Deadfall Lane (REVIEW)

Deadfall Lane

Author: Israel Finn
Category: Horror Short Story

Suitable for: Adults only

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

Format Read for Review: Kindle

Pages: 10

Description: Pete is pushed over the edge and commits a heinous crime with unforeseen consequences for him and his family. A hundred year old tree is now dying, leaning, and pointing accusing branches at his haunted soul.    

In Short: A dark, chilling, gruesome, and tragic short story. If you love gory horror, don't mind adult content, and are looking for a really quick read check this book out.

This book is $0.99 on Amazon for the kindle edition. 

Pros: This book is really well written, edited, and descriptive yet concise. The story is definitely easy to imagine and a very haunting tale. It is complicated and made me feel conflicting emotions. The story is very creepy and even though Pete, the star of the book has committed some awful sins I feared for his safety and sanity while portents of revenge began to cast a dark shadow in his direction. I was on the edge of my seat enjoying the thrilling suspense and was sad to see it end. I really enjoyed the author's writing style and would definitely read more books by Israel Finn.

Cons: At about 10 pages this story was just too short. Although the ending was chilling it came too quickly after the climax and as a result left me feeling like I wasn't getting to know what happens next. The main character gets left in limbo. I would have liked to see him either meet his fate or escape the darkness in the end. I know part of the fear is in the not knowing. However, with how short and quick the conclusion was, that didn't work for me. There was also some adult content that I feel limited the audience pool. There was an imagined-rape scene that didn't add anything to the story but makes it a no-go and potential trigger for some readers.      

Parent's Guide and Trigger Warnings: This book contains themes of violence, gore, murder and rape.