Monday, November 26, 2012

The Thirteenth Child - by David Dean - Keeps you guessing right up to the end

5 of 5 Stars    Review copy

Someone or something is abducting childen in Wessex Township, NJ.  Caught in the middle is Preston Howard, the town drunk and father of Fanny who works in the community as a librarian.

Howard has seen the children and he's also seen something else, something that, given his proclivity for alcohol, no one is likely to believe.

To complicate matters even more, Fanny has just become involved in a relationship with the town's Sheriff, Nicholas Catesby. 

David Dean does a superb job of balancing the facts with supposition in the case of the missing children.  Is the creature real or is near-constant inebriation causing Howard to do the unspeakable and concoct an unbelievable tale to keep himself out of jail?

BTW,  living in Southeastern PA, I loved the reveal on the title.  I actually never knew that before.

The author has done a very good job of creating characters that are complete in all of their idiosyncrasies and are convincing in their individual roles.  He also does an excellent job of building tension.  The story starts out with a wonderfully creepy vibe and backs off just a bit, but manages to build tension throughout and keeps you guessing until the final scenes.  The novel is complete, with no loose ends, but there is a bit of an opening for a sequel, should the author decide to go there.

All in all a great read, which I highly recommend.  Available now from Genius Book Publishing in both Paperback and a variety of e-book formats.

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