Hunter Shea

"Watch out, world, the Wraith is coming for you. As always, Shea brings the thrills with this urban exploration mystery chiller!" Megan Hart, New York Times bestseller author Five years after Ashley King survived the infamous Resort Massacre, she's found hanging in her basement by her fiancé, Todd Matthews. She left behind clues as to what really happened that night, clues that may reveal the identity of the killer the press has called The Wraith. With the help of his friends, Todd goes back to the crumbling Hayden Resort, a death-tinged ruin in the Catskills Mountains. What they find is a haunted history that's been lying in wait for a fresh set of victims. The Wraith is back, and he's nothing what they expected. FLAME TREE PRESSis the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.

Slash

Becca Futrell

Thank you to Netgalley & Flame Tree Press for providing me with a copy of Slash by Hunter Shea in exchange for an honest review!

When I seen Slash announced, I knew I had to get my hands on it. Previously, I read Ghost Mine & it wasn’t necessarily my favorite read. But, I figured that had to do with subject matter, and nothing to do with Hunter Shea’s writing style.

But a SLASHER, Y’ALL? That’s right up my alley & a perfect reintroduction to Hunter Shea.

Important Note: There’s a cat in Slash named Elvira & this information is very important to me.

I thoroughly enjoyed Slash by Hunter Shea. I wasn’t entirely sure which direction it was going to take, but it started off showing the aftermath of a brutal murder and the toll it takes on the world, but more importantly on the victim. Following Ashley King’s suicide, we then dive into how Todd handles the situation.

& then surprise! We move onto the slasher portion of the story. Of course, this is where the action takes place. As with slasher films, The Wraith is a monster who for some reason just won’t go down & stay down. His kills are extreme & his powers are unreal.

From the description of The Wraith, his appearance reminds me strongly of Victor Crowley from the Hatchet franchise; which bonus points, because that’s one of my favorite slasher flicks.

Hunter Shea’s writing of Todd & his reactions to what has happened is beyond impressive. There’s a scene in Slash where Todd begins destroying things, and it shows raw human emotion; a character dealing with grief.

For me, the biggest downfall of Slash by Hunter Shea is pacing issues. The opening chapter did well with setting up the story, but it felt that it took too long to reach the pay-off of a slasher story. Once it hit a certain point though, Slash took off and there was absolutely no looking back.

When an author gets you really questioning ‘how the heck will they get out of this one?!’ & actually making you care about their escape, said author is doing a pretty damn good job. Although it wasn’t necessarily a positive ending, I liked how Shea wrapped things up (& left some things unwrapped) for readers.

It’s clear that there might be a sequel in the works, or at least a possibility of one; just as can be expected with a slasher story (kudos to you, Shea, for staying true to the sub-genre). If The Wraith was to make a return, I would definitely pick that book up as well.

Slash

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