Review copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review
An abrupt and noticeably unpolished beginning made this story a tough go as I tried to settle in to this book. The chapters that followed felt disconnected from the epilogue until the last chapter made the thin connection. The protagonist is a dry one dimensional character, a bit cliché if you will. He is written as if the author thinks this is how a struggling writer truly is in real life, the way a sitcom might portray him. Alfred, our protagonist, is a struggling writer or maybe it’s wishful thinking that he is a writer at all. His father in law, Frank, arranges for Alfred to spend one week at Barry’s Lodge to write his book. Again, cliché, this story has been told. There is an abundance of flowery descriptions about each scene. I would have loved to see that much effort put towards plot, character development and cleaning up more editing mistakes than I could count. At around the one third point of the book the “thriller” begins. The inn keeper is completely odd and has a seemingly endless list of rules that aren’t explained. I can suspend disbelief if the rules make sense, but they don’t here. The conversation between Alfred and the inn keeper are disjointed. The story never gets the needed traction to be thrilling enough to keep my interest. The ending does have a twist of sorts but it wasn’t well written and left me unsatisfied. Sadly this isn’t a book I can recommend, it had too many misses and not enough hits.
Book Info
Length: 219 Pages
Publisher: Black Raven Books
Release date: June 8, 2017
To Purchase Barry’s Lodge Click Here
Something sinister has always lurked in the spectral woods of Skiddaw… Alfred, a washed-up author, plagued by failures can’t believe his luck when his father-in-law, Frank, provides him with a chance that he direly craved for: Seven days alone in an isolated Motel with the task of finishing his upcoming book! But little does he know about the Motel’s unsavory history. Hidden in the copse of trees and about 400 miles away from his home in the dark forest of Skiddaw, it is a two-storey facade with twisting, malevolent chimneys and an eerie allure.Lack of WI-FI, poor signals and weird set of rules, the dark atmosphere soon turns his seemingly idyllic trip into a living nightmare. Apart from the usual creaks, groans, and moans of the crumbling structure, he soon finds himself face to face with an entity. An urban legend that is lurking in the woods long before the Motel found its existing foundations. The Motel’s dark and haunting history quickly becomes tangled with Alfred’s life as he frantically searches for answers. Barry, the caretaker is hiding something. But what is it? Is there someone else living in the motel beside him? Or is the caretaker not what he seemingly appears? Alfred quickly begins to lose his tenuous grip on reality as he sinks further and further into an intricately designed game of deceit and lies that might put his life in danger! Or is he a threat to himself and everybody around him?
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