cover image Vein River

Vein River

Kellie Honaker. Magic Quill, $15.99 trade paper (218p) ISBN 978-1-945524-10-3

Honaker’s debut foray into novel-length horror starts out with a terrifying specter and an appropriately creepy vibe, but the voice of her teenage protagonist is not believable, and slow pacing and an awkward mid-book change of tone into a cozy ghost story let the tension drop well before the tepidly happy ending. When Annie Forester and her mother move into her deceased aunt’s house, locals are quick to tell her to avoid the bridge haunted by a ghost named Angelina, who kills people or afflicts them with various ailments. But Angelina seeks out Annie at home, and Annie eventually discovers that the ghost wishes not to hurt her but to be understood. Angelina’s disclosure of her backstory comes in the form of several chapter-long expository journal entries with an uneven period vibe, an unclear sense of the audience, and a stereotyped story of homophobic abuse. Honaker’s setup seems intended to escalate into a terrifying, vengeance-filled story with themes of youth and aging, but she chooses instead to offer insipid redemption to characters she hasn’t convinced her readers to love. (Nov.)