
Special thanks to Tenebrous Press for the ARC copy they provided.
I often say, Tenebrous Press doesn’t disappoint, and I will add, neither does the Split Scream series.
Split Scream Volume Seven opens with “Evergreen,” a going home after doing everything you can to leave story. The word count is short and the pacing mild. Everything about “Evergreen” draws you in with a lulling sense that there is little or nothing to fear. The main character, Deirdre, certainly has no fear, only aggravation towards the town she grew up in and the people residing in it. Nothing unusual there, in and of itself.
The only disquiet lurking behind the scenes of “Evergreen” are the trees, and the anomaly of the one hiding in the closet of Deirdre’s late mother. Not to mention the collection of “trinkets” Deirdre finds littering her childhood home and the strange tendency of the closet tree to “eat” whatever is put into the soil at its roots.
This disquiet is dispelled somewhat by a mild mannered sheriff with the comforting name of Milo who shows up and really makes you root (get the little pun there, trees and roots, haha…) for him. Even when he drops a few strange hints that make you scratch your head and hope he doesn’t turn out to be the monster hiding in the closet.
He doesn’t, which is nice. (He gets the root, which is less nice.) And ultimately “Evergreen” took me by surprise because I wasn’t expecting… that.
Ahhhh… yeah. This one took a turn I should have expected but just didn’t. Something I enjoy in a book. (I will just quietly lament Milo over here in a corner…)
Following “Evergreen” is “Sequoia Point,” a slightly longer novella that reached out and grabbed me from the first few lines. The tone is much more sinister from the beginning and the strangeness of the setting can’t be ignored. I also loved that the things I anticipated helping just didn’t. They, in fact, made matters worse.
A good twist is something I appreciate and both “Evergreen” and “Sequoia Point” have them without the novellas feeling like copies of each other. The main characters, Deirdre and Meg couldn’t be more different and couldn’t make more disparate choices.
I have to say, I much prefer Meg’s decisions and her attitude toward life, but that’s just personal opinion. We all have plots we prefer, and I think “Sequoia Point” has one of mine. Which is why I don’t want to say too much about it.
I want you to read it for yourself. Grab that book and decide if you like this one and its ending as much as I did. It’ll be worth it. Trust me.
Or don’t. Either way, read it.
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