Let
me begin with a little confession. While
I love everything I have read by Hunter Shea, I only first read one of his
books less than a year ago. Given the
extremely limited time I have to read things that are not in the form of a
textbook, I have not read nearly as much as I would like to by Hunter. With that in mind, it may not come as a
surprise to you that I did not realize that this novel was a continuation of a
character’s story from some of his earlier work. It became clear shortly into reading that
this was the case as backstory was referenced.
I began to fear that I would not be able to do a worthwhile review that
gave an honest, fair opinion of this novel if I had trouble due to a lack of
background knowledge on the character. I
decided to continue on with my reading and hope for the best. Not long after getting past the point of my
concern, I found myself not wanting to put this book down and realizing, yet
again, that Hunter Shea is an amazing story teller.
Sometimes, the dead are best left in peace.
Jessica Backman has
been called to help a strange family living on a haunted island in Charleston
Harbor. Ormsby Island was the site of a brutal massacre two decades ago, and
now the mysterious Harper family needs someone to exorcise the ghosts that
still call it home. The phantoms of over one hundred children cannot rest.
But something far
more insidious is living on the island. When the living and the dead guard
their true intentions, how can Jessica discover just what sort of evil lurks on
Ormsby Island? And why is Jessica the only one who can plumb its dark depths?
Despite
not having read the previous books, I had little trouble finding the characters
engaging from the start. Hunter Shea
does an excellent job of providing an adequate amount of backstory for readers
like myself who make the mistake of picking up a book that comes later in a
character’s story without spending a large amount of page space rehashing
previous writing. He wastes no time
getting right into the thrill of the current tale and drawing us into the
story, hooking us quickly and relentlessly.
I quickly found myself drawn into the mystery of what was happening and
was turning pages with equal levels of anticipation and hesitation as the
thrills and chills piled up. The
characters were well written and Hunter Shea does a great job of really
breathing life into them.
Overall,
I found myself in a rare position where I had no complaints about a novel. While I would much rather have read the
previous stories first, I was still able to really dive into this book and let
Hunter Shea take me for a thrill ride one page at a time. All of the horror, suspense, action, and
character development I have come to expect from Hunter Shea’s work were
present in large amounts. This is
definitely a novel for fans and new readers alike (although you may want to
read the earlier novels first).
So
what’s the Rage Circus breakdown?
Story Concept – 4.5/5
Story Execution - 5/5
Story Flow – 4.5/5
Character Development (give-a-damn factor) - 5/5
Gripping visuals/details - 5/5
Entertainment Value/Story Engagement - 5/5
Editing (including grammar and spelling) – 4.5/5
Overall – 4.79/5 – DISCOVER THE MYSTERY OF ORMSBY
ISLAND, READ Island of the Forbidden TODAY!
Island of the Forbidden by
Hunter Shea continues the story of Jessica Bockman, the ghost-hunting heroine who has appeared
in Forest of Shadows, The Graveyard Speaks and Sinister
Entity, all published by Samhain Horror.
To
read more about the series and Jessica Bockman, read Hunter’s recent article @ http://huntershea.com/2015/01/02/the-real-people-behind-the-character-jessica-backman-revealed/.
You
can get your copy of Island of the Forbidden at any of the following:
GoodReads:
Amazon:
Samhain
Horror:
Barnes and
Noble:
Hunter
Shea, Biography
Hunter Shea is the
author of paranormal and horror novels Forest of
Shadows, Swamp Monster Massacre, Evil Eternal, Sinister Entity, HellHole
and Island of the Forbidden, which
are all published by Samhain Horror.
The June 3, 2014
release of his horrifying thriller Montauk
Monster was published
by Kensington/Pinnacle. His second Kensington novel, Tortures of the Damned, will be published later this year.
He has also written a
short story to be read prior to Sinister
Entity, called The Graveyard
Speaks (it’s free, go
download!), and a book of stories called Asylum Scrawls.
His work has appeared
in numerous magazines, including Dark Moon Digest, Morpheus Tales, and the
upcoming anthology, Shocklines :
Fresh Voices in Terror. His obsession with all things horrific has
led him to real life exploration of the paranormal, interviews with exorcists,
and other things that would keep most people awake with the lights on.
He is also half of
the two men show, Monster Men, which is a video podcast that takes a fun look
at the world of horror. You can read about his latest travails and communicate
with him at www.huntershea.com, on Twitter @HunterShea1, Facebook fan page at
Hunter Shea or the Monster Men 13 channel on YouTube.
