"The Broken Places" is a good thriller, especially for someone who is just beginning to dabble in reading the genre. It wasn't overly gory and didn't have themes that would confuse a beginner thriller reader. Blaine Daigle does a good job of using detailed imagery in their writing. There were times that I truly felt as if I was in a frigid, snowy forest right alongside the characters. This book was a pretty quick read as it kept me entertained with its different twists.

I would have loved for this book to dive further into the twisted, dark history of the main character's family and how it all related to the native people in the book, being that was the premise of all of the "spookiness" going on. A richer history would have made me as the reader feel more connected to the main character's backstory.

Overall, "The Broken Places" is a good read and definitely worth the time. It is fast-paced and brings some new concepts to the thriller genre that have been missing for a while.

Thank you NetGalley, Wicked House Publishing and Blaine Daigle for a copy of this book.

This is an outstanding supernatural folklore horror novel and I loved every page of it.

Ryne Burdette has just inherited his family's cabin in Wolf's Bone, Yukon, and decides to take two of his friends, Shawn and Noah, on a hunting trip to get away and try to heal from their recent tragedies. Ryne has become the last member of his family after losing his father and uncle, Shawn has just lost his dream of being a professional baseball player and Noah is coping with anxiety and panic attacks from having died and brought back to life in a grain silo accident. As they approach the cabin, a large buck stands in the middle of the road. The buck is not afraid of the men and will not move for the. Its eyes are black and seem to have no life in them. This is just the first of many unsettling encounters with the animals in the woods. Pacts of animals stare into the cabin, a wolf begins to follow the men and the three start to hear voices. Ryne then has flashbacks of visiting the cabin as a young child and the horrible nightmares he used to have of a creature visiting him at night. Ryne remembers there was great tension between his father and his uncle surrounding the cabin but why? As the three realize it might be time to get the hell out, it is too late as a storm has moved in and there is no way out. What if the old legends people tell each other about the woods are true? What if your family legacy is a horror story?

This author really knows how to tell a story. I was addicted from the first page. The descriptions of the weather, the woods and the cabin made me feel so cold and claustrophobic. Some sections were downright creepy and gruesome and oh so good! I really hope this author has started on his next novel because I cannot wait to read it! High recommendations from me!

A bone chilling and transformative novel, The Broken Places by Blaine Daigle is an emotionally charged and riveting supernatural story of accepting loss and healing from generational trauma.

Ryne Burdette has some fond memories of the hunting cabin he used to visit with his father but most of them are also tainted by the palpable disdain and tension between Ryne’s father Rory and his Uncle Rod. Hoping to find a way to wipe his slate clean to begin again after a traumatic year, Ryne and his best friends decide to take a weekend trip to the family cabin Ryne has now inherited. From the moment they step foot into the quiet village on their way up to the remote cabin in the wilderness of the Yukon, the atmosphere feels off. It isn’t long before the quiet beauty of the forest is filled with whispers and strange occurrences. As an encroaching storm intensifies and they each begin to share the unnerving visions from the forest, the three friends must work quickly to solve the mystery of the dark past of the Burdette family before they all succumb to the deep dark cold wilderness.

I just want to start off by saying this has one of the best opening paragraphs I have read in a while. Vivid descriptions that evoke a sense of wonder and unease that really sets the tone for the rest of the book. I would call this a slow burn. Blaine Daigle takes his time building up the tension and creating emotional ties to each of these characters to the reader. They are wonderfully developed despite their individual traumas. Noah is a poetic soul. The more emotional one of the group of friends. His descriptions of the open land of the nature surrounding the cabin are evocative. He is described as being a hard worker, someone who does not give up prior to his trauma, but he also feels like the most empathetic of the three. Shawn is analytical, logical. He relies mainly on patterns and natural inclination. I also felt he was quick to the trigger emotionally. Ryne is reserved, but there is always something bubbling beneath the surface. His nature is kept in the shadows for a long time, much like the family history he is in the dark about.

I love the nod to Native American lore and how Europeans infringed upon Native lands and culture to twist and perverse it into something it was not meant to be.

Overall would recommend if you like dark, gripping, and terror inducing horror.

Thank you to NetGalley, Blaine Daigle, and Wicked House Publishing for providing the opportunity to read this story. This is my honest opinion and a voluntary submission.

This was an excellent and creepy read. There is a lot of twists and turns within this novel that I didn't expect. Especially the setting and importance of the setting. I can't wait to read more from this author and publisher.

This isolation horror follows Ryne Burdette after the deaths of his uncle and father. His uncle left him the family cabin located in the Yukon wilderness and although he hasn't been back since he was a child, recent events in his life have drawn him back. He brings along his two friends for a weekend trip to each recuperate from their own traumas. But as a winter storm rolls in, the animals and people start acting strange. Then when voices seem to be coming from the trees, the three men feel like they are being watched from the forest. In order to figure out the truth behind what is happening, they must uncover the dark history of the Burdette family.

On NetGalley, this was compared to The Ritual, which is actually a movie I've seen and 100% agree. I'd say this is the same sort of folklore horror, medium gore, trauma/grief themes. I absolutely loved both the movie and this book so if you like one, I really think you'd like the other. Both are folk horrors with isolated forest settings and both follow a group of friends that have an undercurrent of tension. The Broken Places does get to the gore more quickly than The Ritual, but overall I think the two are still very similar.

The characters were fantastic and I loved how much we got to see of their friend dynamic as well as them as individuals. Their backstories are gradually given to the reader as we go through the story and I enjoyed how each new detail we got felt like it became immediately relevant to the current plot. I never felt like we were getting a lot of 'fluff' details. Each of the men had gone through their own sort of trials recently and had their own fears to work through. The way these fears manifested during the story was really impactful and did a good job of developing the characters.

The pacing for the first 75% was perfect. We get into the spooky parts pretty early on and the eerie dread just increases over time. We also see the physical threats increase as the characters spend more time in this wilderness and try to escape. There's a nice balance of backstory with all 3 characters and we get to see how these details impact the current plot. The last 25%, however, seemed to stagnate for me. The plot was technically moving forward, but it didn't feel like the stakes were being raised any longer. I loved the way the horror was ramping up throughout the story and I wanted that ramp up to keep happening.

TW/CW: animal death, miscarriage, domestic violence, animal mutilation, suicide, death of a parent

Thanks to NetGalley and Wicked House Publishing for the ARC. Publication date was March 24, 2023

TW: Graphic animal killing/descriptions, gore, unsettling creature descriptions

If I could I would give this 4 1/2 stars.

I was largely unimpressed by the first several chapters of this work. It felt bogged down, overdone and frankly, uninteresting. So, I stopped reading after a few chapters.

Last night I decided to look at the reviews for it on amazon. The first thing I noticed was that it was rated over 4 stars by a few hundred people. The second thing I noticed was that the first review said “For fans of The Shining”. That’s what made me go back to this book and give it another chance. I wasn’t disappointed.

I personally wouldn’t compare it to The Shining. For me it was a more like Adam Nevill’s work The Ritual.

A grieving man (Ryne) along with his two best friends - who each have their own set of traumas- head to Ryne’s ancestral cabin in the Yukon for a weekend hunting trip in the dead of winter. They don’t seem to be welcomed by the townspeople and they have a disturbing encounter with a deer as they drive up the long path to the cabin. That’s just the beginning of a sinister tale filled with regret, pain, uncovered secrets and horror.

I relished this book and the story it told. How the “sins” of the fathers can have very real consequences to the sons and how hard it can be to step out of a narrative it feels like you were born to continue.

I think this is the author’s debut so I’ll be following him to see what else he comes out with!

“Pain doesn’t go away—it just takes on fresh forms. Lingers like a ghost, tethered to a place irreparably familiar as it changes. And when it has starved its new form, it changes again. And it will keep changing until it has eaten through everything and left the sufferer a husk.”

Thanks to Wicked House, NetGalley, and Blaine Daigle for providing an ARC in exchange for a fair review.

A few places need to be reworded. But this was a damn fine folk horror tale with some very good prose.

We follow Ryne, a man mourning the death of a child, a divorce, and the loss of his father in a car accident. In flashbacks, his past is fleshed out, so we see why he's pulling away from the world, in the company of his two closest friends. But, as we learn his story, we discover, along with Ryne and his friends, the dark legacy of his family in the Yukon.

There's some really good, unnerving scenes in this book. The male friendship is touching, and it's even gruesome and creepy. I look forward to more from Daigle in the future.

This was definitely worth reading and certainly as creepy as the front cover suggested. It wasn't full on horror in the first half, but rather a slow burn, establishing the background story and dropping hints of what was to come. Not slow in a boring way though. The writing was descriptive without being too wordy and the words painted an eerie picture. I was hooked from the start and felt compelled to keep reading.

There was some nasty, twisted stuff going on and I really felt for the main character. The reader learns what he has suffered through in the past and travels with him into even darker experiences as the story moves on in the present.

There was no cliche ending but rather a mix of satisfaction and melancholy.

This author knows how to create a dark, sinister tale and I hope to see more in this genre by Daigle in the future.

Content warning: animal cruelty

I received this arc from netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Definitely a weird story. Something deep, dark, and old lives in the woods. This reminded me of an old Stephen King tale. This book is not fast-paced. It is slower, and it builds up to the mystery and the murder that happens within the walls of this story being told. We are introduced to our characters, headed to the cabin that has been in Ryan's family forever. When a snowstorm hits and makes them unable to leave, things start to go crazy. Animals doing their own thing, and it is not natural.
What we and our main character Ryan discover is far more sinister than we would have thought.
I really liked the darkness that this book gave us; it was something the author just did a good job and building.
Everything is not happy; it is sad and hungry and will take everything from you.

I couldn't finish this one before the time ran out. It seemed to be moving quite slowly and the prose was not very evocative, plus I didn't really identify with the protagonists.

Kept In the Dark Until the Darkness Takes Them

I'm in Texas and already feeling the heat, so I was looking for a chilly getaway when I found this book. It looked like the perfect choice: the characters get trapped in a winter storm of Snowmageddon-fast accumulation. I imagined gusting winds turning snowflakes into icy needles and dreadful isolation keeping them beyond outside help. I got exactly what I was looking for, though not without surprises.

The three of them planned a hunting getaway, but the location of the Burdette family's cabin isn't like any wilderness these sportsmen have hunted before. Ryne Burdette and his best friends, Shawn and Noah, must deal with worsening driving conditions, strange encounters with locals, and weirdly-behaving wildlife just to get there. It soon became plain to me that The Broken Places is a supernatural survival thriller, even if the characters didn't know it. So, just like that, I was hooked.

This is Blaine Daigle's debut novel, but he writes like a seasoned horror author. Word by understated word conveyed an overwhelming sense of doom hanging over all three men. He gave them backstories that compelled my interest in their fates. I felt that they were all at the end of their ropes, that they were already broken and that the road to that cabin was inescapable for them.

Daigle's reiterations of the title within the text, well-placed and as natural as nails in a coffin, made my hope that what was broken could be healed heartbreakingly remote. But, hope is a stubborn trait in horror lovers, so I dug in and rooted for them to make it anyway. I'm happy to say that the ending was shockingly satisfying.

Thank you to Blaine Daigle, Wicked House Publishing, and NetGalley for the free advance reader's copy. I accept no obligation or compensation for my reviews. The Broken Places was terrifying and will likely haunt me for some time. I loved it.

This was a very atmospheric story of family and friendship, of old tales about a faceless, nameless monster. It was about tradition and what it means to sacrifice.
If you like your horror hauntingly dark, then this is a great book to pick up. I highly recommend this one.

It took a while for this one to get going, but ultimately it was a satisfying read. The story of three friends who get together for one last trip to one friend's family cabin in the Yukon turns into a nightmare involving ancient spirits and trapped souls. The friends fight to survive the bitter cold and an unknown force that doesn't want them to leave. The first half of the book involves too much setup and not enough actual happenings to really pique your interest. The second half, mainly the last fifty or sixty pages, kick into gear and reveal what's really going on in this cold, vast wasteland. A solid ending helped make up for the slow, dragging start. Mostly well-written, with a few repetitive and trite phrases sprinkled in here and there. I'd read more by Daigle. Thanks to Netgalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beautifully written & atmospheric!

This story follows 3 friends that take a trip to a family cabin deep in the woods. The friends had all suffered deep losses and needed a getaway. They couldn't have chosen a worse place!

Absolutely recommend!

Thank you to netgalley for providing me an arc in exchange for an honest review. The opinion reflected is that of my own.

I admit I fell for the cover of this book first. I like a good chilling stag. This book was creepy but a little slow. I devoured it in one sitting though as it's only 240 pages.

Three friends take a much needed break to an isolated family cabin but things seems off.
Holy crap, I am in love. The Broken Places had me hooked almost instantly and didn’t let go. I read it within the day. It has a little bit of everything that one looks for in a spooky supernatural horror. Little bit of body horror, creepy animals who stare a little too much, disembodied voices. I can’t wait to have the physical copy on my bookshelf!

The Broken Places by Blaine Daigle is a horror novel about three friends who go hunting only for weird things to start happening to them. Ryne, Shawn, and Noah head off to the cabin in the Yukon, a cabin left to Ryne after his uncle's death. With a terrible snow storm looming and creepy town folk lurking, they find themselves facing an evil that wants a sacrifice.
The isolated cabin in the woods aides in setting up a creepy atmosphere. The three friends all have faced some extraordinary obstacles prior to this trip, making them jumpy and paranoid. The strange behavior of the animals leads you to wonder what trials the friends will endure in the woods.
I thought the story had some repetitive issues as it told the friend's backstories over and over again. It also had a few plot holes in reference to Ryne's unborn son. Despite this, it was an original and interesting story that I enjoyed reading.
Thanks to Netgalley and Wicked House Publishing for the advanced copy of the book. The opinions are my own.

Rayne and his friends, Shawn and Nate, visit the hunting lodge that Rayne inherited from his family. The author set the cabin in the middle of the Yukon woods. As a child, he would go there with his dad and uncle and experience strange things.

“The Broken Places”, by Blaine Daigle, occurs in the dead of winter over a three-night period. It starts off as a slow burn, but tension builds around the 40 percent mark. The novel is atmospheric. Daigle uses vivid descriptions to create an ominous feeling towards the cabin, woods, and the surrounding areas. I did not mind the gradual build because I got lost in the woods and snowstorm storm 🥰. The author creates a few of isolation and dread with both strange events, howling winds and cold heavy snowstorm.

Aside from a well-developed environment, the characters are fleshed out. Their thoughts and feelings pop off the page. The author wove their backstories and personal struggles without information dumping. These friends are broken ans so is the setting.

The title “Broken Places” is the perfect title for this debut novel by Blaine Daigle. If you are looking for a supernatural story with somebody horror set in a cold setting, this is the book for you.

Blaine Daigle has found a new fan, I absolutely loved this book. It was so scary at times where I just couldn’t put the book down even though I was getting a tad creeped out.

The plot was submersives, the characters were written thoughtfully and the horror was all amazing. Will be reading more books by Blaine.

I had a very hard time getting into this book, if I'm being honest. I am the kind of reader who gets easily bored with detailed descriptions of the scenery/setting and I felt like there was SOOOOO much of this. While I understand this was likely done on purpose, since the forest in this story is really a character in and of itself, it doesn't mean that I liked reading about it. There were large chunks of text that I skimmed in order to get through it.

Overall, I think the book was good. It worked as a horror story, the characters were flawed and I enjoyed them and their story. But the description-heavy writing made this a really tedious read for me and took away from my enjoyment. For those readers that love when an author paints you a detailed picture of the setting, I say pick up a copy and settle in.