Crimson

by Gord Rollo

The small town of Dunnville is no stranger to fear. Evil has stalked its dark streets once before, twenty years ago, leaving in its wake a legacy of blood and madness. These days, no one in the town likes to talk about it much. Some folks deny it ever happened....

But four boyhood friends are about to discover the truth, though no one will believe them. Their parents think they've been listening to too many scary stories. But what the boys have released from an icy well is no legend. It's very real indeed, and it will soon terrify Dunnville to its very core. Unspeakable horror is running free... And the nightmares of the past are about to begin again.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Fantasy, Thriller, Ebooks

326 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 3, 2002

About the author

Gord Rollo was born in St. Andrews, Scotland, but now lives in Ontario, Canada. His short stories and novella-length work have appeared in many professional publications throughout the genre and his novels include: The Jigsaw Man, Crimson, Strange Magic, and Valley Of The Scarecrow. His work has been translated into several languages and his titles are currently being adapted for audiobooks.

Besides novels, Gord edited the acclaimed evolutionary horror anthology, Unnatural Selection: A Collection of Darwinian Nightmares. He also co-edited Dreaming of Angels, a horror/fantasy anthology created to increase awareness of Down's syndrome and raise money for research. He recently completed his newest horror/dark fantasy novel, entitled The Translators and can be reached at his website www.gordrollo.com

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read The Jigsaw Man back in October and really liked it, so I thought I would give Crimson a go; while not quite as good, it was still a great ride. This novel keep switching gears; at first, I thought it would be a coming of age YA horror story; something like IT, but that turns out to be just the first part of the story. We keep jumping forward in time until the ending set around 2007.

The book starts with a prologue concerning 'Old Man Henderson', a guy who seemingly went crazy in a small town in Canada in 1955 and butchered his family and ate them before he was caught. His house is rumored to be haunted and sits vacant for a few decades until a desperate woman and her young son move in, discovering it was part of her disappeared husband's estate. Something nasty lives so to speak in the well, however (as the cover attests). Shortly after they move in, her son befriends three other boys who decide to play at the boy's new house. They find an old fallout shelter and manage to unleash the evil being in the well; one of the boys dies shortly thereafter and they stop hanging out.

Flash forward another ten years and the boys are all young adults, when the lead, David, starts having dreams of the thing and people in town start dying, horribly butchered. One of his old friends starts having the same dreams as well, and they plan to do something about 'the creature'...

I will not keep describing the plot; a lot of the fun of the book is precisely that. I will say that Rollo kept changing directions and this seems like three books in one. What is the creature? What does it want? Without spoilers, I can say all will be revealed, but not until the end. This is a clever story, with a fair amount of twists and turns. The character development is a little weak, however, and while it provides some good thrills, it is not very deep. If that is what you are in the mood for, you should really enjoy it. 3.5 stars rounding up!!

[Rhonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Gord Rollo's second mass market release (following last year's JIGSAW MAN). Definitely a strong release, yet I still think JIGSAW MAN is my favorite thus far. CRIMSON was strong from start to finish, however; and was full of twists and surprises. In particular there was one scene where the "evil" popped up that I SO didn't expect it to. It just seemed really unlikely and I was like... what the f***!?!?!? Rollo is quickly becoming a favorite author of mine and I'm looking forward to future releases by him.

[John Bruni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hate it when someone compares a horror author to Stephen King, and there is a blurb on the back of this book not only doing that, but also calling this book "IT's superior in every possible way." So I was geared instantly toward not liking this book. However, I really enjoyed Rollo's The Jigsaw Man, so I wanted to like this one.

It was a mixed bag for me. It doesn't even come close to holding a candle to IT, in case you were wondering. The monster isn't scary like Pennywise. I found him to be very annoying, and I wished for any other villain than this guy. Not only that, but he's predictable to a degree that it makes the protagonists look stupid, David in particular. I'm not as bright as people claim I am, so if I can outthink the monster, anyone should be able to.

I think the IT comparison comes mainly from the first part of three. It concerns a group of four kids living in rural Canada facing off against a monster that can assume any form. It's kind of dull, but when the second part began, I felt some hope because it's about the three remaining kids as teenagers fresh from high school graduation, but this part kept killing me over the constant dreams-that-may-or-may-not-be-dreams thing.

But where the book really shines is the third part. One of the characters goes to prison, and that's where the real fun begins. As an adult, this person has to . . . never mind. I think that falls into spoiler territory. I was going to give this book three stars just for the awesome third part. The fourth star? That's because this book pays off like a mutha. I find the frame to be kinda silly, but that last chapter in the prison? WOW.

[Kenneth McKinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crimson is a tough one to review for me. After reading Rollo's fantastic The Jigsaw Man, I couldn't wait to dive into this one. Out of all the great books that I read in 2014, Jigsaw Man was tied for my absolute favorite. The writing was crisp, the characters were three-dimensional and fully fleshed out, and Rollo made an unbelievable story completely believable. Jigsaw Man was also his second novel. Crimson was his first and it shows. Gord's fantastic writIng style is still there. But, you can tell he was still cutting his teeth. The characters didn't feel fully developed and the story had the feel of a puzzle that was put together with the wrong pieces and were made to fit even when they didn't. Don't get me wrong. There are still some great ideas explored in Crimson. Unfortunately, all of those ideas didn't make for a great, cohesive story. I'm going to chalk this up as Rollo learned many things between writing Crimson and Jigsaw Man. If the progression between #2 and #3 as it was for #1 and #2, then the third story of his should be lights out.

3 out of 5 stars

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TWITTER - @KenMcKinley5

[Kevin Lucia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good follow up by a great new writer. Perhaps not as far reach as Stephen King's "IT", as one review claims - but then, what novel is? - but this is still a very good one.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this back in 2017 but somehow my brilliant review has disappeared. In short, it's crap so don't bother with it.

[William M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I absolutely loved Gord Rollo's last book, "The Jigsaw Man", and recommended it to all my friends, but I thought his latest book, "Crimson", was a considerable step down. Granted, those were mighty big shoes to fill since Jigsaw was one of the best books of that year, but had I not known, I never would have guessed this book had the same author.

The first third of "Crimson" follows four ten-year-old boys and their accidental awakening of a long-dead creature that had caused a terrible massacre two decades prior. This portion of the book had some great moments that were original and suspenseful. However, once the jump in time occurred and we begin to follow them as teenagers, the atmosphere seemed to dissipate a bit. Scenes started almost immediately with the action and didn't allow for the creepiness to set in. I'm also not a fan of creatures that talk with an attitude. It reminds me too much of Freddy Kruger or the doll Chucky from "Child's Play". It's simply not scary.

A couple other issues I had was the glowing red eyes - not red, but actually glowing to the point of illuminating things in the room - like Rudolph's nose from the animated cartoon. Being red or having a dim glow is one thing, but lighting up like a beacon was too much. I also thought the characters, in general, were not very intelligent, making decisions that didn't quite feel right. For instance, when the Police Chief catches a character in a lie that proves his guilt as a serial killer, the Chief doesn't see fit to continue the interrogation or have officers tail him after leaving the police station. I mean, we're talking over a half dozen bodies here and the police knowingly let this guy just walk away. There is also a scene where a rather large fight ensues and at the end, we find out that one of the participants had a cigarette in his mouth. It was never described until the moment the character needed it and I thought that was just too convenient.

Finally, the third portion of the book follows the boys (the ones that are left alive) as adults and we spend most of the time in a maximum security prison. These scenes showed nothing we haven't seen before. The big baddies, the jail fights, the token thief, and the friendly 'Green Mile' giant with a heart of gold. The biggest disaster here was the 30 or so pages of explanation as to why the creature has been doing all these evil deeds. It felt as if the author had dug so many holes throughout the book that he was simply, and desperately, trying to fill them back up by this exposition, regardless of how utterly convoluted and far-fetched it may seem, even in this supernatural world.

While some might compare "Crimson" as a mix of Stephen King's "It" and Brian Keene's "Ghoul", this is nowhere near either of those fine books. For me, this was one of the biggest disappointments in the last two years of horror, because Gord Rollo's book, "The Jigsaw Man" was so amazing. Apparently "Crimson" was Rollo's first book, even though it was published by Leisure books second. That's a good thing, though, because I'm not sure I would have picked up "The Jigsaw Man" had I read "Crimson" first.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great horror novel. I was on the edge of my seat, ready to fall in the floor. all of my nails have disappeared, I dont remember biting them off. I was totally immersed into this story especially towards the middle and end. I had never heard of this author before but I am glad I know his work now. What an awesome read! If you like horror, this is a must must must read! It is a "Stephen King with some sense" book.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable read. One of those rare books that are difficult to put down. Exciting from beginning to end though somewhat predictable in places. Good job Gord.

[Ravenskya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gord Rollo's Second novel is in my humble oppinion, far superior to his first. Where [Book: Jigsaw Man] was an interesting new take on the Mad Scientist tale, Crimson is much closer to the "small band of kids take on monster who lives in their small town" tale that so many horror writers eventually touch on. Stephen King's being the most notable IT then we have Dan Simmons with Summer of Night and even fellow Leisure Author Brian Keene with Ghoul.

Though Crimson starts out much as all of the others, we quickly take a different turn. The opening scene of this book is a real kick in the gut and will thrill the most avid of gore hounds. From there we travel to about 20 years later. The small farmhouse where our opening scene took place has sat abandoned for all of those years, quietly awaiting new blood to move in. When an unaware single mother and her young son move into the house, there is a stirring in the well out back. Soon four young friends end up playing at the house and discovering an ancient evil trapped away. The four boys fight for their lives as their worst nightmares come to pass.

Crimson follows these kids from the time they unleash the monster through their lives as it revisits them, bringing all new terrors with them each time it shows back up.

The writing in this book is very strong and the book is extremely interesting. I only had three minor annoyances that I was able to forget and still enjoy the book. The first being that there were too many characters whose name started with "D" I don't know why that bothered me, but for some reason it did. The second was that the characters age significantly from the beginning of the book through the end, but they never seem to grow mentally to match their ages. And the third was that towards the end of the book there is a large bit of exposition that sort of explained everything that had been going on... I would have preferred for some of it to have been left to the imagination and other bits of it to have been figured out throughout the tale rather than having it all explained at once. Still that was not enough to keep me from really enjoying this read. I recommend it to anyone looking for a good fun scare.

Recommended reading ages - 15 and up depending on maturity.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second Gord Rollo book that I have read, and my favorite so far. I really enjoyed it -- really 4.5 stars. At first the story does remind you of Summer of Night or Boy's Life but as the kids grow into teenagers and adults, less so. And there were instances where I felt a tingle down my spine, which is getting harder and harder to achieve. It's almost like riding bigger and bigger roller coasters to get that adrenaline fix.

I was a bit disappointed with the narrative device regarding the attorney's big discovery. Seemed silly that no one else had noticed the "new evidence." But as an attorney, maybe I'm nitpicking.

[Kati · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Crimson" started off ok, got rolling along nicely & crashed insanely. Like a '57 Chevy propelled from the edge of a cliff in '60's suspense movie. The crash lasting forever, the car rolling crazily over every bolder... Well, no more Gord Rollo for me! The narrative tends to trip along in an amateurish tone at times. Also, too many scenes and random characters are thrown in to supplement a storyline that would be good enough if told in a stronger voice. This book does NOT compare to Stephen King's "It", in ANY way, much less being "...it's superior in every way.", as noted on the cover.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the books that seemed to change a little during the course of reading it. At times the story and character progress was being pulled in directions that I didn't see coming, and for those reasons I was very pleased and happy. What started out as an entertaining coming of age horror story turned into a suspenseful race to the end of two (three) of it's characters. I still feel sorry for David.

[A.R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gord has done it again, and without using a bunch of big words! A stellar horror author.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first novel by Rollo I picked up and read, even though "Jigsaw Man" caught my attention first. "Crimson" was suggested to me as another coming-of-age story in the vein of King's "It", but that's hardly even half the story.

While we begin with the inevitable group of prepubescent boys encountering an ancient evil and drawing its ire and are even treated to the expected timeskip into adulthood, "Crimson" doesn't stop there. Saying much more about the story would mean spoiling, so I will leave it there.
If there is one thing Rollo excels at, it's creating tense, often gory, sickening situations to put his characters in. Some of those become predictable the more horror you've read, but they are still enjoyable nonetheless.

I only have two major gripes with the novel which diminished my enjoyment in reading it - and those are admittedly subjective.

First, the creature. It has an interesting origin story (albeit we don't learn of it until near the end) and seems dangerous the entire time. We never question whether we would run from this 'thing' or if we couldn't just tough it out. The threat is palpable. Always. However, for me personally, the creature just talks too much. Far too much. Especially in the beginning, I would have appreciated a bit more mystery. As we all know: it's what we can't see or comprehend that we fear the most.

Secondly, and this is possibly the more important point: I couldn't really empathise with the characters. Not our protagonist, David Winter, neither any of his friends - there was only one death I actually regretted, and it happened to a minor character in the last third of the book. Even the early death of one of the main characters (and I use the word 'main' liberally here) didn't emotionally impact me. It has nothing on i.e. what happened to Duane in Dan Simmons' "Summer of Night" - an event that had me so emotionally invested I actually had to put the novel down for a day or two to recuperate.

All in all, Crimson is an enjoyable novel for anyone with the stomach for some gore. Just don't go expecting another "It. If that's what you're looking for, pick up the already mentioned "Summer of Night".

[Vance Knox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crimson is a basic horror story in setting. We have four friends (like Stand by me-sk) and we have an evil (reminds me of It-sk); but that is pretty much where the similarities end.

The book opens with a man walking home after visiting his neighbour with an axe. He walks home, his family already done and gone, bar the baby who is crying. He cleans up the child, feeds it and when the baby is asleep he bakes her and then hangs himself.

Wow! What an opening. We are then introduced to the main characters of the story delivered in an interesting style going from third person to first person telling a tale in third person. This allows him liberty to inject omnipresent views or second person POV.

Building the characters and setting the scene runs at a steady pace. While looking for a clubroom, they discover a buried room and naturally open it and investigate, awaking the evil inside (whom they believe to be Old Man Harrison, the dude who baked his baby).

Angered at having been awakened, the beast tells them there is a price to pay for disturbing his rest. And pay they will.

Then the story jumps several years and pretty much drags on leading to an exciting end.

I’m in two minds about this book. In a way, I like it and in another I found parts of it way too long. Many of the sentences put me off:

David cried out in fear. He cried out in agony.

The book didn’t have a lot of show but I think it was written that way. And the story worked in this vein.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

aperback
At its best, Crimson is an imaginative, well-written narrative that leads the reader into unexpected places. On the other hand, the story seems too contrived at parts and the linkages between events lack believability. Overall I enjoyed the book but would have liked to have more character development in the plot, and if we need the creature, who is one of the main characters, to explain the plot twists towards the end of the book, too much is being thrown at the reader. I still recommend reading the book, it will at once disturb and scare you, if that is your desire.

[Nick Watters · Rating 2 out of 5]

Outstanding start, which continued for 200+ pages. However the final 100 pages were arguably the most WTF portion of a book I have ever read. SPOILERS!!!!! The main character is sitting in a prison warden's office as a 500 year old demon explains to him his life and times?! Yikes...its almost as if a great author wrote the first 220 pages and his 5 yr old son finished it off for him...

[Nancy Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a pretty good book up until near the end. Part of the story just killed the ending, and not in a good way. I loved the first two thirds of the book. Hated the last third. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but some of the details should have been left out and left you wondering about things. It would have made the impact so much better.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite what I was expecting, but still good. I thought this was a coming-of-age story, but instead it follows throughout a few people's lives. Certain parts were scary while others were pretty silly. I found this a quick and easy read.

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

the writing is good the story just didn't keep me in to it

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had a interesting premise but was a little uneven in execution. The ending was a somewhat contrived. Definitely a horror thriller!

[Randy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really liked Jigsaw Man and Scarecrow by this author... but this one was pretty bad. Couldn't make it past the first 50 pages. Terrible dialog

[Jared Coss · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my top five creepiest novels

[Billy Ray smith]

I love it

[Kristen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Re-read and it didn't hit me as hard as the first time. Meh.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

The masters of the horror novel have such far-reaching influence that it becomes difficult at times to accept new writers into the fold, as readers are all too quick to point out recycled plot points and character archetypes. While this is a danger in truly any genre, it becomes an even greater problem in horror, where the influence of the greats and their prolific works spread far to all forms of media. So when established anthology writer Gord Rollo introduced his first full-length novel, Crimson, first published in 2002 and then re-released on a wider scale in 2009, the comparisons to previous works by other authors was immediately apparent.

Crimson spins the dark coming-of-age drama of four young boys in a quiet, rural town with a dark past, who mistakenly release a great evil, spending the rest of their short lives confronting the repercussions of what they had done. The obvious influence from horror master Stephen King cannot go unnoticed, or even unmentioned; comparisons to the short tale The Body and the acclaimed novel IT are immediate and unavoidable. However, where King’s masterful storytelling fully confronts the horrors of childhood friends entrenched in the drama of an inescapable evil, Crimson author Rollo merely stumbles and creates a cartoonish take on the same story. Worse still are the notations on the very book jacket, comparing Rollo’s work to King’s; any hope of disassociating one from the other is lost when the publisher chooses a blurb that decries Rollo’s debut novel as the superior to King’s classic. As the novel follows with blatant references to both IT and the short tale The Body that are far too similar for a mere homage, it becomes difficult to accept Rollo’s novel at face value, as the reader instead finds passage upon passage to compare to King’s works.

Rollo’s story centers on young Johnny Page, a classic new-kid-in-town who moves into the local spook house, an abandoned farm that had been the site of several grisly murders some years before. The boy’s family itself is something of a cliche: the absent father, the overweight and overbearing mother, the meager upbringing. This is Eddie Kasprak and Ben Hanscom reborn, shifted from late 1950′s Maine to late 1970′s Ontario and given a new name. Mother Page herself is a walking stereotype, the barest shell of an actual character as Rollo resorts to describing the woman by focusing on her weight, having her think about bettering her lifestyle but decide to eat donuts instead and, worst of all, fall into a pitiful slapstick routine where her girth causes her to fall and break a coffee table. There is no substance here, making it difficult to take the novel seriously when what should be, at the least, a fairly important supporting character is nothing more than gross caricature.

As the story progresses, the willingness to suspend disbelief that is so important to the horror genre may begin to wane as serious questions about the story begin to arise. First and foremost, could a woman and her young son truly move into a small town’s infamous murder house and somehow not hear of the evil that had happened there in ages past? The level of depravity that the author rolls out in the novel’s prologue is deep and disturbing, encompassing axe-murder, suicide, missing bodies, cannibalism and, perhaps worst of all, the horrific death of a helpless toddler. Such vicious acts would be burned into a small town’s psyche; is it really plausible that no one would have told the Page family? The addition of the three local boys, David, Peter, and Tom, make it all the more unbelievable. Young men of that age are notorious for their obnoxious behavior, and it is terribly difficult to believe that not one of the three would have taken ghoulish joy in spilling the beans about the Page home’s history to the new kid on the block.

Bound together with the horror of their frightening discovery, the boys become haunted by manifestations of their own deep-seated fears and as the years pass, the terror they had endured once again comes to be visited upon the little town itself. Rollo’s villain, a demonic pastiche of a dozen or so horror archetypes, attempts the sort of sarcastic bold-faced witticisms that are the calling card of Freddy Krueger, antihero of the Nightmare on Elm Street films, as he wreaks his particular brand of havoc on the four boys. Again, Rollo falls to poor imitation rather than any real innovation.

The great shame in all of this is that Rollo more than proves his worth and talent as a horror writer in the fast-paced, horrifying prologue that could have – and really should have – established Crimson as a stellar debut novel, had the great originality shown in those far too brief pages extended further into the novel. Gord Rollo is most definitely an author to watch, if only to hope that he is able to find his own voice and deliver the

[Daniel Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first venture out with Gord Rollo. Yes, it's another Dorchester-Leisure review from me. I'm not going to bang on about the current Leisure debacle here, but I'm sure followers of the publisher know that the mass market paperbacks are going to be hard to get in a few weeks.

I hope that most of the Leisure horror writers find new homes with respected (and savvy!) publishing houses...Gord Rollo being one of them.

Crimson has a great opener, about a man in the small town of Dunnville who has gone crazy. Yeah, I'm sure you're saying you've read about crazy people before, but this guy is seriously MESSED UP! You can tell the author has hit the right nasty buttons if I chuckle as I read. Next, we meet our team.

Four boys are going to have a playdate they'll never forget as they meet at one of their homes...the house were the murders took place some twenty years earlier. The evil has been waiting, its hulking and rotten body sitting at the bottom of the well. The family moving into the house has awakened it, and soon the horrors are going to start all over again.

Let's get something straight right off the bat. One of the blurbs states that "Crimson is Stephen King's IT's superior in every possible way." With IT being one of my favourite all time books, this is a pretty big deal and possibly had raised the bar a little too high.

These are two very different books that share a few themes, mainly childhood friendship and a creature that knows your fears. Obviously IT will be deeper with more character developed, however, it's four times longer! Of course it's going to be deeper. But does that mean it kicks Crimson's ass?

I'd have to say...no.

While Crimson does have a few shared elements, it's a lot faster read and more action packed. IT-lite, if you will. The first act in particular has a breathtaking pace. At one point, the creature is attacking all four boys separately and the reader hops between each one. The tension is cracked sky high, and to make it better, there's plenty of Nightmare on Elm Street-esque dream within a dreams! It's like being on a ghost train full of serial killers: you're thrown around with all these dark figures leaping out at you...and you don't know which are real and which are illusions.

This is where most reviews have stopped, talking mainly about the opener and the first part, but I have to carry on (and try not to give too much away).

This is all in the first act. The second act is very, very different and reads more like a psychic-whodunnit. Rollo keeps the scares coming, as one of the friends must choose victimes for the killer while he rides in his head of the masochistic Ripper. But who is the killer? Is it really the creature?

The final part, despite the horrors and cat and mouse games that came previously, is lighter on the spec elements, but wow, what a page turner. Imagine Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption...but written by Richard Laymon straight after he penned the short story The Champion. We also get the deliciously monstrous Shadowman, every convicts nightmare, who adds another enemy for our protagonist to deal with.

Rollo packs a lot of story and twists in a mere 320 pages, and the book never wants to be put down. I think I read this in two sittings.

For horror entertainment, this was a cracker. I can't wait to get my hands on The Jigsaw Man.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know what I love about new authors? Besides their fresh baby smell, that is. It’s their mental agility. Brand-spanking new out of the asylum, Gord Rollo manages to write without borders or limitations; a gift most veterans lose. (I’m looking at you Mr. Clark.) The fact that the man can make you feel warm and fuzzy one minute and then revoltingly horrified the next is just icing on the cake.

Reminiscent of It, Crimson revolves around four friends who are entangled in a living nightmare. The plot is gripping and intense, a true page-turner. Also, even though it carries the same air as King’s, this one is It’s superior in every possible way and as you read the only overshadowing the previous book carries is your amazement that you thought it’s power would hold forever.

The pace in the book is constant. Never pushing you ahead or lagging behind, the speed carries the story faultlessly. The atmosphere in the book is nauseatingly thick. As you read the pressure builds, increasing in both dread and anticipation. The setting in the story changes locales constantly, but maintains the normalcy of home and the expectations of reality.

Rollo’s style of writing is clear, concise and direct. Never one to use $.10 words, he writes without pretension, realizing he doesn’t need to show off his large vocabulary to impress us. I thank you Gord, the readers thank you, but mostly dog-eared ten-year-old dictionaries around the world thank you.

The characters start out great, both intelligent and genuine. Notice I said start. For some reason, as we follow these boys through adolescence into adulthood, their intelligence seems to dwindle. Their personalities, oddly enough, never changes. Rather than have their identies mature along with their age, they still act like scared little boys.

One other problem occurred. It was on page 139. The sixth paragraph, thirtieth line, 349th word on the page. For the love of all that is nasty let Jack the Ripper rest in his murderous hole. There have been countless murders more gruesome and more mind-boggling than the case of Thee Who Shall Not Be Named.

My rating? I give it a solid 3. Take a peak, one and all, at an author on the rise and hellishly advancing.


-As reviewed for Horror-Web.com

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twenty years ago, quiet, mild-mannered Jacob Harrison returned to his home, where he’d killed his entire family with an ax before heading in to work. When he arrives at his house, he discovers that his baby daughter is still alive, so he lovingly cleans her up, feeds her a bottle, and shoves her into the oven as a macabre feast for the police. Then he hangs himself—yet, he’s not dead. Instead, he’s possessed by a creature who will later stalk four innocent boys.

After his father disappears, Johnny and his mom move into an old house in the small Canadian town of Dunnville. People are shocked that they chose the Harrison house—the scene of a heinous multiple murder—as their home. But this doesn’t stop three boys from befriending Johnny and agreeing to go and play at his house. It would be the biggest mistake of their lives. Evil dwells there, and after they unknowingly unleash it on the town, it will haunt them in a most horrifying way for the rest of their lives.

Though his characters aren’t as endearing, author Gord Rollo writes in the tradition of Stephen King, with lots of creepy (and often gross) scenes involving a rotted corpse that’s possessed by something evil. I admit that some of the descriptions turned my stomach, but that’s a good thing if you like oozing, decayed creatures, along with a good, old-fashioned ghost story (as for me, I’m fine with it, as long as I’m not eating). And that’s exactly what you get in Crimson.

Rollo paints a dark, bleak depiction of a town and four young boys who are terrorized by evil. He brought the story to life in my mind, leaving me with a lingering impression of the town, the characters, and the horror. In fact, even now, several days after I finished reading Crimson, I can still picture the horror-inducing scenes vividly.

Mr. Rollo won’t replace Stephen King as the king of horror, mainly because his characters are good, but not great. However, with this creepy, fast-paced plot, Rollo sure does give Mr. King a run for his money. I’m certain I’ll be reading him again in the future.

First Appeared in NightsandWeekends.com: http://www.nightsandweekends.com/arti...