No Escape may seem to offer nothing out of the ordinary. The set up is something out of an eighties slasher (young adults spend weekend in remote cabin to drink and get a bit rude, while they get picked off one by one). If the killer had been wearing a mask and had his identity revealed in the finale...I wouldn't have been that surprised.

However! Lunsford comes straight out of the gate with the attention firmly on the killer. We get his motivations, thoughts, plans...there's a feel of Leslie Vernon about him as he gleefully plans how to mess with the kids more. We venture into the realm of splatter as our nasty-as-hell antagonist is looking to step up from making violent pornography with actresses to snuff movies...starring these kids!

I had issues with the first third of the book, and this is something I've come across many times this year. A book like this needs characters to feed to the grinder, and the author puts effort into the current and past relationships within our unlucky group. But to have seven or eight characters dropped on us earlier on means the reader is required to quickly work out who is who. Having all the characters appear together at a gathering I feel doesn't give each enough room to establish themselves. This is remedied during the trip to the cabin and the first night partying, very much so, but this slows the pace from the pop of an opening.

Okay, there's that gripe aside, as after this the book has its foot on the gas pedal all the way to the last page. And it's relentless.

That's all I want to say about the story for fear of spoilers. The ending stayed with me after the book, and while I wouldn't consider it a twist...it's certainly an apt way to end. I hope that readers who may look down their noses on the nastier side of horror can appreciate its magnitude when worked with a very sympathetic lead character.

Another thing, and this was the personal taste quibble as referred to earlier. I found that the gore scenes were a tad rushed for me, which made it feel that the physical violence were glossed over, reading almost like a list as the author quickly takes us through the actions of the killer. I was initially disappointed with this, thinking 'hey, you take us through pages and pages of explicit, toe-curling sexual torture and this is the pay off?'. But a way into the book, it got me thinking. We have pages and pages of explicit sexual torture! And not in the traditional way of things being cut off, etc. The way Lunsford approaches her graphic scenes were incredibly refreshing! The actions taking place were very real so added that level of relatability. And again, absolutely relentless.

So this may be a very provoking read for all genders who have experienced sexual abuse. However, should extreme readers be wanting a change from blood and guts being thrown all over the place, this is certainly worth checking out.

So I sit and think of my final thoughts. As I've said, this book surprised me by staying in my thoughts long after I'd finished. Certainly recommended for friends of Richard Laymon, as the set up is certainly very Laymon-esque, plus the perverted villain gives any of his creeps a run for their money! The sex here is like a nasty creature all of its own. I thoroughly recommend this to other extreme readers to experience how the genre can be approached from a more sexual side rather than a gore side.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness What a read. Attention to details is amazing. Wow hell of a read enjoyed your storyline. Cant wait to see whats next. #SUPERFAN

[Embell82 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can only describe this book as Richard Laymon on meth. It's an utterly brutal and disturbing take on the old cabin in the wood trope.
Really impressively proofed for a self published work, I spotted one big mistake, but I would take that over some of the self published books I've read and had to abandon because of constant grammar/ continuity howlers.
I'll definitely look for more work by this author in the future, solid entry in the extreme horror genre.

[Lee Richmond · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would say that I enjoyed this book, but I'm not sure that 'enjoyed' is a word that should be used in conjunction with the content of this story. That is in no way meant as a negative critique.
E.B. Lunsford paints a dark, twisted picture of pain, abuse and murder. It's, at times, a hard read, but then it should be, given the themes within.
Overall, No Escape is a good read. Well written and horrifically descriptive. It will probably appeal more to fans of extreme horror fiction.

[Tamsin Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book, although a decent story line, was not very appeasing to the eyes. There were a few paragraphs where the same word was used many times in a row. For me, I couldn't make it through the book because of this along with the misuse of punctuation. Maybe have an editor of some sort look it over so that these things are more polished.