Red Creek: A Horror Novel

Paul is a writer. He is in a rut. He is suffering from writers block. His wife has left him. He doesn’t have much contact with his daughter. And he is seeing things.Since he has been living alone in his large, expensive townhouse, for two years, he’s thinking about selling it. So he puts it up for sale, and now his sister is calling him.She wants him to return to Red Creek. His hometown. His place of birth. He hasn’t been there in twenty years. For some reason, the thought of returning fills him with apprehension.But his mother has been placed into a home for her health. She is suffering from dementia and he has been estranged from her for twenty years. Maybe he should visit her.His sister Beth is selling the house and needs help packing it up. He misses her. He is eager to see her. Not so much his old friends.Once he arrives in Red Creek, he feels anxious...something about the place gives him the creeps. Is he seeing things? Is that a shadow?Paul writes horror books. His bestseller was about a shadow. He sometimes thinks he’s seen one before. During college days. Now he thinks he’s seeing it again!Strange things begin to happen. Strange memories. Strange visions. Maybe he shouldn’t have returned.

The book was the only decent thing he'd written and he just couldn't find the spark to continue. His wife had left him, taking his young daughter to California with her. He'd finally decided to sell his Manhattan condo, but a call from his sister brought him back to the tiny town his family had lived in since before he was a baby. Returning to Red Creek brought back hidden memories long buried in his past. With the memories was the half remembered shadowy form that still brought terror to the young boy buried in his past. With the disappearance of another child, hazy recollections of his past brought Paul into the terrifying hunt for a monster with a hundred or more young victims.The characters in this novel are every bit as real as any from King or Koontz, the masters of terror. The storyline is amazing and the storyteller is a master! I couldn't quit reading until I finished! This is a great read!

Red Creek book 1I would not have called it a cliff-hanger except for at the end of the book it said END. Read the conclusion in RETURN TO RED CREEK.I was fine with the ending, really. Ignorance is bliss and all that. The ending of RED CREEK was a good ending. I could have gone on and thought happy thoughts. But NO, the author had to say the above.Now I have to borrow the next book using my Kindle Unlimited to find out what really happens. I am NOT reading that book next. Need a little time. Book one is going to stay with me awhile. Shadows and all.For the diehard Sci-fi thriller reader this book is probably pretty tame. But for me, I’m going to be watching for things that go bump in the night and those ever present shadows we all see from time to time. And if you don’t see shadows, you might after reading this book.This book is about an author who writes thrillers about shadowy figures and such and it’s probably because of his subconscious playing tricks on him.The book is a little disturbing as it focuses on children missing from a small town somewhere north of New York City.I recommend it though as it was well written and it did what I am sure the author wanted to do: 1) keep me up at night 2) Buy/Borrow Book Two

I enjoyed this story so much I was disappointed when it ended. Then I saw there was a sequel!I don't normally read much horror but something made me select this one. I'm glad o& that.

Paul Alenn is a bestselling author who goes back to his childhood hometown to help out his estranged sister and mother. But there is something very wrong in Red Creek. Local children are disappearing at an alarming rate, never to be seen again. The unsolved crimes go back over a hundred years. But if the abductor is human, how can this be? Paul and his old friends begin to investigate, and he starts to recall repressed memories of his own childhood, in which something horrible happened to him in the local apple orchard. Something that no one will talk about. This is a wonderfully dark and creepy book. I loved it. The perfect horror story for a dark and stormy night. It's well-written, easy to read, fast-paced, and here's the best part--it's flawlessly edited! For an independent author these days, that is a very pleasant surprise. The characters are likable and sympathetic, and the chilling mystery draws you right in. I was lucky enough to snatch this book up when it was free, but I would have happily paid for it. Top notch job!

I waffled between three and four stars. This was an interesting story and I liked the main characters. However, there is zero explanation of what actually happened. SPOILERSYou can buy that a shadow man is a psychological reaction to trauma, but once it's revealed it's real, there are too many questions. What is the connection to the Smiths? Why didn't the Smiths look for help rather than feeding the thing? And other things: Why was Mrs Elan 's relationship to the Smiths a secret? Why didn't Paul know the address of his home without Google? Wouldn't the fire destroy evidence, not to mention the remains and belongings of the children? Why would families simply walk away from looking for missing children?I also was annoyed by the continued lengthy details of the underground rooms.I notice there is a sequel and I'm going to check it out to see if the story is fleshed out.

I've kept the headline purposely confusing here, as for much of the book, we intenionally don't know which this story is. Which is an added bonus as it would appeal to readers of either.One of the things Mr Hystad is amazing at is crafting an engaging, likable lead character who you want to follow through his adventures, and that is again the case with Paul. There is a wonderful sense of nostalgia to this book, both for Paul in revisintg his place of birth, and perhaps for the hometown horror genre in general.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Kept me captivated all the way through. I thought Paul was a really good character. Really worth reading. Will look out for more from this author. Thank you for sharing your talent with us.

Really good plot and ending.

Antes de comprar esse livro, consultei algumas avaliações de leitores, a maior queixa era que o livro não tinha final. Decidi compra-lo, a historia é bem interessante, um mistério envolvendo o desaparecimento de algumas crianças em uma cidadezinha chamada RED CREEK. Gostei da escrita, dos personagens, quanto ao final, o autor finaliza a história, porém, deixa algumas coisas sem explicaçao, as quais com certeza serão esclarecidas na sequência RETURN TO RED CREEK, que infelizmente só está disponível em livro digital. RECOMENDO

I really enjoyed the way this story unfolded. An interesting mix of the past and present colliding to help unravel the mystery of Red Creek. Nicely concluded but not necessarily finished.