My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Union Square & Co. for an advanced copy of this new work of nearly lost fiction by a film motion picture director who had a huge influence in genre films, independent film productions, and in the nightmares of many a movie goer.

I remember when I first stated watching horror and monster films, a lot of these watched with my father who worked nights most of his life, and on days off had a hard time sleeping. We would use our illegal cable box to watch movies, that were probably not that good, and not really good for my age. Dad always loved Universal monsters, Hammer films, and Night of the Living Dead. My father always praised that one as he said it wasn't just unsettling, it had a lot going on. And was good. To my Dad that was high praise, and I agree. The director George Romero used horror to reflect on the world around us, the way humans would act to an asteroid making the dead come to life. Or a young man who thinks he is a vampire in Martin. Or my personal favorite, Monkey Shines, the inner rage of a man who has literally lost everything, with revenge carried out by the only thing that still loves him. Romero had characters, not people showing up to die, though the did die horribly. The genre lost a creative, and from many reports, a really nice guy when he passed away. However a little digging has given us one last work by the master. Pay the Piper is a novel started by George Romero, but completed by screenwriter and novelist Daniel Kraus, and deals with people dealing with the crimes of the past, coming for revenge in the present.

The Louisiana Bayou is lonely, dark and deep, and can trip the unwary from the many holes dug by locals looking for the lost treasures of the dreaded pirate Lafitte. At least this is what Renée (who is not a fan of her first name) Pontiac says, thinking about her father who spends his nights drinking or looking for treasure. The young girl is a proud inhabitant of the town of Alligator Point, with a population of about 141. Though that number is starting to go down. Something is calling the children out of their homes, and leaving their bodies all around. Pontiac knows something is going on, but what she finds is something far worse than she ever thought. Evil has been done in the past, and the piper is coming for its due.

A good story similar in many ways to early King in which the environment and the town setting really make the story. Daniel Kraus discusses how he found the story in the papers of Romero, and who he brought the work to completion. One could see a good miniseries coming from this. The story is big, with numerous points of view, lots of interesting characters, and scary little creature, that likes to lead kids away. The Romero-influence the social reasons for why the horror has returned are there, and fit well with the story. The corn pone aspect is nicely dialed down, also. One could see another writer loading the book with Cajun pronunciation all over the place. This does not, which is nice to see.

A throwback story in a few ways, but one with issues that still reverberate to this day. Loss, race, evil, generation pain, and even generational failure. A spooky story with lots of atmosphere, and a lot of fun.

PAY THE PIPER
Review by Debra K. Every

While going through University of Pittsburgh’s library, Daniel Kraus came across a surprising find. A half-finished novel by George A. Romero called Pay the Piper. This wasn’t the first time an unfinished novel by Romero had found its way into Kraus’ hands. After George Romero’s death in 2017, the Romero family turned to Daniel Kraus to finish The Living Dead. Kraus completed the task using one of Romero’s old short stories as well as the notes he had left behind. Three years later The Living Dead was released to great reviews.

Daniel Kraus then turned to the George A. Romero Archival Collection at the University of Pittsburgh. What he found was an unfinished novel few had known existed. Even more interesting, it had nothing to do with zombies, a subject on which Romero had focused much of his writing. Kraus believed that Pay the Piper included some of the finest writing of Romero’s career. He felt that it gave Romero a blank canvas on which he could paint a character-focused, atmosphere-drenched tale of terror.

Kraus is no stranger to collaborations. Before the Romero books he worked on two projects with Guillermo del Toro—Trollhunters in 2015 and the novelization of The Shape of Water. Daniel Kraus works in a wide range of styles in both YA and adult horror making him a great choice for this project.

Pay the Piper will be released on September 3rd. It is a supernatural tale set deep in the Louisiana Bayou—Alligator Point, population 141—the perfect place for a story dripping with ancient evil, danger and horrific death. The boogeyman here is an entity called The Piper. It prowls the bayou and, just like the novel’s namesake, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, targets children in ever more gruesome ways. The Piper lures them into the swamp dangling what they want most as bait. When he’s got them alone and unprotected, he strikes. The only way to stop the deaths is for the townspeople to acknowledge the sins of their ancestors—the pirate Lafitte, slave traders and the townspeople themselves. We don’t know what’s happening but anticipation keeps us turning the page.

And what is with those Octopus carvings?

This is Southern Gothic at its best. And like any good Southern Gothic tale, it has its share of eccentric, deeply flawed characters, hoodoo, evil, poverty and decay. There’s Pontiac, a two-fisted, fearless, cursing 9-year-old girl, brought up on stories about The Piper that had been handed down from father to son. How great that when we meet her she has a volume of H.P. Lovecraft tucked under her arm.

Her father, Gerard, is a good man failing as a father because of his battle with alcohol addiction…until he drinks a bottle of who-knows-what giving him the strength to pull himself out.

Then there’s Sheriff Pete Roosevelt and his deputy Spuds Ulene. Sheriff Pete lives with a constant scroll of John-Wayne-isms running through his mind; his yardstick—or perhaps it’s more accurate to say, template—for how to handle the day-to-day situations that any sheriff comes across. Spuds is, of course, the dull one, taken on by Roosevelt out of good-heartedness, until we realize that he is more than we had assumed.

And the names here are fun. Pork-Fat. Blind-Bull-Belly. Pink Zoot. Mère. Plum Peppers. You don’t need to know much else to understand who they are. When you add to that the patois, the language, of the place, Kraus has built a complete world. It is evocative, placing us deep into the Louisianan culture. Kraus is masterful at giving us a range of linguistic twang depending on each person’s background. Not an easy thing to pull off.
And speaking of language, there are some gorgeous moments.

“Fibs are truths stretched taffy-thin”
“Not from the kind of cancer that did in Mama, but the kind he nurtured like a pet”
“[his sentences] had rippling scales, dripping fangs”

I do have one criticism, however. Kraus has quite a few shifting POVs. I happen to like the change that multiple POVs gives but I stopped counting at nine. And yes, the gallop to the end, as I like to call it, was exciting, but the POV back-and-forth added confusion to the mix.

All that being said, Pay the Piper is a gripping, atmospheric story steeped in Louisianan lore. Daniel Kraus has used his creative toolbox to slip into the skin of Romero’s writing, balancing reverence with invention. Without his craftsmanship we would not be treated to the full spectrum of George Romero’s creativity.

I had such a fun time reading this story. It made me burst out laughing one moment, then the next left me utterly creeped out. It has a lot of emotional themes as well. The book also seemed very true to "bayou life" and I could tell care was taken to do the proper research to do that justice. Thank you to NetGalley and Union Square & Co. for this ARC. Check it out when it publishes September 03, 2024!

Very atmospheric book with interesting characters and lore. I flew through this book fairly quick as I really enjoyed the story and writing.

Loved it. Horror fans everywhere will recognize George Romero for the legend he is. And I was more than happy to dive back in to another tale from Daniel Kraus after Whalefall stole my heart.

I have always had a curiousity in the culture and had a soft spot for New Orleans and all of its rich history. This puts you right into the bayou with Pontiac and everyone on the Point. A captivating account of the off the beaten path and the folklore that lives there. I only wish there were some translations for some of the French language used. But overall a great read with an important message to be learned about retribution and accountability when given a choice to do what’s right.

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC
4 ⭐️

This was a great fast read. I loved the characters, the backdrop and storyline. I love how we have a storyline with something eerie in this Louisiana Bayou that is thought to be linked to children missing. I enjoyed the POV that was a little bit of many characters and you kept on track with the flow of things. I love how our author gives us this horrific feeling in the gut and these great visuals with their descriptions. I love a book that makes me get those goosebumps on the back of my arms. That really good supernatural horror type book feel. You will def love this book if you love all of these types of things I just spoke about. . .without me giving too much away because this is just one of those books that you need to read for yourself.

Pub Date: September 03, 2024

Thank you @netgalley ,@unionsquare&co and authors for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Union Square & Co. for allowing me to review this ARC. My review is also posted on Goodreads.

This is a stranger-than-scary story taking place in the Louisiana swamps. It’s a book that wants to be a cozy read but also veers in a bunch of weird directions.

The characters and plot start off nostalgic and classic feeling. The writing is immersive and initially feels like a spooky campfire story.

As the book progresses, there are parts that are excessively descriptive. The pacing is annoying at times due to so many interjecting POVs and fluff.

The storyline redeems itself in part two, and the ending is beautifully cinematic, if not a bit overpacked.

In conclusion, I can’t say I loved it because I have mixed feelings about the writing, but overall I am glad to have read it.

Thank you, NetGalley and Union Square & Co. for giving me the chance to review this book. However, this is where I must admit something rather embarrassing, I did not realize who the authors were when I read this book and did not fully realize until reading the afterword. I read the description but it didn't click further than, "Oh, these people must be well known." So why did I request this novel, well I saw the words "tentacles" and "swamp entity" and immediately my brain screamed, "Lovecraft!", and as someone neck deep in her Cthulhu mythos phase, that's all I needed to want this book real bad.

And I was not disappointed! One of the things that first grabbed me was the use of Cajun in the novel. The first few pages I was left spinning as nouns became pronouns and I couldn't tell what was a person, place, or thing. However, as you give into the swamp, it all begins to make sense and you start following the cadence of this familiar and yet unique way of speaking. I honestly, started feeling like a local of Alligator Point by the end of the book.

Alligator Point, Lousianna is situated in the oil-rich part of the Gulf, not that any of its residents see the wealth generated from the oil derricks visible from their humble shacks. Instead, the 141 residents have inherited a poisonous legacy from their slave-trading, pirate ancestors. A poison that worms its way into their very bodies turning healthy organs cancerous and healthy minds into a playground for vice. It is amongst this background that we meet a cast of characters representing the range of rot that has infected the swamp. The most notable being the main character, Pontiac. Pontiac is a 9-year-old girl in love with the very same swamp that seems to be eating at her fellow townspeople. She keeps a record of every nook and cranny and pays special attention to the octopus carvings found all over her home, though she, nor anybody else, can quite remember what they're for. Other notable characters include Pontiac's father, a man chained to the bottle, the John Wayne-loving sheriff, the reclusive school teacher, and the former doctor turned shopkeep.

I really liked this book. Not only for its Lovecraftian vibes but because this is the kind of book I would like to write one day. I'm also from a town of similar size and though I'm not Cajun, I am Acadian, and I've felt that same strangling feeling like there's no place to go, no place to grow, and yet, now that I live in a city of millions, I miss the pine forests deeply. Besides that, this book had some great writing. There were several passages that I highlighted because after reading them my brain was just tickled by the word choice and the invoking images, especially towards the end where everything starts to unravel. Cosmic horror is hard to pull off and I was pleasantly surprised by how well it was handled. The authors walked a nice line between something far beyond our understanding but also pressing the themes of the book.

However, the most important aspect of this book are the questions posed. How far are we responsible for the actions of our ancestors? What if we overwrote our history and painted it with lovely myths? Who should pay and, most critically, how far can we kick our responsibility down the road before somebody, or everybody, has to pay the piper? If you leave this book feeling safe and comfortable in the world we've built, you didn't read this book right.

I'm a huge fan of Romero's film work, so I was delighted that he'd written a Southern gothic. "Pay the Piper" is immediately gripping, its central protagonist a young, fearless girl who gets caught up in the disappearance of one of her friends. Because Romero's original novel was not finished, it was completed by Daniel Kraus. I'd love to say that the two authors blend together seamlessly, but it's just not true - "Pay the Piper" can't quite decide how scary it wants to be. It's funny, sometimes, and you think "okay, we're going comedy horror", but then it veers to something that takes itself more seriously. I found some of the Cajun accents - within the text of the novel, not solely in dialogue - distracting and uneven as well. The story itself had potential. It was a quick read. Too many POVs. All in all, it just felt underbaked.

In 2019, Daniel Kraus stumbled upon half-finished novel called Pay the Piper in the George A. Romero archival collection at the University of Pittsburgh Library System. After approval from Romero's estate, Kraus took on the task of finishing the novel as he had done previously with The Living Dead. What Daniel was able to accomplish was a finished spine-chilling, eerie and terrifying novel set in a cursed Louisiana bayou.

Alligator Point, Louisiana, population 141: Young Renée Pontiac has heard stories of The Piper--a murderous swamp entity haunting the bayou--her entire life. But now the legend feels horrifically real: children are being taken and gruesomely slain. To resist, Pontiac and the town's desperate denizens will need to acknowledge the sins of their ancestors--the infamous slave traders, the Pirates Lafitte. If they don't...it's time to pay the piper.

The residents of Alligator Point, who seem a bit stuck in their ways, have grown up to know all about The Piper. Stories told and passed down from generation to generation of a murderous creature that lurks in the dark humid bayou. However, things get real when kids start to go missing or even gruesomely killed.

Pay the Piper is a perfect blend of supernatural forces and horror. Kraus and Romero create vivid descriptions and a bit of Cajun drawl to immerse us in the hot and humid atmosphere of the bayou, where something dangerous lurks in the shadows. As with most of Daniel's novels, including The Living Dead, we were drawn in from the very first page and did not want to put this book down.

Kraus and Romero's use of witty dialogue, that is even slightly humorous at times, adds a layer of authenticity to the story without going overboard. The use of a slight accent gives us realism, but overtake the story making it difficult to read. It has just the right amount to make you believe what is happening. We feel as though we have stepped off the front porch directly into Alligator Point.

It can be difficult to take someone else's story and take it across the finish line, Kraus seems to have once again completed the task at hand. The likelihood of a book written by two different authors sounding like it is from two different authors is a difficult task to overcome and for the most part Daniel has succeeded. Somehow Pay the Piper was able to accomplish sounding like a Romero story while also allowing Kraus to put his stamp on it as well.

Pay the Piper by George A. Romero and Daniel Kraus is a horrifying supernatural story where the tension, suspense and all together eeriness is almost palpable. While not the outstanding novel that is Whalefall, fans of either writer should enjoy this addition to the world of horror.

My thanks to Union Square, Daniel Kraus, G. Romero and Netgalley.
I'll be upfront and let y'all know that this is the sort of story that I would usually give a hard pass to.
However...Kraus just happens to be an author who stirs feelings in me! His stories are downright strange, but he writes characters that are often unforgettable.
That being said.....yeah, here's where I add the big BUT!
The big but here is that this story reads like it was written by two different people. It isn't seamless.
I actually did end up loving a few oddballs! Pontiac? Please I adore that 9 year old! It's difficult for some people to see how a 9 year old girl can be so smart, but I've met some of those little smarty pants before. It's a bit unnerving. I had a friend back in elementary school 2 through 6 grade, and she was a smarty pants too! She loved teaching me animal knowledge, and I taught her how to piss off the bulls, and how to escape them by diving through barbed wire fences! I also took her camping and gigging frogs. She wasn't very good at it, but she did love the frog legs and hush puppies!
I think that maybe the reason I couldn't go all in on this story was because the thought of having to pay for the mistakes of your ancestors is bothersome. I've never and will never like this trope.
I did for the most part enjoy this story, but there were definitely times that I wanted to quit. Too many times!
This book had some truly low key humor going on at times, and I loved that!
Still...just a meh type of story that I'm happy to have read, and now I'm very happy to say adios.

What an incredibly timely tale of not just acknowledging the sins of our ancestors but taking responsibility for the crimes we have swept under the rug of history in the name of preserving legacy. Or, in this case, hid in the Bayou. This book was atmospheric, bone-chilling, and disturbing but had such a deep undercurrent of empathy that you couldn't help but root for the people of Alligator Point. I loved each character for their idiosyncrasies and never felt that anyone's perspective was superfluous. It's character-driven horror with heart and a solid social message-- you'll be creeped out but ultimately inspired. Well done!