Harvey

by Phil Rossi

Calvin Hubbard had what it took. Swagger. The voice. The star quality. He stole America's heart and walked away with the crown of Idol Search. Before the door could hit him on the ass, Calvin was dethroned--all because of a little extracurricular activity involving a female judge and a set of handcuffs. Now, he needs to record an album to avoid a lawsuit. His credibility as a musician is on the line. Leaving the media frenzy behind, he heads to a fly-speck town called Harvey, Virginia to write his opus. Something sinister hides in the woods outside of Harvey-—an evil older than the trees themselves. It's hungry and it's tired of waiting.

Genres: Horror, Audiobook, Mystery

MP3 CD

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Phil Rossi--writer, musician, and an embracer of "new media"--has a passion for story-telling matched only by the pleasure he derives from keeping his fans awake at night. Crescent, Rossi's debut novel, was originally released as a podcast in 2007 and has since lured 20,000 listeners into a dark, twisted world of nightmares and things that go bump in the night. Phil Rossi's writing has been paralleled to Stephen King, Philip K. Dick, and HP Lovecraft. He has a flair for vivid and often chilling imagery that lends itself to engrossing narratives and an undertone of inescapable, creeping dread. Phil Rossi is a professional musician in the Washington DC metropolitan area creating and performing music spanning from solo acoustic, to industrial, to techno. His the father of two little storytellers. The job he takes most serious of all.

"CRESCENT is the last stop at the intergalactic crossroads of gritty scifi and pucker-inducing horror--Blade Runner as written by H.P. Lovecraft, a horrific hard scifi express-ride." -- Scott Sigler, New York Times Best-Selling author of Contagious

"Crescent is the ultimate sci-fi / horror mashup. It's a wicked blend of the claustrophobia seen in Ridley Scott's Alien, and the viral demonology of Carpenter's Prince Of Darkness -- with the hard-drinkin' bad attitude of Battlestar Galactica added for good measure. The future has never been so frightening. Phil Rossi brings it." --J.C. Hutchins, author of Personal Effects: Dark Art and 7th Son: Descent

"Space opera - of the Sweeney Todd or Phantom of the Opera variety. That's right. Phil Rossi has crafted a space station tale with sex, horror, and vibrant attention to tech and human detail. Evocatively served, highly recommended." --Paul Levinson, author of The Plot to Save Socrates

"...sexy and full of scares. Harvey is dark, well-crafted, and downright menacing." -Philippa Ballantine, award-winning author of Geist

Reviews

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

Phil Rossi writes horror stories and this is one that brings mysticism and undead to the fore. A downtrodden music star, loser of a national competition, arrive in the small northwest Virginia town of Harvey, in n effort to get his mojo back. Unknown to him, the town has been experiencing the loss of citizens without reasonable explanations. Craig the musician is drawn into a web of happenings that get more and more weird as time passes leading to a horrific encounter with spirits of the past. The horror in the story is purely descriptive in the form of creatures, but not a lot of psychological horror. The story moves quickly and comes to the usual horror story ending. There is descriptive sexual content and lots of earthy language. The story is good, but it is mostly derivative of many others in the genre.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I honestly wasn’t aware that it was possible to mention erections that many times or in such varying ways. I lost count somewhere I’m the triple digits; there was definitely something in the water in Harvey.

[Rosanna Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you read the synopsis of this book you just might get the notion that it concentrates a little heavily on some Idol star shenanigans.
Fear not, that is the past and the story takes place after those events.
Our anti hero, Calvin, escapes to the small town of Harvey to lick his wounds and get his music career back on track.
But like most small towns, nothing is ever as quaint and harmless as it seems. There's something strange going on in them there woods and there's some pretty strange people hanging around in it too.
Calvin, it seems, is going to get less rest in Harvey than he did in the big city.
This story kind of captivates you right from the start with a pair of good old boy's night on that town that goes terribly wrong. And from there a crisp but surreal atmosphere takes root; and you know right away that Calvin picked the wrong town to escape to.
Rossi's narration is pitch perfect in nailing the mysterious menace creeping up on Harvey.

[Nomad Scry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Horror just isn't my thing. I think Rossi did a good job of telling a Clive Barker-esque tale that was disturbing and creepy and wonderful, but when I express my dissatisfaction with the way the ending wrapped up... I think it has less to do with the quality of the story told and more to do with the kind stories that I enjoy. Because I really didn't like the ending. It left me annoyed.

That said, I was definitely reminded of Weaveworld (Barker) and Shade of the Tree (Anthony), both of which I enjoyed.

[Ally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Singer Calvin Hubbard came to Harvey for the peace and quiet. He thought it would be the perfect place to clear his head and concentrate on his new album. However, not everything is as it seems, and the peaceful town of Harvey is about to turn into a horrific nightmare.

I found the plot to be a bit predictable, but overall this is a great story. Phil Rossi does a fantastic job of creating a dark and terrifying atmosphere for the listener. I also enjoyed some of the references to Crescent. It seems like Harvey might be a prequel, although I don't know if Rossi has confirmed this or not.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, but it's basically Crescent in Virginia. Man arrives in secluded place looking for a sort of fresh start. Becomes involved with both a woman and a teen girl both of whom are chosen by the dark forces. mysterious events surround them all, connecting back to an ancient force. An official with ulterior motives tries to hide the fact that anything is happening. All the while a mystical black woman surrounded by old things who is not quite human knows what is happening and guides events. They are both fine books but they are very similar.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phil's storytelling technique drags you right down into all of the dirty, frightening and magical action of Harvey. I was impressed at how different a story it was from Crescent and at the spin on a current popular monster that it took (at first, I groaned, ohhhh, not another ------ story), but he used history and folklore to create something completely his own.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Phil Rossi knows how to make sexy scary. Or is it scary sex?

Either way, his second novel takes us to more familiar territory, here on Earth, in Harvey, VA, where something horrible is going on and townspeople are going missing...and then coming back from the dead.

Not your usual zombie story and Rossi's style makes it shine (in a very dark way).

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harvey is a story about.. well.. a town. I really can't say much or else I'd give the plot away. Phil Rossi does a very good job of keeping the reader engaged in trying to find out who or what is causing the rising dead.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty good! nice and creepy. Sort of a strange reveal and I never really got much backstory about the source of the "evil" and where it originated from but it was still fun to follow along. It was nice and magical even though the magic was never explained :/

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book! I listen to the audio book version at least once a month at work!

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suspenseful and scary and I Loved it!

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked Crescent better, but will definitely be listening to more by Mr Rossi.

[Thomas Roth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting story. Heard via iTunes. I will never go in the woods alone again.