‘Scratch’ – Brian Keene


Brian Keene is making a selected title, of his, 99c (or the equivalent) every week. It goes without saying that you should be all over that anyway (it’s tough times out there and speaking from personal experience, Brian Keene’s books get you through tough times) but I’m also reading each book as the discount hits. It’s not like I need an excuse but I’m looking forward to revisiting some old favourites and maybe catching a few that I haven’t read yet. ‘The Girl on the Glider’ was a ‘first time read’ last week (review Here) and this week I’m revisiting ‘Scratch’, a book that I haven’t picked up in a long old time. Let’s go. 

April showers bring May flowers. But as the rain-swollen creeks recede, the residents of one rural Pennsylvania town learn that April showers bring something far worse than destructive floods and property damage. This year, the April showers have brought a crypto-zoological nightmare named Scratch, and only pain and terror follow in his wake.

You’re getting two stories, for your money, this week and first up is ‘Scratch’, a short read but one that packs a hell of a punch as Evan Fisher finds that ‘old Scratch’ is not what he fears the most… That’s what Brian Keene does. In amongst the monsters and the supernatural terror, Keene is also quietly introducing you to the secret fears that haunt all of us and are just as terrifying as what Evan encounters in his neighbour’s house, even more so in fact. We all say that we’d kill for our family but… What if the need arises and you know that you’re not going to make it on time…? That’s what Evan Fisher has to face up to and it makes for one hell of a cliff-hanger and just the right moment.

Don’t get me wrong, facing down ‘old Scratch’ makes for a compelling read in itself but it’s those quieter moments that really grabbed me. ‘Scratch’ is a quick read but there’s so much going on in it that you’ll read it and not know where the time went. I didn’t.

And then we’re onto ‘Halves’, a slightly more light-hearted affair but still pretty damn creepy at the same time; especially with the questions that it leaves unanswered. But again, those quiet moments… We have to let our kids go sometime but what will they find as they explore the world for themselves? And again, we can’t protect them all the time… So soon after ‘Scratch’, Keene is making parents face their fear all over again with a little nod to the Labyrinth (I think) that just made me feel worse, but in a good way. The ending made me laugh, but I’m like that 😉 Like I said though, Keene deliberately injects a tone of things left unfinished that signs things off on just the right unsettling note.

If you have a Kindle or Nook, make a little room on it for ‘Scratch’; I don’t think you’ll regret it.

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