Gary Frank doesn’t pull any punches in the opening pages of his debut horror novel FOREVER WILL YOU SUFFER. On page one, we find our narrator, Rick Summers, in the graveyard visiting his mother and sister, who died in a freak car accident eight years before, and by page five, we’ve already heard the voice of a ghost and met a reanimated taxi-driving corpse.
The new driver, the former Judith Baxter – or “ex-Judith” – delivers Rick to the home of his one-time lover, Katarina Petrovska, where all hell breaks loose. Kat’s new roommate, Meggan, informs Rick that their mutual friend is missing and has recently been stalked. And though Kat had spoken highly of him, the odd timing of Rick’s arrival and Kat’s disappearance makes Meggan immediately suspect of her visitor. But as strange happenings begin unfolding all around them, she’s forced to reserve her quick judgment and work with Rick to “solve this mystery.”
Kat’s home becomes a portal to past events, which play out before their eyes even as the house itself physically morphs into other places in other times. In one scene, Rick is tortured by Nazis for information he cannot possibly know.
Frank writes at an admirable clip, but it puts his characters in too many horrible situations they’re too quick to accept, a common problem in modern horror literature often solved by the simple suspension of disbelief. But out of these situations arises dialogue that usually fails to ring true, leaving us to care less and less about the ultimate fate of the characters as the pages continue to mount.
Fans of supernatural haunted house novels will find a gourmet feast here, but for readers who prefer tight plotting, in-depth character development and especially smart dialogue, FOREVER WILL YOU SUFFER is the fast-food equivalent. It does the job, it sometimes even tastes good, but in the end, you’ll probably wish you’d had something else. –Jason Light
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Jeff, thanks for putting your name at the end of the review. Its confusing sometimes the way the banners are set up.
Could you tell me if this is a mass market release or a chapbook? It would also be helpfull if you did this in the future as money sometimes can be tight and I’d rather spend $7.50 on a paperback than $15.00 or more on a chapbook. Thanks for the review. I normally really enjoy haunted house stories.
It’s a mass market paperback. You can always tell what format it is if we don’t mention it by clicking the link embedded in the title.
We’ve been including names on all reviews for a while now. Additionally, on the main page, the person’s name appears at the top of each review as well. But I agree with you that it’s confusing when they’re all stacked up on each other.