David Grayson, Dread: An Appalachian Horror Tale (2025)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44288015-dread?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=gKTPYT6mDr&rank=1
Something is stirring in the woods
Ed awakes to deranged screams outside his cell in the Sanatorium. Fortunately his lunatic cellmate Joseph is still asleep. Ed remembers a different kind of torture in Fallujah.
The first few paragraphs describe Ed’s life in the Sanatorium, but the Opening features interchanges between Joseph and other patients, making it more personal and more compelling.
On page 16, we get the first hint of some horror, the mention of ‘lights in the woods’. The suspense builds from there. First, the monthly supplies of food and medicine didn’t arrive. The truck is discovered empty, the driver missing. The guards are behaving strangely. A series of events begins, which might otherwise be just normal glitches in the daily routine. But they build. Meanwhile, Ed flashes back to Fallujah.
I was rather annoyed that the bad guys were never explained. Were they zombies? Why were they attacking the Sanatorium?
Otherwise, this is an easy-to-digest novella, a lovely bit of horror just before bedtime.
Susie Helme 
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