Ryne Burdette has inherited his family's old hunting cabin deep in the Yukon woods. He went there as a child with his father and uncle and saw and heard strange things. His father told him he was dreaming, and he was given a dream catcher. When he returns to the cabin in Wolf's Bone, with his two best friends, Noah and Shawn, Ryne comes face to face with his legacy, his family's history, the woods, and the animals in it.

I loved the atmosphere in this book. I love books that take place in cold settings. I could feel the chill and freeze in the air, the isolation and the dread as the snow continued to fall and the three friends became more isolated and trapped in the cabin. There is tension flowing throughout this book as things begin to get creepier by the second. A weekend away with friends has turned into a nightmare.

This book was gripping and atmospheric from the start. It's chilling, creepy, horrific, and riveting. I was glued to the pages wanting to know what was happening and how things would turn out.

Wowza! What a fantastic debut horror book! Very well done. The characters were likeable and well-drawn. I was fully invested in them and what they were experiencing. The pacing was fantastic and kept things tense and had me on the edge of my seat. What an impressive page turner!

Atmospheric, chilling, well written and riveting!

I look forward to reading more books by Blaine Daigle in the future.

Blurb: (goodreads)

When Ryne Burdette inherits his family's old hunting cabin deep in the Yukon wilderness, he wants to say no.But after a tragic year, he sees a weekend trip to the cabin with his best friends as a way to recuperate and begin again. But
there is something strange about these woods. As a winter storm moves in, the animals begin acting strangely and the natural laws of the wilderness seem to fall apart.

“The woods are lovely dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, miles to go before I sleep.”
Thoughts:
Thank you @netgalley and @wicked_house_publishing for the gifted copy of this book. I loved everything about this book from the the characters to the setting and I definitely loved the creepy plot. I enjoyed all of the suspense that was intermingled with dark
and creepy folklore. I'm hoping to read more books by @blainedaigleauthor in the near future!!!

“He’s part of this family. It’s not in your hands or mine. It never was, and it never will be. You can fight it all you want, but one day, you will have to make your peace. Best accept it now.”-4%

Ryne, Shawn and Noah have all had a hard go at life recently, and these three friends all have two thing in common. They are broken people, and they are all going to Yukon to stay at the cabin that Ryne recently inherited from his father for a boys getaway. Located just outside the town of Wolf Bone, Ryne’s cabin has been in the family since first built in 1857, and was a source of fond childhood memories and nightmares. Things in Wolf’s Bone just are a little bit odd, and the longer the men stay the more the family secrets begin to emerge, but the more dangerous the forest becomes.

Spoiler warning** Do Not Read If You Are Looking For A Happy Ending.

The Broken Places by Blaine Daigle is a modern gothic horror novel that utilizes horror to examine the lasting effects of childhood trauma and inherited family trauma. Much like a lot of gothic fiction, a lot of time is spent building up the setting, the characters and the plot. This makes the narrative seem slow paced at first, but trust me when I say that if you stick with the book it will pick up pace and you will be so glad you kept with it. As the narrative picks up it helps to instil a sense of panic in the reader after the initial set up.

Daigle narrative mixes Body horror, Gothic Horror, Religious Horror as well as takes inspiration from cosmic horror to create a whole new take on the haunted house/places trope to truly explore the depths to which trauma can be inherited and passed down through the family. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this as an arc copy.
I really enjoyed reading this book, it was an emotional one for me and I would read it again but it took a toll on me mentally
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5433263616

Book Review 🦌
The Broken Places
Blaine Daigle
Published March 2023
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#qotd : What's your favorite wild animal?

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis from GR: "When Ryne Burdette inherits his family's old hunting cabin deep in the Yukon wilderness, he wants to say no. Nothing much is left in that place except for unpleasant memories and the smoke of old burns. But after a tragic year, he sees a weekend trip to the cabin with his best friends as a way to recuperate and begin again.
But there is something strange about these woods. As a winter storm moves in, the animals begin acting strangely, and the natural laws of the wilderness seem to fall apart. Then, the soft voices start whispering through the trees. Something is watching them.
As the storm gets worse and the woods get darker, the three friends must dive into the darkest waters of the Burdette family lineage. Because the horrible truth is deep, resting in the shadowed places no one wants to look."

I didn't know much about this book when I started it. This was a "read now" buddy read book that one of my Slasher Queens chose. Man, oh man, what a journey this book took me on. It was a touch slow at first and I was worried, but it picked up quickly. This book was creepy and weird and bizarre and kind of Haunting honestly. The author did a great job of making you feel you are there experiencing everything. I could see the cabin and the deer and hear every howl and creak.
If you want a unique book that will send shivers down your spine, go pick this one up.

#brokenplaces #blainedaigle #netgalley #bookclub #buddyread #creepy #atmospheric #snow #blizzard #deer #hunting #fiction #newbooks #newread #newreview #weekofreviews #weekinreview #canva #photoedit

A horror book that lives up to the genre. It was one of those books you can't put down. Full of twists and turns that I didn't see coming.

I'm always game for creepy woods, folk horror, and weird deer. The plot is a familiar, yet classic, one where a group of friends - all going through their own traumas - gather in a remote location, and things go terribly wrong. The characterization of the friends creates a good comradery and conflicts. Ryne, Noah, and Shawn are effective characters for carrying this plot forward. I found Noah's characterization and trauma the most engaging, and the continual idea of drowning in grain was one of my favorite aspects. The wilds of the Yukon are captured in loving, creepy detail and brought to life. The lore and explanation of the familial baggage Ryne carries with him was unraveled with care. The scares were entertaining and, overall, this is a fun read.

That said, I had a good bit of trouble with how purple the prose felt. While other readers did enjoy the numerous details about the setting and nature and the various metaphors and similes, I found them overdone and it slowed the pacing of the story and my engagement with it. This may only be my experience, but it was a rather unpleasant one despite the enjoyable plot and characters. Similar to other novels of the same kin, the lack of female perspective (excepting the epilogue) and presence made this seem like a story I'd seen too many times, although with more likeable male characters.

Readers who enjoy snow-based terrors, transformational body horror, and literal generational trauma will find much to enjoy in these pages.

Much thanks to Wicked House Publishing and NetGalley for a digital copy of this work in return of an honest review.

This was a short but very effective horror!

Ryne has been coming to his family’s hunting cabin in the Yukon every year since he was a child but things changed when his father and uncle both died. He finds himself now needing healing and isolation after a few traumatic incidents leave him reeling. Along with his two friends who are also going through extremely difficult times, they travel to the cabin to have a reset trip away. As a storm threatens the sky, the friends realize that’s the least of their worries in the woods.

I really loved the feel of this book. Blaine Dangle created these extremely relatable characters and the story was visceral, action packed and downright frightening. I kept getting flashbacks to summer camp (even though this is most definitely set in the winter) and staring at the edge of the tree line at night and wondering if anything was looking back. Basically that feeling permeates the whole book.

A solid read and a fantastic debut! A great read for any horror fan!

Read this if you like:
- Creepy rhymes
- Isolated settings
- Unfriendly villagers who may or may not want you dead

Thank you to Netgalley and Wicked House Publishing for an advance review copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Out March 24, 2023.

The setting: An old hunting lodge in the woods with a freak blizzard bearing down on the area. The characters: Best friends, all carrying some form of trauma. The takeaway: The Broken Places isolation folk horror done right.

It begins with one of the three, Ryne, recalling an odd occurrence from his childhood when he, his father, and his uncle made a trip to the cabin. Then adult Ryne and two of his childhood friends, Shawn and Noah, are on the road heading toward that same isolated cabin from Ryne's past. The trip is full of memories, both good and bad, family history, and the bond of brotherhood. Sounds great, right? While initially a slow-burn horror, once the scare wheel starts turning, it's all speed ahead.

The Broken Places' main strength is its character development. The three friends all have some type of trauma that they are carrying with them into this place. While Ryne's is the main focus, Noah and Shawn have their own emotional backstories but their tight bond of friendship is strong and has kept them together across the years. Rather than only getting one viewpoint throughout the occurrences, you get to step into the lives of each of them in turn. The varying perspective could confuse and delay the story but in this case, only adds more poignancy to what's occurring.

This debut novel by Blaine Daigle couldn't get into my head fast enough. This is not just a horror story; It's a tale about loss, grief, and depression. A perfectly atmospheric folk terror to haunt you long after you've finished the last page.

Three friends find themselves isolated and
being stalked in the freezing cold Yukon Territory

I was immensely impressed by Blaine Daigle’s debut The Broken Places which might be described as an ice-cold blend of Adam Nevill’s The Ritual, Marc E Finch’s Boy in the Box and Ron Malfi’s Bone White. Being entirely set in a remote part of Canada’s Yukon Territory it is easy to compare The Broken Places with any survival style story where something nasty lurks in the forests and help remains frighteningly out of reach. Whatever you may decide to compare this terrific novel to, this gripping, eerie and captivating tale more than holds its own against the big names in the genre. Even, if at first glance, the plot sounds derivative of many other isolated snow-swept settings Daigle gives all those familiar ingredients a shakeup delivering a chilling and powerful read.

The Broken Places is written in the third person and seamlessly moves between the three main characters and best friends, Ryne, Shawn and Noah. Apart from various flashbacks the book has virtually no other characters and is built around their long-standing friendship and the unnamed powers which test their endurance to the extremes. Aged in their late twenties and with significant shared history behind them, the trio meet up to visit Ryne’s family cabin which is some miles beyond the village of Wolf’s Bone, in a remote part of the Yukon.

All three men were fascinating, relatable, and believable characters as they all had complex personal baggage which impacts the story in unique ways. Ryne’s is the most significant, having inherited the cabin from his father and uncle after their recent deaths, he is returning to his old home after even more family tragedy which has left him like a broken shell. The Broken Places was a very bleak book and happiness or cheery scenes are absent with anxiety levels increasing very quickly once the three reach the remote cabin. Even the title itself could be referring to the men themselves, just as much as the dangerous surroundings.

The novel is developed around Ryne’s childhood connection with the cabin, which was built by his ancestors many generations earlier, but there were secrets his father and uncle chose not to pass onto him. In the prologue dreamlike sequence a childhood Ryne witnesses his uncle bowing down in front on an antlered creature and is warned never to eat meat from the forest. But why? Clues are dropped here and there and Blaine Daigle’s forest is a threatening and imposing creation which is vividly brought to life. The unnerving behaviour of the local wildlife was equally unsettling and is a million miles away from the cute animals of Narnia, with experienced childhood hunters Ryne and Shaun both struggling to understand their odd characteristics with the natural laws of the wilderness seeming falling apart.

The Broken Places is set over a relatively brief period of a couple of days, with the three men arriving at the cabin just as a huge storm arrives cutting them off from the nearby village. Its pace is deliciously slow as anxieties increase with hints being dropped here and there what is going on. The book was top-heavy with outstanding sequences which used restraint to perfection, expertly blending dreams and nightmares with the natural perils of the weather. There was a brilliant scene where the men enter the basement for the first time which was reminiscent of the moment in Adam Nevill’s The Ritual where the group discover a highly unpleasant effigy in the upstairs room of the shack they encounter. Another startling moment arrives when one of the men shoots a deer in the head which is blocking the road, but was otherwise harmless, there was something particularly brutal about this savage act that did not bode well for what followed. A third formidable scene played out at a remote radio tower when one of the group are trying to attract help. None of these moments were particularly bloodthirsty, although a severely damaged leg might have you wincing, and flowed seamlessly into the narrative.

The slow escalation was overseen with significant effect, with the bickering friends dealing with weird whispers, sleepwalking, the feeling of being watched and the possibility that they are not alone. I also loved the fact that the village of Wolf’s Bone lurked the background, with the occasional comment from Ryne which raised my antennae leaving me hungry to find out more. The ending and how things connect together was also nicely managed, but the final epilogue was outstanding and pitched perfectly between melancholia, closure and a tiny smidgen of hope.

Blaine Daigle’s The Broken Places was a terrific debut and although individually a lot of the scenes might remind you of other works this was more than compensated by a grippingly bleak story of loss, friendship, survival and ancient beings which lurk in the forest which was told with great style and emotion.

Thank you NetGalley and Wicked House Publishing for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ryne Burdette and his two buddies set out to spend a weekend at Ryne’s newly inherited hunting cabin in remote woods of Northern Canada. As a child Ryne frequented the cabin with his father and uncle but this is his first time back in many years.

As soon as they arrive thing seem off. The people in town are wary of them as outsiders. A large snow storm is moving in threatening to leave them stranded for days. Strange things are happening at the cabin and it is quickly becoming becoming apparent that Rynes family lineage had very dark secrets that he just inherited.

I had high hopes for The Broken Places when I read the premise but unfortunately, it fell flat for me. The story line was that of a commonly used trope- outsiders overcoming an ancient malevolence that “haunts” an area. It started good but it just didn’t hit me the way I had hoped and it definitely didn’t come together for me at the end- which I will avoid elaborating on as not to spoil it for others.

If you’re looking for snowy isolation, ancient evil, and generations of hidden family secrets then this may be for you.

Thank you Netgalley, Wicked House Publishing and Blaine Daigle for the ARC of this book

This one was a short and sweet horror read. It was creepy, suspenseful, atmospheric and overall a very good read.

The multiple timelines that unravel the story was very clever and the plot itself was great.

Highly recommend this book!

This was a fantastic psychological horror! I'll admit that the early chapters took me longer to get through, as they set up the story and not a whole lot happens in the thriller/horror vein, but once this book gets going, it hardly ever slows down. The POV switches between the three friends, and I think that really adds to everything that happens over the course of the book, as you get the personal backstories for each one at very poignant times in the story and also their thoughts, feelings, and personal insights into what's going on rather than only from one person. Your emotions will run the gamut with this book, and the last several chapters are absolutely breathtaking.

Would definitely recommend to anyone who loves a good psychological horror where you don't really know what's happening and you can't truly trust your own mind and senses. (I would NOT recommend reading it in an isolated cabin in the woods. You've been warned.)

5 stars

Atmospheric and gripping right from the start, I really enjoyed this book. I found it hard to put down and will definitely look for more by Daigle. Broken Places, was dark in all the right ways.

Thank you so much for this arc! I really picked this story for the cover but I really am glad that I read the book. The synopsis says this is the ritual meets the Terror but I really don't think that does this book any justice. The books is set in the remote forest of Yukon and is a cold snowy atmosphere. I really think this would be the perfect winter read! Ryne starts to go down hill in life when everything takes a turn for the worse. He inherits his families old hunting cabin and decided to take a couple of friends with him to get away from his daily life. Strange things start to happen i the woods surrounding the cabin and with a storm coming its too late to leave.
I thought the book was very well written and atmospheric, I love woodsy creepy stories that really make you feel like you are there with the characters. The book felt claustrophobic. I loved the way the friends are so broken in the story and they go to this cabin to heal. They end up finding a broken place in the woods. This plot was not original but it was really good. I think for a debut author this story was so well written and so dark and atmospheric. I will continue to look for more from this author!

An enjoyable, fast paced and creepy story. Loved the atmosphere, it really wrapped the story together for me!

I absolutely love the horror feeling this book cover gives off. I haven't read a lot of folk horror, but can say this one was good, I suggest giving this book a read if you enjoy horror and a good folklore story.

The writing was nice, but everything felt very repetitive and drawn out. The ending almost redeemed itself, but then I just got confused with what happened in the “two months later”.

The Broken Places is truly a masterpiece! It has the creep factor from the isolated wilderness and a family secret dating back to colonial times. It addresses grief and loss in many forms, and is exquisitely written. I loved the friendship between Ryne and his two best friends. The setting, in a very small town in the Yukon was perfect and creepy without all the family secrets. The pacing was quick, and the ending left me feeling satisfied and maybe wiping away a tear.

I would recommend this for fans of Stolen Tongues by Felix Blackwell and Old Country by Matt & Harrison Query.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and Weird House for allowing me to read this book. I really enjoyed the story and thought it felt old world. Very creepy, atmospheric and creative. Highly recommended

I’ll give this 3.8…not quite 4 stars. This book was a pretty wild ride. The writing style of it is very artistic. The descriptions of things can be a little much sometimes but most of the time the similes are amazing.
There are some editorial things that could be addressed. A couple plot points that don’t match up in different parts of the book; like something that one of the characters saw described later as everyone witnessing it.
I think the entire premise was wrapped up pretty well. The ending is just enough to leave you guessing but doesn’t really leave huge unanswered questions.
Overall, I would recommend it to fans of horror or thriller novels.