This is a creature horror but also tackles grief, depression, and trauma. Using a creature horror to speak about these themes is something I've not seen before. I don't think that the author's intention of using the creature as a metaphor is noticeable in the finished product. The themes are brought out in the characters - their history and their present situations - not so much what the creature was doing in the woods. But this also presents one problem with the story. Yes, the characters are mostly well constructed, but does every character in the book need to have some sort of deep and dark trauma? It becomes too much when there's no contrast.

But the creature horror is very well done. It reminded me a lot of The Ritual, written by Adam Nevill. I'd go out on a limb and say this is heavily influenced by that book. Both have old friends in the woods on a camping trip, and both have a fearsome creature hunting them. The characters also reminded me of the characters in that book, their interactions and group structure. There is enough in this book to be unique, but the influence is fairly clear.

There is a lot to like in this story if you want a few gripping chapters of mayhem. I can't say that I enjoyed the conclusion, and I didn't really care for the interludes that show a police investigation into a gruesome crime scene, but I enjoyed this quick horror novel.

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

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Give me a book about cryptids and I am all in. his book was easily the most interesting book about creatures I have come across. The story began with all kinds of secrets, ones that cost people more than their lives. The title of this book lets the reader know some heavy stuff will be revealed but no one, not even the reader, will be able to look at the fathers’ the same. This book was horror but also filled with very human emotions and the feelings of inadequacy people feel when hiding and learning about secrets. The end was a really good way to close the story. 5 star read for sure.

Yes please! I absolutely LOVED this book. It’s hard for me to get scared but there was a few parts where I literally stopped breathing. I can’t rave enough about this book. In the Author’s Note the monster is a metaphor for something else. My mind is blown! Brilliant!!!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for allowing me to ARC read this book! I loved this book so much and to read that the monster was an actual metaphor for something that needs to be more mainstreamed means the world to me and I have so much appreciation and gratitude to the author for it! I can not wait to read more by the author. I was not paid for this review and is my honest review! Definitely my favorite book of the year now!

Five friends venture into the wilderness in their father's memory. But there is something in the woods waiting for them besides memories. Something dangerous. Will the men survive? Chilling fast-paced read.

Harry Denmon was done going to the the Woods every year with his Dad and their friends. He didn't care for the tradition of the 'Annual Hunting Trip'.
But years later his father Don dies and leaves Harry a shoebox, in it are five Cassette Tapes and a carefully folded piece of paper in which Don explains that his last wish for Harry is to keep the Tradition at all costs.
And that as soon as the 5 men are together (and have set up camp at their typical hunting spot) they each need to listen to their Tapes.

So Harry invites the other four men up into the Appalachian Mountains, all of them are the Sons of his late father's hunting buddies. Bob Winter, Dave Keller, Lou Richards & Dennis Short will be Part of this game.
They will meet there for the Trip, but with one exception… Instead of going to their typical hunting site on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, they will meet there on the Day AFTER Thanksgiving.
New Generation… new twist on a Tradition. What could go wrong, right?

The Book started slow enough and with a flashback into the Year 1993.
And then after a fat Bang… it all goes down. (In a good way, mind you)

To our 'amusement', the five men are given a hard time by the Author and definitely not enough munition to face this shitty Situation in which they find themselves very quickly.

I liked the fact, that we could see a change in their Characters in the Course of this Book. Gray did very well to capture these changes!
My very personal favourite out of these guys was Bob, don't ask me why exactly but I was rooting for him all the time!
Though, at one Scene I was even sorry for the one of the bigger Arseholes out of these 5 blokes, the way the Author wrote that Scene had something inside me feel sorry for him.

The story itself, hmm… it was not wholly what I was thinking to find BUT in the End it worked out for me very well.
You get good old-school Horror and even a 'Flashback' to 1987.
You get Fear and Panic, you get lots of Blood, you get Monstrosities in the Dark. What else could one wish for?

Now quickly onto something else regarding the Book. I liked³ the Interior Art, how sections and scene changes in the Chapters were separated with Cassette Tapes. Loved it!!

A 5 Full 🌟 Rating!

𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝑯𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚 𝒊𝒕, 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆!

Thank you to William F. Gray, Wicked House Publishing, and NetGalley for this eARC and my first 5⭐️ read of 2024.

I would describe 'Our Father's Burden' as a study of grief and guilt, much of the latter being specific to men. However, unlike in so much fiction these days, the characters are not villianised simply for their gender but are presented as complex and flawed individuals, with struggles that are explored throughout the story.

Simply put, I loved it, And that ending! So satisfying.

This is kind of hard to rate and review. I enjoyed the beginning, the horror factor and how fast paced this book was, but it almost became too fast paced. The book lacked a lot of the details on what was going on and why it was happening. I felt very lost and confused. Then at times the book felt pretty slow.

I still have so many questions on what happened. This kind of read like a short story since there was a lack of information provided and not much backstory.

Thanks NetGalley and publisher for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Wow is all I can say. This book is very fast paced and chilling at times. It includes old mountain folklore as well as a creature feature! It grabbed my attention from the very beginning and left me wanting more after each chapter! A very good spooky book for all readers!

I've quickly discovered that I love stories that involve any sort of folklore. This has one of my favorites in the baddie world of folklore, and is exceptionally well done. The cast of characters is varied enough, well fleshed out, and the story moves quick, keeping your attention in several places at once as things progress. Exceptionally done, five stars.

Five Childhood friends join together for one last camping trip at the behest of their father's final wishes. On this trip, they are all forced to face the tragedy and grief of their deceased fathers. Five cassette tapes, one for each, with clear instructions to only be listened to once they reach the mountain of their yearly Thanksgiving camping trip. There they are faced with the heavy burden left to them by their fathers and the horror they face each year to keep them all safe.

Themes:
Addiction
Alcoholism
Adultery
Suicide
Guilt
Police Cover Up
Greif

A Creature Feature with a lot of heavy themes. Our cast of characters are each grieving the death of their fathers in a short period of time from dementia to suicide. Each member carries their own heavy burden toppled with grief. For a horror story, a lot is going on and the monster they're forced to face is both internal and external.

This story reminds me why I don't like camping anymore. You never know what is going on out in the woods and using an ancient cryptid played on that fear. Despite this particular cryptid being a tried and true fan favorite of the Appalachia mountains, the author took some creative liberties to give it a new unique, and fresh feel. It was wholly terrifying and no one was safe from this monster.

Personally, I enjoyed the experience the same way one enjoys a scary movie. It didn't just focus on the creature but each of the cast and their own internal/external struggles. I could see this story becoming either a B-grade or higher horror movie.

3.5 out of 5 fear factor.

I read this book in one sitting! It just grabbed me straight off the bat. The lore sucked me right in and then mixed in with peoples grief and how they deal with their own lives. It surely has put me off going camping without doing some research first!

I really enjoyed this wild and crazy story. It’s a very mysterious, horror filled, suspenseful, drama. It covers topics on regrets, depression, death, marriage, secrets and more. The characters are all very different so to read about each one and see their character growth was interesting. It’s a very quick read. Highly recommend.

Be careful picking this one up, this book is far more than just a "creature feature". Five men who grew up visiting the Appalachian every year with their fathers return when all of their fathers suddenly pass. Their final wish being that they return to the tradition. Gray weaves so many important topics into this story. Generational trauma, depression, alcoholism, adultery, police brutality/ coverups... the list goes on. The thought and care put into creating these characters was fully evident. I could feel a connection to each character in this book, even those with particularly dark pasts. Is this book the best monster book I've ever read?... no. Was it worth the read? Yes.

Review of Our Father’s Burden
Thank you NetGalley and Wicked House Publishing for the ARC.

Harry the main character is reeling from a series of events out of his control. Unexplainable things, friends from his childhood, and his relationship with his father were not as they seemed. Many untold truths were left unsaid leaving Harry and his friends confused and later terrified about the annual camping trips that have occurred for decades. Harry’s dad and his best friends held secrets close and only shared them after Harry’s dad died. The Appalachian mountains where the annual trips were located are beautiful, but can hide sinister secrets that may be revealed in the most terrifying way. Don’t be caught in the woods at night, you never know what’s lurking.

The pacing was great and the realistic characters proved to elicit wonderful character development. You felt like you were there with the characters and that my dear readers is scary as hell! This was a great horror novel that William F. Gray should (and I believe is) be proud of, it’s fantastic! Release day is February 16, 2024.

Thank you to Netgalley for my ARC

This is a story of fear, grief, parental relationships, confronting monsters both physical and psychological.

I grew up visting rural areas and spent a lot of time in the woods. We visited our family deer lease yearly. The setting was immediately familiar and scary.

I had some trouble with keeping the characters straight in my head. Some of the men felt a little too similar for me, but I did enjoy the storyline and where they all ended up.

I am very interested in reading more from this author in the future.

My thanks to Wicked House Publishing, William F. Gray and Netgalley.
Wicked House puts out some really great shit. They just do. I'm kinda appalled by how much I like their stuff. Mostly because I'm going to eventually want to read more, and it will eventually fail.
This story though?
Weird shit.
I just happen to like weird shit!
I began reading this with a sort of excitement..
I thought Windigo.
Windigo and Vampires scare the poo outta me. Matter of fact, they are my favorite tropes.
But, this is not my ideal windigo. Shit, matter of fact it wasn't a Windigo at all. Just some random dude author putting his take on it.
Really, that's all this was.
Not going to lie and tell you that this was crap. It sure as hell wasn't. I liked this story. I liked it enough to be hurt by the deaths.
My biggest issue was with the fact that I "could have" loved these characters more.
This whole story was good. It would have been better if the author had known his Windigo lore.
Still? Pretty damn good!
I expected everyone would die. Not everyone did. I guess I ended up just about living this tale!
And yes. For me, it was a fantabulous tale.
It wasn't my ideal Windigo, but it was worthy.
Heck ya' I will read more from this author.

The premise of this story immediately piqued my interest. The book follows 5 men who have all recently lost their fathers in a short period of time. Four of the fathers committed suicide and one died of natural causes. All of them were best friends. Harry’s father is the last one of the friend group who dies. In his father’s dying wish, he asks Harry to go on a camping trip with his best friends’ sons, just like when they are young.

Most of the story takes place in November in the Appalachian Mountains. You instantly feel the cool crisp air, as well as the unease of being totally alone in the woods. I do appreciate how Gray gave background to the 5 men, but didn’t draw out their backstories. We also get some lore of the mountain they are camping on, which adds to the unsettling atmosphere. Before you know it, the pace accelerates and you are on the edge of your seat wondering how this night will end.

Overall, this was a tight-paced novel with a decent amount of character development. I was definitely gripped by the plot and appreciate the themes Gray included in this novel: grief, generational trauma, and depression.I highly recommend this and will be checking out Gray’s backlist after reading this.

Thank you Wicked House Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Our Father’s Burden is a wilderness horror story of an ancient tradition and a new generation picking up the reins.

This is an extremely fast moving book and I found that the cast of characters was just a little too large to keep up with. I kept getting names confused and forgetting who’s father was who’s. Because of that, I also lost a bit of the suspense.

The topics of mental health and addiction were very interesting and well done and I thought the plot was great. I loved the idea of “passing the torch.” This is a good read for fans of wilderness horror, I read it in a sitting and had a pretty good time!

A tale of five men headed on an annual hunting trip, per his father’s instructions and following in his footsteps.

Y’all, this one got dark and sad fast for me. Not that it’s a bad thing. One thing about going into
The Appalachian Mountains is following the lore and superstitions. I’m already a huge fan of the lore and stories surrounding them and as a result I was already very invested and interested in the story.

The men in this novel were, in my opinion, not the most likable. Each are without a shadow of doubt, deeply flawed. I absolutely loved the metaphorical meaning behind the very real monster and tying it in with mental health.

The metaphors hits home with the stigma behind mental health to begin with, but also with how it is seen as a weakness in today’s society. I feel like this is a daunting thing to encompass and the author did a wonderful job with it. No shock factor needed.

This was a delightful story full of all of those deep, hard to stomach emotions: fear, anger, regret and a lot of depression. The novel definitely makes me think twice about going camping for a little while, and perfectly unnerving.


Thank you to William F Gray and Wicked House Publishing for the eARC!

so this book follows 5 men who follow the instuctions left by his father to go on an annual camping trip.so this book was a little hard for me to get into a first, but i kept going.it was little creepy and hard to keep up with what was happing. over all it was good.