Alfred, a washed-up author plagued by failures can’t believe his luck when his father in-law Frank provides him with a chance that he direly craved for:
Seven days alone in an isolated Motel with the task of finishing his upcoming book!
But little does he know about the Motel’s unsavory history. Hidden in the corpse of trees and about 400 miles away from his home, it is a two-storey facade located in the dark forest of Skiddaw.With no WI-FI, poor signals and weird set of rules, the dark atmosphere soon turns his seemingly idyllic trip to a living nightmare. Apart from the usual creaks, groans and moans of the motel, he soon finds himself face to face with an entity. An urban legend that is lurking in the woods long before the motel found its existing foundations.
The Motel’s dark and haunting history quickly becomes tangled with Alfred’s life as he frantically searches for answers. Barry, the caretaker is hiding something. But what is it? Is there someone else living in the motel besides him? Or is caretaker not what he seemingly appears?
Alfred quickly begins to lose his tenuous grip on reality as he sinks further and further into an intricately designed game of deceit and lies that might put his life in danger! Or is he a threat to himself and everybody around him?
"Overall, it's a standard horror book, a little trope heavy, but with a reasonable twist at the end."
Reviewer: Angel for Bookangel.
Fred wants to be a writer but has failed at it for the last five years. As a last ditch attempt his father-in-law, Frank, sends him to a Lodge in the middle of nowhere to give Fred the space and tranquillity to do finally complete a novel. He gives him a week to write something as the financial help that Frank is giving to Fred and his family is soon coming to an end.
And so Fred heads off to the lodge, in the middle of nowhere, and meets the eccentric caretaker Mr Barry. He also finds that the hotel is dilapidated, there are a set of bizarre rules for guests to follow and that he is the only guest in the establishment. Not to mention that there is also a major storm coming. Things go from strange to worse as he begins to see and hear things, have nightmares and finds strange cuts on his body. As he begins to lose his mind, he finds out that the hotel was built near the site of a large asylum with a very shady reputation. Fred now has to hold it together while finding out just what is happening to him.
This is an interesting horror story with what appears to be several influences rolled together to flesh out the story. The plot is fairly standard, author in strange place in middle of nowhere out of touch with society, local lunatic asylum experimenting on inmates. For the bulk of the plot there is nothing to really set it apart from a lot of other stories. The characters are enjoyable to read, if only because they are so normal in such a strange situation. The writing is pretty descriptive, though at times the author goes a little over the top with some words. However, it is easy to read and I found myself completing in a few hours, beginning to end.
The other thing that struck me was the constant use of American spelling, terms and phrases throughout a book set in England and written by an British author. As a British reader, it sometimes pulls you out of the story. The horror and the scares in it are fairly standard, but the twist at the end is pretty good and looking back you can see where the author has included clues as to what is truly going on. No I'm not going to spoil it.
Overall, it's a standard horror book, a little trope heavy, but with a reasonable twist at the end. Rating:3
