Big Bad: Christian Galacar
Reviewed By Steve Stred
“The world faded around her.”
Last year I finally broke down and got a Kindle. I was a die-hard, adamant physical reader through and through. But after my son arrived, I realized I just wasn’t able to read as I used too. The Kindle allowed me to read at my old pace and I was able to devour books again at my old pace. From May 1st to December 31st, 2018, I read 100 books. So far this year I’ve read 146 books (as of September 30th).
When I got my Kindle, it was all so foreign. So I went to Amazon and went to the free books section and the first book I ever snagged and loaded onto my Kindle was a book called ‘Gilchrist’ by an author I’d never heard of before.
‘Gilchrist’ leapt into my top books and then I checked out his two short story collection ‘Blackwater’ and loved it. Galacar has a way with words that only a few other authors have done for me.
When ‘Big Bad’ was available as a review copy, I jumped on it. Typically I would have crushed through this way faster, but unfortunately, life gave me a few stumbling blocks while reading this, so my normal reading time was affected.
At its core, ‘Big Bad’ is a story focused on grief.
We follow Emma as she travels to the small island her sister lived on. Her sister has passed away, an incident that has left her troubled and confused.
As the story unfolds, Galacar continues to introduce characters that feel like close friends. From Guppy the dependable cab driver, the only one in town, to Jim, the policeman who believes there’s more afoot with Molly’s death than it seems.
Set during a snowstorm, the town becomes a remarkable backdrop as more and more elements are introduced and exposed. This is one of the best thrillers I’ve read in years and the fact Galacar made the characters so believable and relatable that something as simple as Guppy finally sharing what he listens too on his headphones with Emma, will reduce you to tears.
I’ll be looking at getting a physical copy of this, I’ve already snagged the Kindle version, as this book will be one that I’ll be thinking of for some time and it may even be one of the odd rereads I’ll ever do. This book slots itself alongside Andrew Pyper’s ‘The Homecoming’, JH Moncrieff’s ‘Those Who Came Before Us’, Andrew Cull’s ‘Remains’ and Greg Chapman’s ‘Netherkind’ as the best books I’ve read this year and joins that crew in my top ten of all time.
If you enjoyed releases/movies such as Mystic River and The Killing, then you’ll absolutely love this.
Galacar has done it again and now I’m going to be diving into his other book ‘Cicada Springs’ asap.
Big Bad
At the height of a blizzard, Molly Rifkin goes missing in her small New England community of Rockcliffe Island. But when she is found dead of an apparent suicide, the story doesn’t add up. There are more questions than answers. And there are those who would like to see the whole thing just go away.
But it won’t be that easy…
Molly’s sister is FBI agent Emma Shane, who has been hanging on to her career by a thread, and when her sister turns up dead under suspicious circumstances, she is forced to confront the horrific past they once shared in order to discover the truth of her death—and the course of her own future.
As Emma digs deeper into the mystery on Rockcliffe Island, she finds herself coming face-to-face with corruption, murder, and two of the island’s most powerful and dangerous families.
You can buy Big Bad from Amazon UK & Amazon US
Steve Stred
Steve Stred writes dark, bleak horror fiction.
Steve is the author of the novels Invisible & The Stranger, the novellas The Girl Who Hid in the Trees, Wagon Buddy, Yuri and Jane: the 816 Chronicles and two collections of short stories; Frostbitten: 12 Hymns of Misery and Left Hand Path: 13 More Tales of Black Magick, and the dark poetry collection Dim the Sun.
On September 1st, 2019 his second collection of dark poetry and drabbles called The Night Crawls In arrived. This release was specifically created to help fund the 1st Annual LOHF Writers Grant.
Steve is also a voracious reader, reviewing everything he reads and submitting the majority of his reviews to be featured on Kendall Reviews.
Steve Stred is based in Edmonton, AB, Canada and lives with his wife, his son and their dog OJ.
You can follow Steve on Twitter @stevestred
You can visit Steve’s Official website here
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