Gary Scott’s past and present
collide by virtue of a run down house where the Bogey Man feels all too real.
“I’m the Bogey,
Bogey, I’m the Bogey Man. I’m there when it gets dark to kill you if I
can.”
Gary Scott, editor of the City
Review lives a life akin to his
blue collar existence. It’s one of meetings, deadlines, women, office
confrontation, mediation, journalisms, and something dark and disturbing lurking
in the shadows. The early stages of the novel see Gary’s stumble upon the
gruesome corpse of a murdered dog near his girlfriends flat, seeing an angle for
a story he quickly snaps some photos and proceeds to the office to write about
the discovery and the ensuring police investigation. Little did he know that the
dog was the start of a much larger and macabre series of events which would
leads to suicide, murder, and a near death experience for Gary himself.
Despite the obvious graphic and
violent end to the harmless animal at the beginning of the book, author Barry
Graham allows protagonist Gary Scott to grow into his role at the magazine prior
to thrusting more violence upon him. I liked the subtle approach to the
supernatural by which Gary’s day job morphs into a medium for the spooky tales
to emerge from the depths of an unknown evil. There are some great b-grade
horror movie-like scenes, notably where a female character comes at Gary with a
sharp object after taking that same object to herself.
There is something darker in the
background that wasn’t explored to the extent I had imagined but it works well
as Graham lulls the reader into a false sense of normalcy before brining the
creatures that go bump in the night right to the forefront. A nice subtle form of horror not to be missed.
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