An excellent horrot, creepy and gripping. It kept me on the edge and I felt a sense of dread.
The author is a talented writer and can't wait to read other stories.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

I haven’t read any good long horror books in awhile, so when I picked this one up, I dove right in and savored every minute of it 🙌. If you like heists, great characters and maybe a monster or two… this is the book for you!

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When Henry Thorne is abducted from school and taken to a remote farmhouse in the woods, his captors think they have everything under control. Not knowing Henry has a special gift and has created a bond with a strange force living in the woods, their easy money soon turns into a living nightmare. This strange force has a connection to this farmhouse and wants them gone. For good.

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This story really has it all. A great plot. A creepy setting. Characters that you love and hate. And don’t forget the monstrous supernatural element. Told in the third person with multiple points of view, you also get some inner dialogue from the story’s main character, Henry. Fracassi has really created a masterpiece here.

I give A Child Alone With Strangers ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆, 𝑯𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒚. 𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒃𝒐𝒚, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒈𝒊𝒇𝒕. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒈𝒊𝒇𝒕, 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕? 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒏.
This novel managed to break my heart from the beginning and then creep me out. Not many horror stories tug at your heart, this one did. When terrible things happen to children, it makes you hate the world and all the monsters in it. It’s the human monsters that are the worst. Henry has lived through terrible loss and the callous whims of fate doesn’t seem to let up when a traumatic experience occurs. What he is left with, after losing everything again, is what some would deem a curse, other’s a gift. More than anything, it is pain. He comes out of the incident with some sort of… anomaly, which makes him feel like a freak at school, and a target for bullying. All he wants is acceptance, but even at home with his family he feels his ‘uniqueness’ is something others fear. With an uncanny ability of discernment, he still doesn’t know just how ugly people can be.

When Henry is kidnapped and taken to an isolated farmhouse in the forest, he is afraid of what his abductors have in store for him, but he may well know some things they don’t, giving him an edge. There is something ancient lurking in the dark, a primitive, inhuman presence. Somehow, he is able to open his mind to it, which may well be the only chance he has to survive their cruel plan. There is something in the cellar too, something Henry can feel with his mind and soul, his abductors think their scheme is going to run smoothly, that it’s in their control, but they will learn how wrong they are.

I adore Henry, he is such a cool kid, a survivor and his interactions with the rotten people he is held captive by were clever, mind games beyond his years. It’s so much more than a supernatural, horror, thriller because at the heart of it is loss and living through the fog of grief. I think rather than getting a character who endures endless horrors we get into the mind and heart of a wonderful little boy dealing with unimaginable, atrocious events. I liked the ending too. It is dark, make no mistake, and has gory happenings but for me, the draw was the light inside Henry. Perfect book for October! This is my first-time reading a Philip Fracassi novel, but it won’t be my last.

Publication Date: October 25, 2022

Skyhorse Publishing

Talos

Wow, what a rollercoaster of emotions!
Fracassi delivers a thrilling ride with relatable characters and some intense horror I didn't see coming.
More crime based, so not his usual stuff. A unique experience that may give nostalgia to those who like 80s thrillers/crime fiction.
Highly recommend reading this book. I won't forget it easily.

Loved this well-written mixture of crime thriller and horror novel. Ten year old Henry Thorne is kidnapped and kept in a remote farmhouse. But Henry is not the easy mark his captors think he is. He has special paranormal abilities and he connects with an entity living in the woods outside the farmhouse. This whopper of a novel (600 pages) kept me glued to the pages and made me fondly recall the horror novels I read back in the early 80s.

This was a good book that goes in a few different directions and crosses over genres. A little bit of a thriller, crime novel, and kid with special abilities, mixed in with some good creature horror. Fracassi writes good characters and you'll be intrigued to discover their journey and what happens to them. I'm most familiar with his short stories (which are excellent) so this long novel was a bit of a surprise to me. I really like his style, and I will definitely continue reading more of his work.

needs to be told and making those questions secondary.

The storytelling in A Child Alone with Strangers can bring comparisons to writers like Robert McCammon or Stephen King, but Fracassi goes beyond with prose that can be simply beautiful, such as “...his consciousness ground itself into the heavy crust of hard reality, folded itself up like the reverse blooming of a great mysterious flower, a vibrant mandala reduced to a pinprick.” Fracassi takes the initiating horror and offers his readers the great gift of empathy, going deep into the minds of the characters here, child and adult, good and bad, and shows us why they are the way they are. Cops and criminals may be cliché in the procedural format, but each voice is fully formed and fleshed out, and if you don’t agree with a decision made by a character, you can at least come to an understanding of why it was made.

Perhaps what is most effective of A Child Alone with Strangers is the opportunity Fracassi gives the reader to empathize with those they never would before, be it a young boy, criminals, law enforcement, or something at home in nightmares. This novel is a unique blend of genres that makes the reader want to know more of the world the author has built, answering the questions asked but leaving just enough out of reach that it sticks after that final page.

One of the things I look for when I read a book is how believable it is. Or, rather, how UNbelievable. And Fracassi delivers that suspended sense of belief, leaving me in a flabbergasted heap, amazed by what I've just read yet again.

A Child Alone With Strangers starts off as your typical child kidnapping story... Until it doesn't. This is the part where anything is possible in the wonderful world of fiction, so much so that it actually seems believable.

Fracassi has cemented himself as one of my favourite horror authors ever since I've read his Beneath A Pale Sky, and I look forward to reading more of his outstanding work in the future.

This is a story that has it all. Great characters, suspense, action, heartfelt moments, setting and a while damn boatload of originality! Absolutely loved it from the first chapter to the end, and for sure didn't want it to end. Told a buddy yesterday that this was going to blow the hell up it's so good. Fracassi was already a favorite but this one is a step beyond and puts him solidly in my top three authors.
Was lucky enough to get an arc from netgalley but will be looking forward to having this baby on my shelf!

What a great story! So many different elements, bad guys, really bad guys, monsters, creepy yet sweet kid, scary abandoned house in the woods. Great character building.

This book is one part horror story and one part crime novel, but all marvelous. The action starts right from the get-go and doesn't let up until the end. Ten year old Henry has a gift. He can visualize other peoples' feelings as colors and movement. A rag tag group of petty criminals see him as an easy target for kidnapping, A huge mistake as they come to learn.
I like this author's writing style. He is very good at setting the scenes and laying out the action. He injects a dash of sarcasm into the book, which adds to its appeal in my opinion. I had a hard time putting this one down and I hope to read more from this author.

I loved this book. It was a nice mix of crime thriller meets creature feature. Fracassi is an amazing storyteller.

Review Copy

A CHILD ALONE WITH STRANGERS was all kinds of fun to read! When I started reading I thought I had been given bad information. This wasn't a horror novel. Clearly this was a mystery/thriller. Around the midpoint the horror kicked in...in a big way. A very big way.

This very descriptive book is awesome! It has it all. It's detailed, it crosses genres, it answers your questions by tying up every loose end. It has a mix a characters to love and hate.

This is too good to miss. Buy this 5 star book now.

First off, thank you so much to #Netgalley, the publisher and especially the author for this ARC! I cant thank them enough because I was so excited for this book and I freaked out when I got approved for the ARC!

I actually had this book preordered when I requested this arc and after reading it, I cant wait to get my copy so I can add it to my collection to read again!
This book was SO GOOD. I can’t stress it enough. It took some time to build up to all of the action but that time was needed to get to know the characters and it didn’t feel like it went on too long/unnecessarily. When that action hit though? WOW. Just WOW! The wait was worth it!
I love when authors write morally grey characters…. You go between hating them and feeling for them and that feels authentic because life is not black and white.
If you like Stephen king but hate how his books are 200 pages too long because of unnecessary filler, this book is for you. This author will be an automatic read for me going forward!
Ps- the ending was SOOOO good! Love, love, loved this book!

Trigger warnings for this book include: <spoiler> suicide, incest, child death, child harm, death of a parent, animal death/cruelty, and some minimal but uncomfortable scenes that touch on racism, sexual assault, and disability </spoiler>.

This book was a solid 3.5 stars for me, and would have been 4 stars if I wasn't so very soft: <spoiler> I just can't do bits with animals at all - there's a scene with wild dogs toward the end that ends in gore and the creature feature baby has a sad ending it didn't deserve </spoiler>. As a horror novel, this was balanced beautifully as a humans-are-monsters thriller with a detailed embroidery of the supernatural underneath, one that is peeled back and exposed due to trauma and circumstance but largely wanting to be left alone. Between that and the length (it was a bit long at times, but almost all of it was used in detailed story building and character development, making each moment count) it was very King at times, and <i>in a good way,</i> which is not always the case with that parallel in my book.

Henry, the main character, was lovely, albeit a bit uneven at times - as a gifted child undergoing and having undergone trauma in a horror/thriller novel though, I think he was managed pretty well. I think there were times when he was more mature and it made sense to go with "smart kid, spunky, bit psychic, previously traumatized" and other times where he was more mature and the fact that he was 10 had been forgotten. To that extent, I think "smart kid, spunky, bit psychic" was also used as a cover to not address the "previously traumatized" in his character as much.

Which by the way, wish there had been something else/additional to explain the ghost element of this story. I think there are only mild spoilers here, but putting them away just in case: <spoiler> what the heck was up with his dad? Given how the entity was first described as "something else" when he was first in the coma, then later "a voice" "maybe his dad" I was pretty sure this was <i>something</i> but not actually his dad. Then it was appearing as a black shadow, coins for eyes (sure, traditional, alright) but that wasn't giving me the sense it was his father. As it keeps going, given what his father was like the last few months of his life, you'd think he'd be...a little different? I felt like the set up for 95% of the story was that the ghost was <b>not</b> ultimately going to be his dad. And then it was and also he was leaving and taking the gift away...and that part didn't 100% track for me given the previous 500 pages of the book (no joke) nor the horror genre in general. Am I the only one here?</spoiler> I would also have <i>loved</i> an illustration of the creature feature.

Moving to some trickier territory, let's discuss the use of racism and disability in the book. I can speak more to the disability rep, which wasn't good. I <i>didn't</i> love that a plot point hinges on <spoiler> someone faking an intellectual disability and adding a stutter, then throwing around "r-----"</spoiler>. There is also intermittent reference to Henry having long-term effects from his injuries which are referenced but not internalized (e.g., despite often centering Henry and his thoughts/perspective, that perspective isn't actively embodying the after-effects of those injuries so much as intermittently remembering to mention that he'd probably have some?). Regarding race/racism, I'm going to let other reviewers with better insight take point on that one. On the one hand, Fracassi includes a diverse cast, but on the other, alarm bells ring when a white dude uses "n-----" to refer to his characters, 1995 or not.

Overall, the set up for the book - the premise and supernatural/horror elements, including the awful humans involved - was excellent. The writing was also quite good - despite how terrible some of these people were, I was engrossed throughout the whole book. It definitely had its flaws (see all of the above) but as a premise I really enjoyed it.

Prepare yourself for old-school horror...full of depth, realistic characters, monsters (the human and non-human kind) and a climax that will keep you up reading as it devours you.

Fracassi wastes no time in this book. The prologue announces, loud and proud, "This is HORROR, get comfortable, we're gonna go for a long ride, deep into the woods and we may not make it back!"

It is quite a journey. After some early gut-punches, things move with creeping dread. Fracassi throws fuel on the fire as the story progresses, until it becomes a raging inferno of nightmares. This book will make your skin crawl. There are a kaleidoscope of terrors along the way and the crescendo is a non-stop barrage of thrilling, visceral, horror-action.

But it's not just about the horrors. You'll love some of the characters and hate more than a few. You will feel for Henry. You will experience his isolation and despair. His heart will make you ache for him and his courage will make you cheer.

One of my favorites this year. Epic and unforgettable.

I’ve read several books by Mr fracassi. This one was a journey for sure. A good many books this long have a large portion where you may slog a bit learning about everyone. The way Philip does his world building is just seamless and you just at some point realize you really know all these people. The story moved along fairly quickly and just doesn’t let up. There’s a ton of action and a lot of things that have you racing through the pages. My biggest problem now……. Is did I love this more than boys in the valley ? There’s a pretty good chance ! Get this book it’s amazing I promise.t

Philip Fracassi is an amazing author. This is the fourth or fifth book I've read by him, and its my favorite so far. Part Thriller, part Horror, part Science Fiction, ...and completely different and original. Once started,this book would NOT let me put it down! I was hypnotized and completely absorbed until the final paragraph. Philip Fracassi is on a roll and at the top my have to read list of authors. Another amazing book by this author! I really wish I could give it more than 5 stars!