By Matt Molgaard
Gregory Lamberson is one of those writers who gets more and more into his writing the more you read him. He’s like a perfect tumor. Yes, he really gets more and more into his writing the more you read him!
Seriously, Lamberson has been a horror writer for years. Somehow, after contributing so much to our brilliant genre, he only seems to get better. The last two books in his Jack Herman Files series were excellent, with a completely shocking ending. It instantly became a favorite of mine, but Black Creek completely blows it out of the water. completely.
The story focuses on a small community that is stranded when the storm of the century arrives. The roads are covered in snow. Winds gust through the streets strong enough to lift people off their feet. As the weather threat grows, the power goes out. This kind of storm could easily kill, but what emerges from it – something that has been living underground for generations – is more likely to cause a terrible death toll.
Can a small group of resourceful survivors overcome the odds and win the war against an enemy they’ve never seen before? Is the town doomed to become collective victims of a flesh-eating demon?
Excellent. Awesome!
Lamberson does something very unique in this story: he creates two antagonists for a group of unlikely heroes to overcome. The first is the weather. Weather is nasty. It kills without remorse. It is Mother Nature, after all. But the story’s other villain, a group of deformed monsters, is an even more terrifying obstacle standing between our few remaining humans and their gruesome but inevitable end.
Everyone in the story is forced to fight with all their might, and many of them don’t live to see the final page of the story.
Lamberson’s fluid narrative and excellent grasp of character, place, and narrative obligation are amazing. Lamberson’s writing style feels like a complex extension of the script, which helps the story go in many different directions, even though we all know our ultimate destination is the same. I love this quality. It’s lovely and thrilling to read. Not only is Black Creek a thrilling read, it’s also a shocking story filled with carnage and brutality. However, above the carnage and brutality, the human element of the story is brilliant, bringing family bonds and selflessness to the surface.
We are nearly halfway through 2016 and already Lamberson and his sinister creation Black Creek have made it onto my “best of the year” list. Thumbs up, sir. Thumbs up!
Order yours here.
score:5/5
