1. The Dead Path by Stephen M. Irwin

Category: 50 Books

Nicholas Close has always had an uncanny intuition, but after the death of his wife he becomes haunted, literally, by ghosts doomed to repeat their final violent moments in a chilling and endless loop. Torn by guilt and fearing for his sanity, Nicholas returns to his childhood home and is soon entangled in a dis­turbing series of disappearances and  murders—both as a sus­pect and as the next victim of the malignant evil lurking in the heart of the woods.

This book was so good and creepy. The cover got my attention (what with the dead bird with it’s legs cut off? and then shoved in the hole where the head should be? what?) and from the first page I was hooked. I guess it’s a supernatural thriller. The main charater, Nicholas can see images of dead people. This in itself is not so thrilling, but when he gets back to his childhood home in Australia is where the thrills hit the fan.

It was part fairy tale and part early Stephen King nightmare. No kidding, halfway through the book I was all, “This reminds me so much of back when Stephen King was awesome.” Turns out, I’m not the only one to go, “OMG it’s like Stephen King all over again!” Pretty much any review mentions it. And they’re right.

The story has good and evil, a wicked witch, haunted woods, huge spiders, and a hero you root for. It is not for the faint of heart. It would get so creepy that I wouldn’t read it at night because I didn’t want it to be the last thing I thought about before going to bed.

If you enjoy a well-written horror novel give this one a shot.

I think this is the author’s first published book, and if he writes another one I’ll definitely read it.

*SPOILER*

I kind of hate it when evil saves the day, The Prophecy, anyone?. Yeah, it was like that. There wasn’t really a good side in this story. The church was wholly ineffective because the church was actually built by the witch more than a hundred years ago. When I found out that part I thought oh great, so there’s no way to win here. And I was right. 

I kind of hated the ending, but I guess it was really the only way to end it.

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