This was a very creepy novel that made me leave my light on. I enjoyed books by this author before, so I had high hopes for this one. Read if you enjoy spooky, small town narratives.

This horror book is one that plays mind tricks on you. Which in my opinion is ever scarier as your mind is a dangerous thing. Well, mine is anyways. Having read numerous books over many years, I have a very vivid imagination.

Harry, Dave, Bob, Lou, and Dennis's fathers all left them notes before they died that they should all travel back up the mountains for the annual trip and listen to the cassette tapes they left them.

I will tell you that the tapes were not played right away and that just added to my anticipation of what was on the tapes. I kept imagining all kinds of different confessions. Yet, I could never imagine the reality of the situation when it was revealed. I really enjoyed this book. It is worth the read.

Our Fathers’ Burden is about a group of men who continue the annual Thanksgiving hunting trip tradition after the sudden deaths of their fathers (most by suicide, the remaining from dementia a few months prior). We’re first introduced to Harry, whose father has left a note and a box of cassette tapes recorded by each father with explicit instructions to listen to only when they’ve arrived at the mountain and started the trip. What follows is a night of immediate chaos in the woods when the group of sons encounters a seemingly-unstoppable terrifying creature.

I have mixed feelings about the novel overall. I’ll start by saying the pacing was quick, which made for an easy read. The action started almost right away; we began with an introduction to Harry and some setup to why the sons were continuing their fathers’ hunting trip. We’re introduced to the additional characters after Harry gets up to the mountain: Dave, Bob, Lou, and Dennis - and the monster encounter is underway shortly after. My favorite was Bob, don’t ask me why; he reminded me of a handful of characters from horror movies who just do stupid shit but you root for them anyway.

What didn’t work for me was how “surface-level” the plot felt. Had this been a scary movie I could easily have been watching a group of guys fighting a monster and just been entertained; however, there was a lack of depth to the characters that made each one lack any real standout qualities. It definitely leaned more toward telling than showing; characteristics and past events were more of a laundry list instead of developed naturally through the plot.

In my opinion, other than showing up late in the beginning Lou and Dennis don’t feel necessary to the story - I would have loved to see more about Harry, Dave, and Bob, and the dynamic between those three. Also after having read the author’s note, I was surprised that he mentioned he was using the monster as a metaphor for depression, specifically for men/older men. Other than the beginning and perhaps a few moments sprinkled throughout, it never came across. I would definitely have loved to see that explored more as well - I love the idea of tying fictional monsters/demons to real ones and discussing how we do (or don’t) deal with them.

While this wasn’t necessarily my cup of tea, it was entertaining overall and I can see others enjoying it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Wicked House Publishing for the EArc in exchange for my honest review.

Wow what a ride and we jump deep into the crazy trip of camping like their fathers to see what they all were hiding from the sons. All 5 dads are dead and now want their sons to take on the burden they have dealt with year after year. The way the book bounced between present and past was a great way to connect the sons to the fathers and fill us in on the whys and hows.

The characters were well developed and the use of the monsters ability to use the humans fear to weaken them was a nice touch. The setting of the Appalachian was perfect because the mountains has many places where a creature could live and go unnoticed because of the lack of people in the area.

I didn’t like how the author used fuck in almost all of the dialogue between the men. Not because of the word it’s self but because there should have been a variety of words. Otherwise, it was well written and maybe he personally decided to do this to show that they were unhinged.

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

While this story had loads of potential I was overall unimpressed with the overall trajectory and outcome. I did very much enjoy the use of a cassette tape as a means of information/carrier of a secret though.

This book at the start reminded me a little of Blaine Daigle's The Broken Places however I feel that Blaine did it better.

I don't think that I will read more by this author.

"They'd known each other since they were kids. It's the kind of history you can't forget, no matter how far apart you might grow."

Gray has seriously impressed me with this story, and his previous book “The Devil Within Us All”.

This Appalachian horror story starts off strong and continues to thrill the reader till the very end. You’ll get more than enough blood and action, with desperate characters trying to survive a terrifying night in the wilderness.

The author does a great job explaining his thought process for creating the plot and characters at the end of the story- I appreciated this as I’m always curious about how aspects of the story came about.

All the characters were unique, some you loved, some you weren’t supposed to like, and some who were redeemed through their actions. My favourite actually ended up being Bob- he really seemed like he had true grit despite his life circumstances.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Wicked House Publishing for a copy!

I received an ARC copy of our fathers burden by William f gray from netgalley !

I really enjoyed the premise of the book and how it started and ended .. but was not thrilled in the direction it went. I would recommend it for anyone who enjoys a nice creature feature though.

Read in two sittings! It’s a real gripping tale that you don’t want to put down. The characters are rich and mostly empathetic (expect where they’re not really meant to be!), human—just real.

There was on issue that really didn’t have a satisfying answer, but it kind of doesn’t matter. Doesn’t really affect the book as a whole. Just leaves sort of a niggling “why though?” in the back of my head. You’ll have to read it to see if it bothers you, too!

I couldn’t stop reading this book. It was engaging and amazing. I loved the process.

We follow the story of men who go camping every year—but instead their sons have to live out their terrible legacy. Each son is left with a tape that explains the fathers’ secrets.

We have a lot of men to remember in this book. It got overwhelming at times, but the author made it work. Overall I didn’t get too confused. Gray has a gift for writing people, and I loved the character growth in this book. They each learned something by the end.

Some of my favorite chapters were of Sheriff Clark’s point of view. We got an insight into what happened, which heightened the thrill.

I don’t know about these fathers though. The author tried to explain it as best as he could, but my personality isn’t like these men. So their decisions didn’t make sense to me, but I’m all around a different person.

If you want a book that’s written well and makes you feel some of the terror and pain these characters felt, give it a try.

I received this ARC from Netgalley for my honest review.

It all began in the summer of 1987…
A group of 5 fathers travel to the Appalachian Mountains every year around Thanksgiving. The mountains called and they go. As time goes on, each of the five fathers have sons around the same age. Eventually the sons grow tired of going & as life goes on, each of the fathers pass away from suicide, except one who passes away due to Alzheimer’s.
After Harry’s dad passes away, his mom gives him a box full of tapes for all of the boys. Five cassette tapes for five boys. Harry's father begs him to go to the Appalachians - before Thanksgiving, as tradition goes. Harry and his cop friend, Dave convince the others to go. As they all arrive & listen to the tapes, they realize the fathers kept a horrible secret from them. A flesh-eating monster that they’ve been feeding raw meat all of these years.
The theme that runs through this book is primarily about depression and anger. Depression of the sons whose dads died from suicide and anger at their inability to accept & forgive them as well as themselves. I definitely see a concept of the “Wendigo” in this tale, mixed with other monster-like characteristics. I enjoyed this a lot & am thankful for NetGalley and the author for letting me read and review this ARC.

(I received this book from the editor and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)
I sometimes feel like a broken record but it is really difficult to write a review about certain horror novels, because every single detail could entail a spoiler.
In this case, William F. Gray’s Our Father’s Burden, we (as readers) know for sure there is a secret involved, something that the fathers left their sons. Unwillingly, maybe, grudgingly, for sure. Thus, we follow Harry, Bob, Lou, Dave and Dennis from very different places and instances in their lives, to the Appalachian Mountains, because that is what their father’s, all now deceased, wanted. And there is where the secret lies, hidden by the trees, folklore and night.
And I really enjoyed the way it all unfolded, how each character had their point of view, their way of doing things, the way of reacting against what was happening. The story was fast-paced, full of action, there were some frights, and it felt like a movie. And their father’s burden… well, it was revealed pretty early, but that warning was nothing compared to the real thing. Even if it did not behave as the real thing, if that turned up to be real; it did not behave as other written pieces have explained that it does behave. And all the changes were pretty scary.

Thank you to Netgallery for giving me an early release copy of Our Fathers Burden by William F Gray. This book will be released on February sixteenth of 2024.

Our Fathers Burden premise sounds interesting and did deliver, I think this would make an excellent starter book for those who are just getting into horror novels or would like a little taste without anything too horrific or extremely gory involved. I liked that the story was fast paced, it didn’t feel like it dragged on or used a ton of filler content. The chapters even have parts that were separated by little cassette tapes that I thought were a nice touch.

The characters were unlikable but the way in which they were written was tolerable. When the horror parts began I do find the characters to be more likable. Something’s I didn’t like were the women characters were often sexualized in Our Fathers Burden, we didn’t get to learn much about the women characters. There were also quite a few characters with the main characters and their fathers, it was hard to keep track of who’s who’s father but I’m grateful that it was stated each time during certain scenes/flashbacks.

Our Father’s burden is a nice take on the monster in the woods genre. Mr. Gray did an excellent job weaving two generations of families together in a clear and believable way.

The thing that stood out most to me was how Gray subverted expectations. Sometimes the monsters in stories are brought along with the characters unwittingly and are not only found hidden in the woods.

The burdens of the sons and their complicated relationships with their fathers was well done and believable. The dynamics of the sons’ feelings towards their dads felt real and human, no risk of character sterility here. These are people in all their rational and irrational glory in an impossible situation.

I gave this story four stars, which is PROBABLY unfair to the author. Permit me to explain: a good horror story oftentimes leaves the reader unsettled and in some doubt as to how things finished. That is not what Mr. Gray went for. Instead, he put a nice neat bow on the tale that was almost off-putting in its cleanliness and predictability.

This is an above average story that is enjoyable and memorable, but doesn’t quite stick the landing. People who enjoy tales of extraordinary creatures taking on ordinary people will enjoy it. People who like more nebulous endings open to interpretation might want to give it a pass.

Happy Reading!

Great book for horror fiction! I had a hard time keeping up with whose father was whose but good storyline. Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read it!

5 stars

This book is a unique take on horror fiction.

There is a group of five fathers who travel to the Appalachians every year at Thanksgiving time. They are compelled to go; they must go. They each have a son, all about the same age. The sons tire of the yearly sojourn and quit going. As time passes, one father passes away from Alzheimer's, while the other four commit suicide over a short period of time.

The sons are left bereft and very angry. At his father’s funeral, Harry’s mother advises him that his father left him a box. Harry is torn. He is suffering greatly from his father’s suicide. He finally looks in the box to find five cassette tapes. One for each son, with their names attached.

Harry’s father begs him to go to the Appalachians - before Thanksgiving. Harry and his cop friend Dave convince the others to go. The men are all different. But they all carry the weight of guilt - rightly or wrongly.

They instead arrive at the campsite a couple of days later than Thanksgiving. They listen to Harry’s father’s tape first. He tells of his guilt and the horrible secret the fathers have been keeping. The tale of a flesh-eating creature that has an annual cycle. The men have been pacifying it with raw meat.

However, having arrived late, Harry, Dave and the others are too late. The monster has already been unleashed. The sons are terrified. The best is killing campers. They must do something.

What follows is an exciting and awful battle with the beast. It is obscenely strong and crazed with bloodlust. It is unfazed by the bullets from the mens’ high powered rifles. Will the group overpower the monster?

The theme that runs through this book is primarily about depression and anger. The sons’ inability to accept what is and forgive both themselves and their fathers is getting in the way of their healing and personal growth. They must face up to the past and the present to break free of their negative feelings. Do they?

I highly recommend this book for lovers of horror and creature features. Read it for the adventure and scares. Or, read it for the deeper meaning. I truly enjoyed this book and was glad to get it for my first read of 2024. The writing was descriptive and colorful. I liked the way the flashbacks showed the boys growing up. I liked the sons, for the most part. Some became more sympathetic as the pages passed.

I want to thank NetGalley and Wicked House Publishing for forwarding to me a copy of this very fine book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and Wicked House Publishing for an arc of this new horror novel!

So excited my first read of the year was a hit! I wanted to start out the year with a thrilling book and man this one kept me on the edge of my seat. It had the right amount of suspense, gore, and horror to keep you hooked. I loved that you got POVs of each of the men so you could sometimes experience two different views of the same situation. I also loved how each had different reactions to the reveal and the monster. It really made you wonder how everything would play out from there.

Definitely look out for this one next month if you love horror books and monsters!

Perfect! I went in thinking I was going to not enjoy this book at all and come out with characters I actually cared about and cool Wendigo action that is actually a stand in for problems that I deal with. Amazing book and always great to see someone make something I deal with into a physical thing that can be overcame.

Our Father’s burden was a horror story unlike I’ve ever read before, enjoyable from the first page until the last!

Thank You Publishers and Net Galley for this copy to read!
I thought this was a really fun read. I liked how it gave me the feels of how the kids from IT grew up and also for a little bit of Windego vibes. I finished this in a day because it was easy to follow and had lots of action to keep my interested. I think this was just enough coming of age and scary story that other readers will enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wicked House Piblishing for the opportunity to read rate and review this arc which will be available February 16,2024

Talk about children reaping what their fathers sowed. Holy crap people. This was a flipping ride! I was in turns on the edge of my seat and others shaking my head. Quite a fast paced plot with twists and discoveries. I dug it.