The Scary Reviews

To Purchase Boom Town Click Here

Length:  81 Pages

Review copy provided in exchange for an honest review.

Book description:

In the summer of 1979, Eckert, Wisconsin, was the sight of the most unique UFO encounter in history. A young couple observed a saucer-like aircraft hovering over Hollers Hill. A blue beam blasted down from the center of the craft into the hill and caused the ground to rumble for miles.

Now, thirty years later, Eckert is experiencing nightly rumbles that stir up wild rumors and garner outside attention. The earthly tremors are being blamed on everything from earthquakes to underground earth dwellers. Two pre-teens discover a pipe out behind Packard’s Flea Market uprooted by the “booms” and come into contact with the powerful ooze bubbling from within. What begins as curiosity will end in an afternoon of unbridled terror for the entire town.

Praise for Boom Town:

“…Stephen King-lite. (Boom Town) is quick, punchy and goes places you may not see coming before the final page is swiped or turned.” – Horror After Dark

“Boom Town is quick and entertaining read that harkens back to the 1980’s brand of small town (or intimate invasion) alien pieces. Like a reader’s digest version of Late Night Horror Television presentations (every region had one, for me it was “Fright Night Theatre”) of “Invaders From Mars”, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, “Night of the Creeps” or “Xtro”” – Zachary, Mouths of Madness Podcast

“Rolfe weaves a wonderful tale of big, bad things happening to a small, good town. A sure winner!” – Hunter Shea, author of Island of the Forbidden and The Montauk Monster

Author Bio:

Glenn Rolfe is an author, singer, songwriter and all around fun loving guy from the haunted woods of New England. He has studied Creative Writing at Southern New Hampshire University, and continues his education in the world of horror by devouring the novels of Stephen King and Richard Laymon. He and his wife, Meghan, have three children, Ruby, Ramona, and Axl. He is grateful to be loved despite his weirdness.

He is the author the ghost/mystery/thriller novella, ABRAM’S BRIDGE (Samhain Publishing, Jan. 2015) and his latest novella, a Horror/Sci-Fi mash-up, BOOM TOWN (Samhain Publishing). A full-length novel, BLOOD AND RAIN, will come out this Fall from Samhain Publishing and THINGS WE FEAR, a novella, is set to publish from Samhain in 2016.

His debut novel, THE HAUNTED HALLS (James Ward Kirk Publishing, 2014), is available now, as well as his short story collection, SLUSH (Alien Agenda Publishing, 2014).

Book review:

Boom Town is a great and fun read about the mysteries of the ‘booms’ in a small town.  The story starts out with a few unfortunate characters who come in contact with the unknown ‘blue ooze’ and, as in any good horror story, things go south quickly for them.  I always love and expect a few casualties and some collateral damage in a mystery/horror story and Glenn didn’t disappoint nor let me down.  He built a nice little town that could be anywhere and set it full of characters we have all come across.  I found the characters interesting and as I was nearing the remaining few chapters was invested in them.  This to me is what makes any story a good one, if I don’t care about the characters why keep reading.

The mystery behind the ‘blue ooze’ is left a bit to our imagination and I like it that way.  If the storyteller lays it all out then I feel as a reader I’m not smart enough to figure it out and I like filling in blanks or putting the puzzle pieces together myself.  I think ones imagination can scare you far more than what you can read.  As the story progresses we meet Brady and Kim who in my opinion are great characters and their story line I loved the best.  These two are a couple of kids who are ‘investigating’ the ‘blue ooze’ and slowly put the pieces together.  As they come closer to figuring it all out, unfortunately a bit late for some, they barely avoid disaster for themselves.  Brady is the brave typical young teen who is always exploring and looking for adventure, Kim his best friend isn’t so sure trying to figure out the truth behind the ‘blue ooze’ is such a great idea.

The descriptions of Mr. Packard and his exposure to the ‘blue ooze’ are disturbing and vividly painted.  He was a great and disgusting character in many ways.  It was horrifying what he did and what happened to him and for this Glenn Rolfe did a great job making an ordinary guy a monster.   The scenes with Mr. Packard were, in addition to horrifying, very tense and scary.  The tension when Brady and Kim interact with Mr. Packard made me turn pages faster to see what was going to happen.  I love the way the story unfolds and how so many of the characters are connected, it’s a nice bit of storytelling that had me really trying to keep all of the characters straight.  This is another part of what I find makes great writing, involving enough characters to keep the story moving and interesting.  Glenn does a fine, fine job with this and doesn’t let the action slow down and let the reader feel like the story is dragging on.  In the end when we learn the fate of more than a few of the residents I realized that I had almost forgotten some of the people in this small town.  On the other side, I would have liked to know a bit more about the who and why behind the mystery, it is briefly mentioned and in a story this short maybe that is all could be covered.  I guess Glenn really got me pulled in and this made me want to know more.  Overall I think Boom Town is well done and worth the read, I look forward to reading a few other books by Glenn Rolfe that are on my kindle and following to see what is next for him.

Rating 4/5

Where Can you find Glenn Rolfe?

GoodReads:

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6939496.Glenn_Rolfe

Samhain Horror:

https://www.samhainpublishing.com/author/1820/glenn-rolfe

Amazon:

Barnes & Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/boom-town-glenn-rolfe/1121271645?ean=9781619225923

Other books by Glenn Rolfe