St. Vincent’s is an isolated orphanage where thirty boys live under the watchful eye of Catholic priests.
However, one snowy night, when a sheriff brings in a dying man covered in strange occult symbols, all hell breaks loose. Evil spreads through the orphanage and so does panic, causing alliances to form between the boys in a fight for survival.
Boys in the Valley by Philip Fracassi is a bone-chilling religious horror that explores the nature of good and evil, group psychology, and how fear can act as a powerful contagion.
However, I think my main issue with the story is that it inexplicably switches between first and third person. The main boy we follow, Peter's chapters, are written in first-person while other characters are in third person, and I wish either the POVs had been consistent throughout or the story had been set up more purposefully—for instance, making the book a frame narrative with Peter recounting the events or turning it into an epistolary novel with diary entries from the various orphans sprinkled throughout.
Minor gripes aside though, this book is a riveting read that delivers some genuinely unsettling and gruesome scenes and is a must-read for fans of possession or survival horror.
Thank you, NetGalley and Tor Nightfire, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Book Details:
Comments
Post a Comment