Pretty good horror read. I was definitely invested in reading from the start. Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for the chance to review.

It has potential and is worth the read!

This new addition to the horror shelf delivers on atmosphere and creepiness. Definitely at the top of the list is the wonderful and intense setting of the Northern Yukon, Canada. An incredible storm, cabin in the forest and three friends who will experience the slow burn suffering that unfolds.

It is certainly worth reading and while there was a certain level of repetitiveness that could have been avoided, I am looking forward to reading what Blaine Daigle writes next.

I really enjoyed this horror novel by Blaine Daigle. Set in the Yukon winter, three best friends embark on a camping trip none of them could have imagined. They are all forced to face some painful truths about their pasts, and learn some truths that were hidden from them. The story had a Stephen King vibe to me with the unknown menace in the woods, and the religious tones. I want to thank the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for giving me an e-copy of this book, in return for an honest review.

Starting this book, I really enjoyed the first chapter but quickly realized that the chapters seemed extremely long while reading on Kindle, maybe that was me not being fully engaged? The story was good, but the tensity seemed the same throughout until the end. My favorite things about the whole book were the references to the PNW, Kalispell, Yukon, etc. That's what kept me reading. Some of the subplots/twists of the story seemed out of place or lacked the tone it was supposed to have.

I would give this a 2.5
It had an interesting concept but the execution just wasn't for me. I found the character work to be weak, with the characters all seeming very similar and also feeling quite stock. There was no real development or change in them. I think the book lost steam, it dragged on too long and took too long to get to the bulk of the scares and the background.

Actual rating of 4.5

When Rynn inherits his family's cabin up in the remote wilderness of the Yukon, he could think of nothing worse. The cabin is fraught with memories of strange happenings and of the tension between his uncle and Father that only grew worse as Rynn got older. But after a year of hell, Rynn decides to take his two best friends up to the cabin for the weekend in order to take a break and hopefully begin anew. However, there's something strange in the woods, and a winter storm moving in threatens to cut the men off from the small pocket of civilisation nearby. When the storm hits and the animals begin to act weird, the three friends soon realise that there is darkness here, and the answer to how to survive it lies deep within the Burdette family line. Will delving into his family history help Rynn, or will it send him spiralling down into the deep tunnel of darkness that's been threatening to swallow him whole all along?

TW: (view spoiler)

I'd had this one sitting on my kindle for AGES, and I've decided that I really need to whittle down my eARCs. I'm doing ARCtober in order to help me do this, though this one I actually finished in September. I'm all about those spooky reads and recs all year round! I loved the sound of this one, I'm a sucker for a 'friends-in-the-woods-cabin-creepy-forest-ancient-evil' vibe, and this one had that in spades.

We meet Rynn and his buddies when they're on their way up to the cabin that Rynn has inherited from his uncle. Rynn's had a rough go the last 12 months, and so have his two friends, so taking a getaway to the remote cabin in order to take time out from life and try to regroup and begin anew is the aim of the game. At least, it is for the two friends, Rynn has other plans. Rynn knew that the cabin was super remote as he'd been coming to it since he was young, but they weren't counting on the storm on the horizon being as brutal as it would turn out to be. I felt that Daigle did a fantastic job of really setting the atmosphere in this story. From the minute the guys stop in the town on their way up to the cabin, you can feel how isolated they are, both in location, as well as personally. While the townsfolk do recognise Rynn, they don't know the friends, and you can feel the segregation between townsfolk and "tourists" from the get-go. Daigle built the atmosphere up slowly until I could feel how palpable the isolation was, it didn't stop at the town, it just kept going, especially with the incoming storm getting worse. This story held a huge feeling of bleakness, desperation and darkness that slowly trickled in as the story progressed until it felt like I was drowning under a river that I didn't even know was there. I could feel the desperation of all three men as the story progressed, desperation of beating the demons they all battled with, and desperation that was brought about by their current declining situation.

I really sympathised with the characters. We are given a run-down of the events that lead them to be where they are now, and what created the depression and demons that they each battle with. All had faced different circumstances which ultimately lead them to the junction that they now stood at. The darkness that surrounds the cabin was tied to one of my favourite types of horror which is an ancient being that holds sway over those that worship it. This story gave me mad The Ritual (Adam Nevill) vibes and I was here for it. I had worked out fairly early on the general gist of the being in the woods...of the woods? But I didn't quite pick the reason behind the animals behaving strangely until the story had progressed a bit further and certain things came to light. As the reveals were slowly dropped, so too did my stomach. The story turned out a lot darker and bleaker in certain ways than I had anticipated. Nothing so dark that I couldn't stomach it, but certain aspects did make the story become darker and darker as it went on.

I did find that at times the pacing dropped a little and some parts became a tiny bit repetitive, but I feel like this was done deliberately in order to allow for the story to slow down and the atmosphere to build a little bit more. I've learned to not give up hope and immediately drop a book just because the pacing slows down, that happened after I'd finally finished No One Gets Out Alive (Adam Nevill). I put that book down because it was so freaking slow, but once I finished it, I was so mad that I had put it on the back burner for so long. I try to see the purpose behind a pacing drop now instead of just writing it off as the author stumbling a little. Which, to be honest, would be totally understandable as I believe this is actually Daigle's debut novel. But I digress, Daigle didn't stumble at all, and this was a fantastic story, so much so, that I was surprised to find out this was a debut! By the last page, I felt like I'd been slowly consumed by that unknown river mentioned earlier, but the bleakness didn't leave. Daigle did a magical job of dangling hope in front of the characters as well as the reader, but kept it just out of reach so you could still see that shining beacon that promised the storm would end, and the sun would rise again, but he dangled it off a stick that was tied to your head, so no matter how fast you ran, you felt like you just could not quite reach it. That last chapter (epilogue?) was a shining example of this, and while I'm a huge fan of leaving what happened next up to the reader's own imagination and interpretation, I still wanted him to TELL me what happened. I feel like we got a kind of closure, but not quite a closure. I'm still thinking about it now and I finished it like a month ago.

All in all, this was an absolutely fantastic debut novel, and I cannot wait to see what Daigle does next. His skill at building atmosphere is phenomenal and he writes deep, complex characters that could be as real as you or I. I actually have his next book on my kindle, so I'm going to try and move that up the list as fast as I can. I feel that Daigle is certainly an author to watch and has a unique voice in a saturated genre. I am keen to keep following him down this rabbit hole of horror.

"An Eerie Cabin Getaway with a Few Twists"

A cold and desolate cabin serves as the backdrop for this story, where a group of lifelong friends, now navigating the complexities of adulthood, reunite for one last week together. The bonds of their long-standing friendship are explored, alongside the recent struggles that have cast a shadow over their lives.

The narrative's early moments successfully set a spine-tingling tone, particularly when a deer captures their attention with an eerie stare, sending shivers down your spine. However, as the story unfolds, it occasionally becomes entangled in repetitive details. At times, distinguishing between the characters becomes a challenge, as their voices blur into a homogeneous blend, and I often found myself needing to remind myself of each one's unique history.

Nevertheless, the book excels in maintaining an atmosphere of suspense, skillfully conveying the cabin's chilling aura and the omnipresent cold. The conclusion, while not entirely surprising, delivers a satisfying ending that aligns with the story's eerie ambiance. This was an undeniably exhilarating ride, featuring moments that sent shivers down my spine. The conclusion was devastating in the best possible way, leaving a lasting impact. I was drawn to this book due to the evocative cover and intriguing description, and it unquestionably delivered. The story brims with terrifying scenes and a pervasive sense of dread that is executed with finesse. While I had some inklings about the story's direction, it still managed to astonish me at various points. I would strongly recommend this book to fans of folk horror.

Nonetheless, I did encounter some issues, primarily concerning the characters and the writing style. The frequent shifts in point of view and the author's inclination to tell rather than show were aspects that could have been handled more adeptly. Many passages felt repetitive, providing excessive information about the characters' thoughts, opinions, and afflictions. However, considering this is a debut novel, I'm inclined to be more forgiving, especially since the plot itself was so engaging. I'll be eagerly anticipating the author's future releases, as I'm confident that they will continue to evolve and captivate their audience.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to both the author and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC through Netgalley.

I've spent around two weeks reading this book, and for someone who has always been a fast reader, this was completely unreasonable.
The whole book consisted of one scene repeated time and again; almost all of the book was just the main trio facing possessed animals, developing random injuries, and thinking about their miserable lives. It was like listening to the same joke multiple times, you laugh the first time, chuckle the second, and lose interest by the third time.
Moving on to the characters, they were carbon copies of each other. Apart from different incidents in the past of each, they all read the same. They were extremely one dimensional.
The plot wasn't a strong one, which is understandable considering nothing substantial happened until the last 15%. And even in the end, it was really ambiguous and underwhelming.
So, basically, I wasn't a fan of the book.
*I received an ARC of this book through netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Three best friends go to a cabin in the woods that they visited as children. There was always one rule when visiting. Don’t eat the meat. I really liked how the author wove together a great folkloric spooky book. Great for spooky season, or if your trapped in a snow storm

god i absolutely loved this book! the perfect book for spooky season! i felt like the beginning was kinda slow but once you got through that, it flew by. i couldn’t put it down

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was so good! I like how intense the book was, not overtly scary but the elements of folk horror was prominent in here and makes it more spooky. The setting in winter with heavystorm solidify the horror factors. There are a lot of grief, sadness and lossess in this story that pervades all 3 of the characters. One experienced death once and come back to life, another one lost his use of body parts that proven to deter most of the daily activities and another one lost both his child physically and his wife emotionally. I think this book was great and incredibly interesting to read.

A young man and his friends travel to the frozen north to stay in a cabin that he inherited. Years before, he had been there with his family and something bad had happened. He finds that the town and the townspeople are still creepy. There is only one church in town, denomination unknown. When he enters it, he discovers that it is not for a faith that he recognizes.

If you are a fan of stories where a group of friends is stranded in a cabin in the wilderness when a blizzard is raging, there is something supernatural and dangerous in the woods, and they are low on food and firewood, then this is the book for you. The author did a great job of bringing the eerie, silent, frozen landscape to life. I have my own opinion of what the monster was and how it infected the other animals, but don't want to give it away.

I received a review copy of this book from Wicked House Publishing via NetGalley, and voluntarily read and reviewed this book.

Big thanks to Netgalley, Blaine Daigle and Wicked House Publishing!

I can't believe this is the author's debut novel! It was so well written and I couldn't stop reading it. I loved the folklore and settings of the book. I deeply cared for the characters. I don't want to post any spoilers so I'm leaving my feelings out.

I can't wait to read more books from Blaine Daigle!

The Broken Places is an extremley atmospheric folk horror story. The book follows three main characters - Ryne, Shawn, and Noah as they stay at Ryne's family cabin in a secluded forested area off of a small village. When strange disturbances occur with animals in the area, the three men realize there may be something more sinister at play.

Although I didn't fully feel invested in the story until about 30% of the way through, I really enjoyed this one. Once thing start to pick up, the story does NOT slow down at all. There was tons of action and high stakes. I absolutely loved the setting of being in an isolated cabin near the woods during a winter storm and the mix of creepy animals made it all the more unsettling. On top of that, each of the characters had deeply emotional back stories and traumas, as well as a strong friendship bond, that were a delightful addition to the book allowing you to truly connect with them and actually care about what was happening.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is a fan of folk horror, horror involving animals, mild body horror, witchcraft/rituals/legends. A solid read and a great debut from this author!

You could feel the emotion and trauma coming off the pages. Eerie and a bit jarring, this book is very well written and full of atmosphere. The story is a slow burn that gradually picks up the pace. It will definitely stick with you after you have finished the final chapter.

Great debut book. Looking forward to more from this author!

I want to thank NetGalley, Blaine Daigle and Wicked House Publishing for the e-ARC of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are honest, my own and left voluntarily.

I'm going to say first and foremost I'm not a fan of stomp and chomp horror or blood and gore so while this book wasn't to my taste, I appreciate how well done it was. It was a slow burn which I love and there was lots of creeping dread and a huge build up. Great read if you like a little splatter with your horror!

In the last year, Ryne Burdette lost his unborn son, his wife left him, and now his dad and uncle die in a fiery car crash. Now he’s inherited the family hunting cabin in the remote woods of Canada. So Ryne packs up the SUV with his two closest friends and they make the trek to the great white north. The northern Yukon makes for a mighty fine setting to isolate some characters and subject them to unspeakable terrors. But right off the bat, the trip doesn’t make much sense. Ryne’s friends, Noah and Shawn, are under the impression this is going to be a hunting trip, a chance to get away from all the tragedies that each has recently faced. Speaking of hunting, they also notice the woodland animals they encounter along the way are acting weird. Hmm…

Soon after arriving at the cabin, Ryne informs them he won’t be leaving. He plans on being a hermit far away from everyone for who knows how long. Of course, the other two don’t take the news lightly and try to figure how to change Ryne’s mind. Meanwhile, the storm of all winter storms starts hitting the cabin with all its fury, cutting off any means of exit.

This is where you’d expect all hell to start breaking loose. And the action to ratchet up. Well… yes, and no. The Broken Places is a slow burn, which I’m quite fond of, if done right. Unfortunately, the story suffers from a lack of editing. My copy was riddled with grammatical errors. And the plot holes and pacing really needed tightened up. The characters differentiated little from each other and there was a lot of repetitiveness that bogged the story down. There were so many instances where the characters’ behaviors went against the grain of logic that it kept pulling me out of the story. It would take 100 pages for them to ask out loud the obvious questions that they should have been asking from the start.

Now, if it sounds like I’m crapping all over Daigle and his writing, that’s not my intention. I think he has the makings of an excellent writer. He simply suffered from the lack of good editing.

2.5 Crucified Road Kills out of 5

I loved this book. It is so suspenseful and dark. I love the nature kind of horror vibe. This story leaves you at the edge of your seat.

4 Stars!

I was not quite sure what to expect from The Broken Places by Blaine Daigle. I was not familiar with the author at all. But the cover was sufficiently creepy and it has animals in it, which is a plus in my mind, so I decided to give it a try to see what it was about.



Ryne Burdette really did not want anything to do with his family’s hunting cabin. When he inherited it, he did his best to just put it out of mind. The cabin had nothing but strange and dark memories from his childhood that were more disturbing than comforting. A year later, though, life has taken its own path as it often does, and the cabin begins to seem like a refuge. Joined by his childhood friends, Noah and Shawn, Ryne travels to the cabin for what he says is a weekend retreat to reset from the stress of everyday life.



It turns out that Ryne has more in store than just a weekend retreat. Ryne is planning on retreating from the world. Before his friends can even begin to try to talk him out of this, everything changes when a blizzard shuts them off from the rest of the world and they discover they are not alone in the cabin. This was no ordinary hunting cabin. It was the center of the Burdette family and a dark, secret pact the family made long ago with something that lives in the woods. Ryne’s father had tried to protect him from the family legacy, but the time has come for Ryne to pay just as every man in his family had done for generations. The cabin is no longer a refuge. It is a coffin.



I was not sure what to expect when I started The Broken Places, but what I found was an intriguing story full of horror and even a sort of mysticism. A remote cabin in a snowstorm is the perfect setting for horror, especially of the psychological sort, as it isolates through the elements as well as presents the chance for physical terror if the characters attempt to venture out. Daigle brings both into play in this tale as the presence in the woods attempts to draw the characters out and then, when that does not work for all of them, attempts to come in. There are all the elements one would expect from this type of story, including some uber-creepy deer, but there is more here. Much more, and for that Daigle brings us down into the basement.



What made the story stand out for me was the way in which Daigle tied the events at the cabin in with the history of Ryne’s family right up to the death of his father. There is a lot of emotion in the family history that gives The Broken Places a lot more weight than if it had been a simple horror story. That is not to say the novel does not work on a surface level of thrills and chills. It does, and there are some very good sequences of physical horror, most involving deer. But there is also something deeper into the novel. Once Daigle begins to explore the past and the Burdette family’s history, the novel turns from an entertaining book to one that haunts the reader even after it is finished. I had never read anything by Blaine Daigle before, but after reading The Broken Places, I look forward to reading more in the future.



I would like to thank Wicked House Publishing and NetGalley for this review copy. The Broken Places is available now.

Actual Rating 3.5

Ryne’s life has been exceedingly difficult in the last year, so when he inherits the family’s old hunting cabin in the Yukon wilderness, he decides to take a hunting trip with his two best friends. But he has an alternative motive for this trip, one that his friends are unlikely to approve of. And as they make their way to the cabin, they realize that something seems off about the land. With a huge storm moving in and wildlife acting unusually, the three friends begin to think that they may have stumbled into something much larger and more dangerous than they could have ever thought possible.

One of the things I enjoyed about this work was the setting. I do love it when the setting is isolated, and the real-life dangers of the wilderness are utilized throughout the plot. The author did an excellent job with this aspect. Similarly, strange occurrences began quite early on, which started the suspense building and added to the overall atmosphere of the work. However, this work did start slowly, but I personally quite enjoyed that buildup and anticipation.

The characters were decently written with fleshed-out backstories, but I never felt a real emotional connection to them despite the tragedies in their histories. This did detract some from my enjoyment. Their voices also didn’t feel as unique as they should, which made it difficult to tell whose POV I was reading at times.

With some supernatural horror reads, the buildup and suspense are great, then when the “monster” or driving force is revealed I can’t help but feel disappointed. I really liked how the author handled the reveal in this one as well as the history and explanations provided. It wasn’t an info-dump at the end but was spread out throughout the last quarter of the book, which kept the tension from being lost.

I do regret that I read this when it was 98 degrees outside rather than in the colder months. If you like supernatural (and natural) horror, incorporated with some folklore and gore, then you’ll probably enjoy this one. My thanks to NetGalley and Wicked House Publishing for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.