A horror novel set in the timeframe of a Pandemic (written during Covid) we really get to see the loneliness and pent up feelings people experienced.

While I was thinking this would be “slasher style” I felt it repetitive at times and wished it shorter.

That being said, the writing was great and you can tell the author is talented. Thank you @Netgalley for my advance copy!

This book was a slow start, but once it got going, it didn't stop. It was incredibly gorey, and very unsettling. I did feel that it could of been a little shorter, as some of the encounters with the masked things got a tad repetitive. It has a diverse set of characters, from all walks of life, which is always a good start. It felt like a Stephen King novel, but more modernised and up to date. The plot was intuiging, and is perfect for anyone who is a fan of creature features.

Horror books have a special place in my heart. Prior to working at the library, our collection of horror books was slim to none. We had the typical Stephen King/Joe Hill books but not much other selection. Since working here we have buffed up our horror collection to include diversity, different levels of horror, and book length.

The Horror at Pleasant Brook will have a special place in our library, I can't wait to see if we are able to order it.

I liked a number of things about this story: the different points of view the story was told through, the classic scary movie gore, a compelling evil, and the unpredictability of who would survive, if anyone.

I truly struggled with this read. The exposition was painfully slow, easily 100 pages passed before anything hugely substantial happened. Adding to the long, slow exposition was the repetitive words and phrases. The mask was described countless times, so much so I skipped over chunks of book. The many POVs got a little confusing at times and it seemed like there were pov switches mid chapter towards the end. Additionally, for a book where the repetitive importance of the location seemed crucial to the story it was very distracting that the locations mentioned (REPEATEDLY) are no where near each other. Utica is not in Warren County and Utica is not in the Adirondack’s. If this wasn’t such a harped upon point it would have been far easier to look past. But the repeated insistence of the geography took me out of the story.

Halloween is almost here. The pumpkins have been carved. The corn maze is ready to go. You may have noticed the streets of Pleasant Brook are quieter than usual, though.

Maybe it’s because people are working and studying remotely at the moment. Or maybe it’s because people have been masking recently, and not just because of COVID.

“It was because of the weirdos in masks.”

This is all Lisa Owen’s fault.

If you’re unfortunate enough to be written into this book, it’s more than likely you’ll wind up splattered across its pages.

I absolutely intended to remember the names and backstories of everyone I met but then abandoned this lofty idea when I realised that the average time between meeting a person and seeing their insides was about a chapter.

After getting to know a bunch of the nearly departed, I settled in and waited for the book to tell me who the main characters were going to be. Not that being a main character gives you immunity from the virus spreading through this increasingly sleepy town.

There’s blood, there’s gore and why yes, that person is spineless. It’s carnage in Pleasant Brook this October and thankfully it’s the descriptive kind.

“The thing’s head exploded. Not only exploded but damn near disintegrated into an expanding geyser of gristle which splattered all over its shoulders and ruined neck, leaving nothing behind.”

Maybe you shouldn’t choose a favourite character.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Crystal Lake Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.

My thanks to Crystal Lake Publishing, Kevin Lucia and Netgalley.
I'm going to state this right from the get go, and that is that Mr. Lucia is one of the very few people who can speak about religion and not make me gag!
Slight exaggeration, but the man is really exceptional in his religious beliefs, but he actually follows the whole wwjd. What would Jesus do?
I was initially hesitant about reading this book because I love his other series so much.
No worries! Mr. Lucia is a danged ole rock star!
I'll be honest and say that it's truly been a pleasure watching this man become more well known. He deserves it all. This story was a bit more preachy than I'm accustomed to, "especially coming from this author."
I'll tell you true...I was initially annoyed by the brief religious stuff, but Mr. Lucia let his beliefs shine through, and it was exactly how I believe that this God/Jesus/Love should be.




Yep. Me..Atheist. Lucia.
I see he has a western coming up...Gonna be good!

If you're looking for a book to add to your Halloween reads, this one is a great addition!
It is a bloodbath and quick moving. Once a dormant hell is released, this story goes WILD!
I genuinely feel this was executed and written to near perfection and I will say it is one of my top reads for 2023!

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

I didn’t see it coming at the start of the year (though I guess the signs were there, my first read was “The Nothing That Is” by Kyle Winkler after all) but 2023 has quickly become the “Year of Cosmic Horror” for me.

From the aforementioned, to standouts like “Head Like a Hole” by Andrew Van Wey and “Devil’s Creek”by Todd Keisling, to a slew of others that have, one way or another, wormed their way onto my list this year, I’ve spent more time with “horrors-that-should-not-be” of this world than almost any other.

Not that I’m complaining.

Before this year I’d been largely blind to the style ever existing, my only exposure the de rigueur reading of Lovecraft that seemingly every ne’er-do-well high schooler partakes in at some point or another. Plus, I’d heard Metallica’s “The Call of Ktulu” and wanted to know where the hell they got the idea for THAT from, lest I commit the most heinous of high school transgressions, and been labeled a “poser.”

So when I finished Keisling’s “Cold, Black & Infinite” I figured it would be a seamless transition diving into Kevin Lucia’s “The Horror at Pleasant Brook.”

Right away you realize Lucia is a major league talent with the written word. His writing flows while he describes the goings on in what we quickly realize is a truly damned town in Pleasant Brook, but shines when he brings characters together on the page. His near perfect dialogue making this story one that could be easily believed.

Combine that with a creative use of covid to explain the hauntingly empty streets of Pleasant Brook and you could be forgiven for thinking a similar fate may have struck that quiet old hamlet tucked away in “whatever-creepy-part-of-your-state, USA.”

The very real sense of dread I felt while reading this was exactly what I was looking for. My only criticism being that the dread didn’t take hold until almost halfway into the story. Had it been immediate, I’d be hard pressed to not give this a 5 star rating.

I really liked this novel. It is a true slasher-style story, with some gory scenes and I could visualise them in my head as if I was watching a horror movie. The plot is gripping from the start, and then it only grew to be more intense as I continue reading.

The author did not spare any character, and I absolutely loved that. When an author takes risks and is willing to put their characters in terrifying and complicated situations, I enjoy the novel even more. I love when authors play with their characters like Kevin Lucia did.

A great read for the spooky season, I recommend it to all the horror readers who love gore in their books. Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

1.5 stars

God, this was sooo boring. The premise sounded like this was going to be a slasher-type horror book that I would very much enjoy, but the execution of it let me down. Hard.

It was just wholly repetitive. In tone, the chapters and descriptions. The book kind of read like a film script: it just described every physical thing and all of these gestures that were mostly uninteresting, but I guess would make sense in something that describes what would happen on a tv screen?? But yeah, not in a book.

The first half of the book was incredibly tedious: it kept describing the same things happening to all of these townies. It introduced them, we’d get a basic character description and they would be immediately killed off at the end of the chapter, never to be seen again. After about three to four instances, you got the idea, but this went on for the first 50% of the book.

Also, this book had queer rep. It felt kind of token-y and performative because the characters fell very flat to me (but then again, that was basically the case for all of the characters). I can’t necessarily say it was the most amazing representation.

The only thing I did enjoy about this was the gore. That was done well. But for the rest, I feel like this book could’ve used a significant amount of editing.

From the very beginning this story pulled me in and gave me strong horror movie vibes with a great cast of main characters and a remote town succumbing to the dark intentions of an ancient artifact.

The small town of Pleasant Brook is remote and with the COVID virus having shut down day-to-day life, the characters and town are even more secluded- almost giving a locked room vibe to the story. We get multiple points of view with some characters more likeable than others. I found the five main protagonists to be unlikely heroes that I couldn't help but root for.

The author's love for the genre is evident in this story. I appreciated how Lucia used the characters to show and comment upon how the horror genre can be used for good or ill to make prejudicial statements and also comment on the societal phenomena regarding the death of small towns.

I did not see that ending coming which made this story even more enjoyable for me. I like it when author's don't shy away from making hard choices while taking the reader for a wild ride.

If you are a fan of slasher type horrors with gore and supernatural elements, I would recommend giving this book a read.

DRC kindly provided by Crystal Lake Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest response. All opinions are my own.

If your taste in horror novels is informed by the early work of King and Koontz you will thoroughly enjoy this well-paced and creepy offering from Kevin Lucia. The past comes knocking at the doors of a small town and all kinds of bloody hell are unleashed.

I’d give this 3.5 stars if I could. You’ve read this before but you’ll still have a grand time spotting the influences.

From the very start, The Horror at Pleasant Brook is an amazingly brutal horror read. It's not a slow burn. Rather than one or two encounters before a final showdown with the Big Bad, it has near constant action from start to finish. The book is exciting, and especially for horror fans, will keep you engaged.

There are many, many diverse characters, but they're introduced slowly and each given their own voice, so it's easy to keep up with them. They're mostly likeable and given rich, interconnected histories, so it's easy to imagine the town.

I really loved the first half of the book, but I felt the second half was repetitive and didn't show much growth. Everyone in town has a drinking problem, to the point where I thought it was going to be a plot device. The novelty of the horror scenes begins to wear off because the monster is always described the same way, and it dragged towards the end.

I was a little disappointed with the ending because it all started off so brilliantly, but it was still well worth the read and a lot of fun.

“The Horror at Pleasant Brook” is a slow burn, atmospheric horror novel that gripped me from the first page. Lucia creates a cast of characters that feel modern, but still familiar to any reader. It took some time to get into the meat of the story, but that doesn’t mean it was a boring read, since it was anything but that. It manages to not only unsettle, but produce enough anxiety to feel like you’re entering cardiac arrest. This was a very fun read, and while it took me a bit to get through personally, I can see others blazing through the novel; once people get word about this book, I can see people blazing through it, since it’s simply that good.

When Lisa Owens decided to turn to the account for her or her infertility she summoned a demon that would wreak havoc on her little town and it would be left up to constables Grace Matthews and Scott Carter to kill the menace. It would start as a mystery who’s clues comes in dead bodies in strange sightings like drips and dribbles and slowly but surely you’re either affected or dead. This was one of the strangest horror stories and not to mention the description of these monsters in the mask is so creepy… But I guess that’s what the author was going for and kudos to him for a brilliant brilliant read I so wish this would be a movie. I love this book and highly recommend it if you love horror and I mean good old fashion true horror stories then you will definitely love the Horror of Pleasant Brooke it’s not super long but it is super awesome! I want to think Crystal Lake publishing in NetGalley for my free arccopy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

There's no doubt this is a horror and that the author appeared to relish telling the tale. There's a lot in the book to satisfy what many a horror fan will look for in a story. Even though this is set in modern day, around the time of the Covid pandemic, the story had an 80s vibe for me. Maybe because of the use of a mask as the vehicle for the evil in the story. It reminded me of Halloween and Friday the 13th. Add how many of the killings occurred, with people alone at home or work and then being attacked, it also reminded me of those movies.

While the story overall is enjoyable and I appreciate the horror, I found this repetitive and wished for it to be shorter. The horror scenes also felt as if they were on a loop, with the mask being described almost word for word for each new character's POV and the deaths of characters also seemed to play on loop. Switching things up a bit now and then would have given some of those scenes more emphasis.

What I really enjoyed in the intensity in this story. The full tilt, no holds barred, drive into horror. It seemed that was what the author aimed for and it delivered. There's something to be said for knowing what you want the story to be and not compromising. I think, at times, authors hold back for fear of isolating/dividing the audience. I always think it's best to go for what you intend, and I'm glad this author did just that. Setting this in a somewhat isolated town added to the sense of dread and hopelessness in the book, and was a good choice. While it is cliche, it was well suited to this story and well used as a device.

Much was made in this book about Covid and people's attitudes to the outbreak and response of authorities. I'm not sure if the author was trying to include a personal statement on the topic, but based on how often it was referred to, it appeared that way. I don't mind if that's the case, but it's always a risk. In some sections of the book, it felt like the theme of Covid took over everything else in the book. I thought the constant referral strange. If it was trying to cement the period for story in the mind of the reader, mentioning it once or twice would be enough. Half way through the book, I was over reading about how each character felt about remote schooling or zoom meetings in general.

All in all, a serviceable horror that would improve with less repetition. But it is impactful, it is chilling, and there is plenty of action to engage the horror fans out there.

Thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for providing a free copy of the book for an honest review. All comments are my own.

This book had a good atmosphere and I really liked LGBTQIA+ characters. You could also really tell that the author was a big fan of horror films with his writing and the plot overall felt something like something from a b-tier 80's horror film. I did find myself at times struggling to keep myself interested with the story with how often we got the POV of some random townie who ends up dying straight away. I wish the plot had been little more streamlined 'cause it felt little disjointed at times.

I did really enjoy how the author wrote some of the gross body horror scenes.

Overall a fun, yet little cheesy, horror read that would be perfect read around Halloween.

This Halloween read is old school in the best of ways.

You know…the small town that feels so safe until it doesn’t. A small group of characters who find themselves having to fight a great evil. Love it!

And while it’s got the old school horror vibes, it still feels modern and readable.

I loved our characters, I shuddered at our evil, and found this to be the absolute perfect spooky season read!

• ARC via Publisher

The small town of Pleasant Brook in the historic Adirondack Park region of upstate New York appears idyllic in all the right ways. It's got a decent cross section of folks, is not large enough to require a full on police department—they get along fine with lone Constable Grace Matthews, thanks—and while there are all of the small town hurts, disappointments, and hatreds to be found under the idyllic surface there is also peace and quiet. Pleasant Brook is a sleepy town Well, it was until the two disgraced veterans returned home, decided to squat at the abandoned Old Owen House, and accidentally unleashed dormant evil.

Don't you hate when that happens? Actually, as a regular reader of horror. Don't you just love it when that happens?

It starts with a creepy mask. High school golden boy turned adult screw up Bobby Lee Haskel finds himself empowered when he wears it, and his testing the limits it offers culminates in an act of sexual violence with a local girl. There is power within that strange headgear, and once it is released, Bobby all but ceases to exist. The thing on his face takes over, and it has plans as well as the ability to carry them out … or at least it will once it violates and converts others, spreading its domination over town members like a plague.

A handful of disparate individuals soon obtain bits and pieces of the bigger picture. Constable Matthews has seen more crime of late than in her entire run. Horror fan Scott Carter has witnessed the evil's possessions first hand, losing his best friend (and unrequited love). Dancer and recovering alcoholic Julie Lomax has seen the masked people hassling her club. Born-again Christian bouncer Conroy Ortega has repelled some of the fiends without laying a single finger upon them—could his many cross tattoos hold the key? Homeless handyman Marty Crenshaw has seen some of the masked people harassing the corn maze. Will these individuals band together before the evil spreads too far and nibbles away at their numbers? Or will the masked aggressors have run of the town and enact a Hallowe'en night ritual to bring a terrible being with godlike powers into the world?

Kevin Lucia brings together the classic small town settings of vintage Stephen King and Charles L. Grant and adds in healthy doses of body horror and fast paced survival horror in The Horror at Pleasant Brook.

For better or worse, small New England towns have become synonymous with hotbeds of nightmare. Long time horror fans find such a setting as comforting as a funhouse. We expect there will be a decent sized cast of characters from all walks of life—and The Horror at Pleasant Brook presents three characters with non-traditional sexual orientations or gender identities, which is a nice touch—who will eventually band together, trade notes, and face off against a supernatural menace that threatens the whole town (or maybe the planet). Lucia is not shy about setting up the pieces and knocking them down. In the opening third of the book, we get numerous point of view characters across several chapters, we get a quick introduction of the menace. Then, we're off to the races for a brisk page turner told across 100 chapters.

In his introduction to the short story collection Blue World, Robert McCammon once compared short stories told in a horror vein to fast cars, quick dalliances that grab hold of a reader before tearing off at full speed. With The Horror at Pleasant Brook, Lucia seems to have taken up the challenge of making a novel that plays out with the same sense of pace as McCammon's best stories. The chapters tend toward the shorter side, offer up clear descriptions and characterizations, do not waste words or the reader's time before adding in drama of natural or supernatural varieties, and then rocket along to the next chapter. A lion's share of the chapters are from character perspectives, but a handful give us the monster's POV, which is an intriguing choice and challenge for how to present both an utterly inhuman point of view as well as show the creature's own building fears as long established traditions for behavior, intent, and outlook are somehow crumbling due to the strong personalities of this new batch of victims …

When The Horror at Pleasant Brook is rocking on all cylinders, it's a thrill ride of scares and survival that successfully builds characters we can fear for as well as those we want to see die in agony (or at least pay for their ways) and then puts them all through the wringer.

Lucia's worldbuilding demonstrates the author's cleverness in sly and subtle ways. The supernatural threat dodges expectations or familiar monsters (vampires, werewolves, zombies) while also drawing in some familiar elements from all of these creatures. There's a mythic folklore quality, paying homage to druidic origins that is fun to read. As well, there's a horror fan who drags in all kinds of horror film and fiction references for things, such as wondering if these mistakenly attributed zombies are of the George A. Romero or Brian Keene variety. Lucia has a lot of fun giving us the nods and folkloric crumbs, and there are some wonderful passages ruminating on just how to defeat the possessed creatures that is plain old fun. When a penetrative chest wound seems to work, does that mean the creatures can be staked like vampires? If so, do the weapons have to be wood or will metal do? Does the weapon have to go through the heart? And if so, why? All told, enjoyable stuff.

Equally intriguing is how Lucia grapples with contemporary times. The prologue opens in October of 2020, and the bulk of the book takes place two years after that. Thus, we are in the heart of the pandemic. Lucia addresses this directly, taking pains to bring in some of the dread from the first wave of COVID-19. As well, the bulk of the book grapples with increased numbers of ill people during a resurgence. The author also takes pains to specify that the heroes of the book are all vaccinated and considerate about wearing their masks in public to avoid spreading that particular disease. And yet, these people are nevertheless anti-maskers … but only when those masks are actually monsters and making others into fiendish lackeys. Cheeky, no?

The Horror at Pleasant Brook is a novel that not only grapples with small town mindsets—the librarian is a non-binary individual and faces no small amount of behind-the-back name calling and persecution, as does the lesbian Constable, so much so that young Scott Carter is terrified of his burgeoning homosexuality—but it also tackles questions of faith. This is a horror novel where pointing a cross at the evil will give it pause and contact with the holy symbol will cause burning or pain. It has little to do with the faith of the individual holding it and more to do with expectations on the masked creature's part, ancient connections to an adversarial power. Some readers sensitized to the worst examples of religious horror as indoctrination propaganda might find themselves bounced out of the moment a couple of times, but this turns out to be nothing of the sort in The Horror at Pleasant Brook.

Lucia takes a clever approach to the topic. The characters we meet from Pleasant Brook are generally a secular bunch. We get the impression of a larger picture of a town where some go to church, some don't, there are atheists and there are true believers aplenty. However, none of these individuals seem to possess an in-road to salvation or safety from their deity of choice—not even the clergy is safe, it seems. So, while there is a religious angle to the horror, it does not come across as a conversion tactic that some horror novels use it as. Instead, faith, symbolic representations (e.g., crosses and holy water) are tethered to a mostly undisclosed folklore angle that ties in with the creature's origins. So, read on without fear of proselytizing prose. The text wants to give you gooseflesh, not draw you into the faithful throng.

The Horror at Pleasant Brook is an entertaining as hell read that adds a contemporary flavor to classic 1980s horror novels. Kevin Lucia has been responsible for a number of terrific reviews and articles over the years, and it's always good to see his enthusiasms given a fictional outlet. Fans of the author's previous works will find plenty to enjoy here, and those new to his prose will find a lot to enjoy. Doom has come to Pleasant Brook. Care to see how it fares?
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A special thank you to Crystal Lake Publications and NetGalley for offering an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

What an eye-catching cover. I enjoyed every page of The Horror at Pleasant Brook. I'll absolutely be looking out for Kevin Lucia's future books. Outstanding work on this one.