Crimson by Gord Rollo

Crimson by Gord Rollo
Published by Leisure Fiction
(c)2009, March
326 pages

Crimson is a basic horror story in setting. We have four friends (like Stand by me-sk) and we have an evil (reminds me of It-sk); but that is pretty much where the similarities end.

The book opens with a man walking home after visiting his neighbour with an axe. He walks home, his family already done and gone, bar the baby who is crying. He cleans up the child, feeds it and when the baby is asleep he bakes her and then hangs himself.

Wow! What an opening. We are then introduced to the main characters of the story delivered in an interesting style going from third person to first person telling a tale in third person. This allows him liberty to inject omnipresent views or second person POV.

Building the characters and setting the scene runs at a steady pace. While looking for a clubroom, they discover a buried room and naturally open it and investigate, awaking the evil inside (whom they believe to be Old Man Harrison, the dude who baked his baby).

Angered at having been awakened, the beast tells them there is a price to pay for disturbing his rest. And pay they will.

Then the story jumps several years and pretty much drags on leading to an exciting end.

I'm in two minds about this book. In a way, I like it and in another I found parts of it way too long. Many of the sentences put me off:

David cried out in fear. He cried out in agony.

The book didn't have a lot of show but I think it was written that way. And the story worked in this vein.

72%