The Child Eater

by Brian G. Berry

Something has escaped the grounds of Blue Ridge Sanitarium in a trail of gore and blood. Something seething with hunger, an ancient hunger. One it needs to satisfy. It seeks the sanctuary of the woods at the foot of Cold Springs, a small suburban community. It smells the meat, its drool thickens. Its hunger grows. It's feeding time in, The Child Eater.

Genres: Horror, Novella, Fiction, Monsters

112 pages, Paperback

Published January 19, 2021

About the author

a.k.a Brian Berry

Brian G Berry is new to the world of writing. He writes everything from 1980s inspired horror, SCIFI/Action-horror, to the strange. His biggest influences are the writers of the weird including Lovecraft, Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, to the pulp horror authors of the golden age 70s/80s- and a splattering of others. Author of The Pail, A Bloody Christmas, Splatter Fiend Series, Slasherback Series, Campfire Tales Beneath a Pallid Moon, Accursed Ground, Blood Lanes, The Night Mutilator, Thanksgiving Day Massacre, and his newest: SNOW SHARK.

Reviews

[Mort · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't judge a book by its cover...we all know it, but we all do, anyway.

So, I saw this cover and dismissed it as YA. It was only when the WRITTEN IN RED PODCAST guys talked about it that I decided to give it a go. And I am glad I did.

However, I have to apologize since I haven't gotten around to writing this review for more than a week, and I have to rush this before I go to work, so this is a really condensed version of the review.

This was Berry's first book and there were some obvious things which needed refinement in the writing, but the idea of the story is solid and well put together - enough so that I want to read the next book in the Splatter Fiend series.

This is the type of book you can work through fairly fast if you just want some horror entertainment - but it doesn't hold back on the gore - you've been warned.

Rating around 3.5 - pushed up to 4 because I want to continue the series.

[Peter Topside · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun, little violent adventure with Albert Walker. He is a sick, twisted and violent patient, but it goes a little further than being just skin deep. The story moves extremely quick, and hops around a bit much, but is a pretty decent horror novella. Because of the pace, it was a little hard to care for the characters here, because most of them are mince meat before you get to know much about them. But the main point here seemed to be setting the stage for further development of the monster, leaving plenty open for sequels galore.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the beginning of this novella you think this simply is the description of a very dangerous patient at the sanitarium. Associations to Hannibal Lecter came into my mind. But soon you'll learn that Albert Walker, so his name, is something more. He's killing and eating humans, most preferred children. What is his mental problem or better asked what is he? Absolutely terrifying and disturbing tale about a killer in human costume. Couldn't put the book down. Sometimes hard and gory but compelling like hell. What a terrible monster! A blood curdling horror story straight from the Golden Age of Horror. Highly recommended.

[MadameD · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like good gory stories, with a big evil beast who loves human flesh.
The Child Eater is for you.
I loved it, and recommend it!!

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh Brian G. Berry....what a corker of a book...I truly loved it...every chapter,every page and every word!!
It was like "Hannibal" met "The American Psycho" and ate "Succulent Prey"....THE RESULT..."The Child Eater"!!
Read it and weep...or...gag!!

[Corrina Morse · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first book by Brian G Berry (I did notice it pop up on Amazon a few times, and it wasn't until the guys on the WIR podcast gave it a shout out that I bought it!)
I have to admit, I kinda judged this book by its cover and was expecting a more simple story. That isn't what I got, and I loved it. This gave me Hannibal Lecter vibes to start with but it's soon obvious that that is not what it's about at all. It's based on the historical Beast of Gevaudan, a Werewolf type creature with a taste for young children.
Horrifying, creepy, brutal and bloody....I will definitely be moving onto the next book in the series!!
🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

[Dale Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title, cover art, and synopsis drew my attention so i decided to give it a go.

Unfortunately, the writing and story just didnt do it for me. I felt the book was "fluffed up" with too many adjectives. The book could have been a lot shorter and might have had a better impact if it had, but it just dragged on and i lost interest in a few places.

I did like the urban legend of the beast itself and didnt realise it was a real thing.

Overall, a middle of the road read for me.

[Daniel Volpe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great, solid 4 star book. I really enjoyed this novella. It was violent, had great characters and the lore was excellent. The violence was spot on, and didn't feel overdone. It fit the narrative perfectly and pushed the story along. My only reason for the star deduction is the formatting. This book is 1 long chapter, with only chapter breaks. This might not be a big deal for most readers, but I felt like it disrupted the flow of the story. If this was re formatted and re organized, this would be 5 stars. Check it out.

[Todd Condit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has a very creepy and well described monster that is extremely brutal. Didn't like some of the side character stuff but overall a good quick read.

[Amanda McGehee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book grabbed me with its cover right away. Plus the title promise something evil and it delivered. I enjoyed this book a lot. Something between werewolf and vampire but something more, something older. It had some nice bloody horror scenes. I would read this book again.

[Jonathan Tripp · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love the story this is inspired from and werewolves! This novella hit the spot for me! Loved it!!!

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is tricky! Went through many emotions reading this novel.

AT FIRST… I didn’t think I’d like it so much. It is very short and the cover looked silly.

THEN… The story began with an interesting cast of characters and an intense villain. Here I was thinking this will be my new favorite Brian Berry novel!

THEN… Way too many chapters focused on the villain and there wasn’t enough time to dive into this cast of characters. Before I knew it, the novel was over.

Not a bad novel by any means, but way too short imo. It could have been longer or gave more focus to the cast of characters other than the main villain.

[Eve L. Fell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graphic..

Which is just the way I like it! For some reason I wasn’t expecting the beast to be what it ended up being. But it was a nice twist. The books itself was written well! This will be one of many book I read by Brian Berry!

[Christina Pfeiffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to follow.

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Having read most of Brian G. Berry’s more recent work, like Snow Shark, Death Commando and my favorite of his, Night Weaver, this debut book surprised me in a number of ways but the biggest one is just how surprisingly well written it is.

From plot, to execution, to just overall skill, The Child Eater is a great example of a first time story done right.

Most debuts (especially indie debuts) tend to be extremely rough around the edges, full of dumb narrative choices, plot holes, and other beginner issues. Not so here. Not counting typos, The Child Eater is one of the most complete and well done works of independent horror I can remember reading. Berry’s handling of the werewolf mythos is original and entertaining, and, despite the title and subject matter (innocent kids getting slaughtered is probably my biggest turn off in horror) is far less extreme than I had previously believed (though it doesn’t lack gore and a healthy amount of bloodshed).

Even better, this book displays just how far Berry has come in just a few short years. From a simple 103 page werewolf tale to being compared to horror stalwart Tim Curran and being tapped to pen two novelizations for Encycopalypse Productions, Berry is proof that hard work and dedication to your craft will pay massive dividends.

[Stefanie Von Guest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wasn't entirely sure what I was getting myself into here but I wanted a horror "palate cleanser" before starting something more substantial and this certainly hit the mark. Had no idea what was going to happen either, so it had the whole " let's keep reading to see where this is going." Lure.

Quite gory as well, wouldn't recommend this if you don't like gore mixed with children. I know the title suggests as much but some folks will pick things up despite the warnings and then whine about it later.

I would quite happily read something else by this author. 👍

[B.J. Swann · Rating 1 out of 5]

Turgid prose from hell. Mixing of tenses. Sentence fragments. A hodgepodge of cinematic cliches with no evidence of research or original thought. I usually just put books like this on my DNF list but sometimes I can't help myself.

For the love of all that is holy, take a writing class.

[DA · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book so much! A psych patient with a mysterious past escapes and things do not end well.

[Jade · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 Stars

This wasn't bad, I enjoyed the monster aspect and most of the story. Albert Walker was a good character and generally what I like to see in an antagonist and the kills were satisfying enough. I believe the amount of writing errors and slightly awkward sentences here and there held it back a good amount. I also just never love detective parts of stories, which is just a personal preference.

[Holly Horror · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Brian paints a very vivid image in this story of a crazed, hungry man/ creature thing named Albert Walker, also known as the Beast of Gevaudan. Breaking free from Blue Ridge Sanitarium, Albert is hungry and on the hunt for young, tender meat leaving a trail of carnage in his wake. Brian does it again, leaving chills down my spine and begging for more! Bravo 👏Berry. Not too many books leave me creeped out, but you somehow manage to with every story.

[Megan Wintrip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Albert walker of Blue Ridge Sanatarium has a long and horrible past.

Who is Albert? What is he? He's a deranged mental patient who wants to eat children 🫣🩸.

This novella has you hooked and you want more! I hope there will be another one!

This was so so so so good I couldn't read it fast enough! LOVED IT!

#BrianGBerry #horrorlover #thechildeater #booksbooksbooks #Horrorbooks #indieauthors

[Norman Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read, a hour and a half or so. Didn't really do anything for me. Didn't care about anyone who died, so no real drama.

[Aidan Fleming · Rating 1 out of 5]

The literature equivalent of an Asylum film.

Poorly written, short, cheap, and weirdly horny. Much like an asylum film it is at least entertaining to experience this if for nothing else than to laugh at the cheesy gore and just strange writing. For example here is how the writer describes two teenagers playing basketball.

“Two men, chasing around a ball, orange, and leather, crisscrossed in black seams, tossing it into a netted basket above…. …The ball bounced and bounced, crashing to the pavement with more speed as the two chased one another around the court.”

And here are some more quotes I had to capture:

“Her throat began screeching for help”

“It ceased to be funny no longer when the scares became real”

“Something was looking at him from the window something with child eatingg teath”

yes the extra g in that last quote was in the book because this book even contains typos and punctuation mistakes.

One last note I took while reading:

This guy loves the word flesh. He uses it in the most inappropriate times. Dude just say the hair brushed against her skin not her “flesh” you freak.

I will admit that by about the 70% mark I started simply skimming. It would have held my attention more if the violence and gore was better written or at least more imaginative and entertaining. As it stands now the violence mostly comes across like an edgelord creepy pasta. Entertaining for a page or two but extremely tiring by page 50.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this one up from a list of short horror novels because I found the cover interesting and I'm on a quest to find a horror book that actually scares me. And anything over 3 stars on Goodreads is something I usually find at least okay. I was hopeful partway through this one because it seemed like it was inspired by a historical event that happens to be one of my special interests. (Turns out, it was indeed inspired by that!) However, the spelling and grammar errors throughout were so hard to get through. This book was short, yes, but it did not feel short at all. My brain kept sticking on sentences that I had to work hard to make heads or tales of. The plot itself was all over the place. The characters were hard to care about. The women were described as body parts. The "Child Eater" seemed to change its m.o. on a whim (sometimes it was brutal and beastly, sometimes cold and calculating, and I don't know why it went between the two). I could go on, but I think I've spent enough time on this. Brian G. Berry, PLEASE hire a beta reader for your next work. I won't be reading it, but your readers deserve as much.

[David Rash · Rating 5 out of 5]

gruesome, and more

It shouldn’t need to be said, but I’ll say it: horror, even extreme horror, can be very well written, and The Child Eater was. I also shouldn’t have to say that the same goes for self-published work, because that’s also true. Not only was this gruesome, but the writing style and some of the prose, particularly that first one from CE’s POV, were striking. Sharp, even.

[Damien Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brian Berry has his own particular brand of batshit in his writing that I am in love with. This book reads like an 80’s slasher mixed with a lovecraftian monster tale. The story flies along at a breakneck speed, I finished it in one sitting with a single can of Ale8. Brian’s work will always feel that nostalgic need you have for the horror section at your local mom and pop video store. K thx.

[Dawn Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don’t let the title fool you. It’s exactly what it says it is. The story of La Bete. A very different and grown up version of a werewolf story. I loved the atmosphere that was set. It was creepy and chilling. A seemingly mentally insane man?! Or is he?? You’ll have to read to find out. I throughly enjoyed it.

[Chloe Boyce · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading a lot of extreme horror/ splatterpunk recently I wasn’t expecting shock factor or record breaking gore with this book. The title just intrigued me and I thought why not..

It’s 100 pages, so I didn’t waste too much life reading it, but personally I found it a bit boring, with gore being predictable. I liked the jump between characters povs, but it led to it becoming pointless..

[Margaret Hamnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

oooooweeeeee!

I have never ripped through a story so fast. I know it’s only short but dam. The gore was incredible and the descriptions were majestic. The humour was just perfect. I loved every second of this. Would make a great movie.

[Crystal Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gore and folklore. Loved it!