The Damned Place: Chris Miller
Reviewed By Steve Stred
Chris Miller’s ‘The Damned Place‘ starts off with an absolute bang and introduces us to the mysterious house in the woods almost immediately.
I love when books fly out of the gate and decide to hold nothing back and throughout this book, Miller continued to push the envelope with horrific descriptions and awful characters.
What I liked: I’m a sucker for coming-of-age stuff set in the woods and this ticked off all of those boxes. We get a group of friends who’ve built a little hide-out in the woods who become the subject of the towns despicable bullies. The kids are relate-able and you root for them almost immediately. The setting is great and we spend a fair amount of time in the woods and near or in the house that has been mostly forgotten by the town.
What I didn’t like: This one’s a bit tougher. I found a bit of the dialogue when the ‘other place’ was described almost laughable at times with the ‘Fick a shoo’ and ‘Feck a shee’ stuff being off-putting. The most jarring thing that really killed the momentum for me was the repeated use of a six-letter slur over and over again. ‘F****t’ was probably used close to, if not more than 20 times in the book and it just lost any power or impact of a negative word towards the group by the bullies by the fifth utterance. I’m not opposed to the word being used, especially in context with the time period this was set in, but I just didn’t see a point with it being used so often.
Why you should buy it: The book is a fun read, and other than that slur, which hasn’t seemed to be a problem for other reviewers, than have at it! The house is creepy as hell and the ‘things’ over ‘there’ were great! Miller just released a sequel, which I’d be keen to see where things have gone from book one.
The Damned Place
A small town with dark secrets.
A house hidden in the woods that holds horrors unimaginable.
Four friends on summer break fighting off a group of bullies dead set on ruining their summer of fun.
The little town of Winnsboro has buried its secrets beneath years of history and faded memories. But, it’s about to be unearthed releasing ancient creatures as a budding psychopath blooms Will they survive what comes for them and possibly the world or will The Damned Place end it all?
You can pick up The Damned Place from Amazon UK & Amazon US
Steve Stred
Steve Stred writes dark, bleak horror fiction.
Steve is the author of three novels, a number of novellas and four collections.
He is proud to work with the Ladies of Horror Fiction to facilitate the 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
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