“Joe had woken up just the same as he had each morning since: dazed, lethargic, slightly nauseous and with a headache, as if waking up with one bastard of a hangover.”

This is a scifi horror story that deals with cosmic terrors, complicated grief, and complex relationships.

Some parts were absolutely thrilling, some sad, some frustrating. Unfortunately some sections also dragged so I skipped through pages to get to the meat of the story.

I felt this book should’ve ended after the detective visit when Joe and Clara came back. I wasn’t a fan yet another thing going wrong for them and what happened to Rusty. Rusty was such a good pup and this ending totally pissed me off- whyyyyy???

“Dogs that saved people from hellish monster crickets deserved pot roast for dinner.”

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Flame Tree Press for a copy!

There were parts of the book that I really enjoyed. It did have hints of Pet Semetary but it didn't wow me. Definitely some points of good writing and other parts that didn't grip me.

I can't forgive the scene described at the ~40% mark. Gross, and unnecessary to the trajectory of the story. More broadly, there is a general sense of 'male gaze' throughout this book that I found uncomfortable and hindered my enjoyment.

On the positive, I definitely get the Pet Sematary comparison, but also think it's different enough to stand on its own. The book succeeds at building a suffocating sense of sadness and desperation. The otherworldly landscapes and creatures of the rift are well rendered and feel like visual representations of the despair and horror Joe feels over his dead son.

What didn't work for me was the relationship between Joe and his wife and many of the sex related scenes felt both awkward and out of left field.

This was a quick read that blended a lot of components. It had emotion. It had action. It had vividly described creepy creatures and events. If you're into visual description/atmospheric books or enjoy exploration of grief, give it a try. Just be ready for the cringy moments.

Joe Jimenez is struggling with the death of his son when a mysterious rift appears in his back yard. Joe, through his experimentation, finds out that the things that go in the rift, come out wrong somehow. As if that was not bad enough, one night a note comes through the rift telling Joe that on the other side, is the only thing he cares about, his son.

Obviously at the heart of this story is grief over a loved one’s death, and The Rift takes this to an entirely different plane, it is truly heartbreaking at times.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t really particularly enjoy this book; I felt the writing was too heavy for my liking and it slowed down my reading exponentially. Going into this, I was very excited, as the premise sounded great, but sadly it just did not work out for me.

That’s not to say there were nothing in this book I enjoyed. I particularly loved the “otherness” of the other side of the rift, as well as the things inside it, and the descriptions were simply enthralling.

Although The Rift was not a hit for me, I’m sure that plenty of other readers will have more of a success than me, and I would especially recommend it for lovers of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary.

Big thanks to Netgalley, Flame Tree Press, and the author Seth C. Adams for allowing me to read an E-Arc of this Book.

The Rift is yet another in a series of mediocrities from Flame Tress Press. Not sure what’s going on with their line-up, but most of it has been disappointing lately.
Technically, there’s nothing wrong with The Rift. You get a story of a grieving father who has a mysterious eponymous rift appear in his backyard. The man starts messing with the rift and eventually stumbles upon much more than he had bargained for. Because to no one’s surprise mysterious rifts appearing out of nowhere often lead to the darkest of places, especially in scary stories.
The writing is perfectly serviceable. So is the plotting. It all works, technically, but it does leave a lot to be desired. For one thing, it’s overwritten, which is unusual for such a slender book but there it is. Every single thing and action is overdescribed. Exhaustively so. This might have been a much more dynamic novella if not for all the unnecessarily extra details. For another thing, there isn’t that much going here, plot-wise, and what there is, is about as original as the title, which isn’t very.
It just kind of drags and isn’t very exciting and makes you think that there must have been something the author did to go from HarperCollins to Flame Tree.
Besides, he thanks Dean Koontz for help with this book, and talk about mediocrities …
Oh, wait this is on me, actually. I just realized I read his Are You Afraid of the Dark a while back and didn’t much care for it either. I just forgot. Because, like this one, it wasn’t very memorable.
Okay, I’ll try to remember for next time.
Just to be clear. The book isn’t terrible by any means. It’s decent enough. This reader didn’t care for it and wrote a review reflecting that opinion. Thanks Netgalley.

So you need to have your tissues ready for this one. It is so much about grief and, as a parent, it really hit hard. I mean, seriously…I started out crying and ended it crying.

It’s also horror. It’s described as a mix of The Monkey’s Paw and Pet Semetary – and it is. It’s a horrific reminder that sometimes you really need to let things go. It’s a whole lot of despair and only the tiniest bit of lightness.

The horror of it is gruesome and graphic.

This was an excellent read. It’s a hard one because it gets you emotional, but it’s a good one!

• ARC via Publisher