Robert Pruneda

Gotta love an in your face beginning and this has a humdinger. I’ll warn ya, it’s a blood bath.

Cody somehow makes it home. But he’s not safe. Whatever tore apart his friends in the cemetery is hot on his heels. He crawls back through his bedroom window, the noise alerting his parents. They rush in to discover a muddy, bloody Cody cowering on the floor, unable to get a word out about what just happened. It doesn’t matter, as the thing that followed him home makes it’s presence known, crashing through the window and tearing his parents apart.

Detective Aaron Sanders, assigned to the case, is amazed to discover that the young boy, Cody, survived the brutal attack. As the forensics come in, indicating a possible animal attack, he is forced to stretch his belief. Especially after some scary encounters and his shared nightmares with Cody.

Aaron came across as very genuine. He’s all alpha male, yet his own ties to the orphanage Cody is sent to make him vulnerable. He grew up at Brackenridge and his memories aren’t pleasant. He doesn’t always handle events that well because of it, losing his cool and almost losing his job.

Poor Cody. I can see where he’d shut himself off from people after what he witnessed. And his secrets, while haunting him, scare him senseless.

I enjoyed the love/hate relationship between Maria Jiminez, Cody’s social worker, and Detective Aaron Sanders. I think they like each other, but Aaron’s copness might hamper this one. Maria is a tough cookie.

Things don’t get easier as the case gets stranger and stranger. Whatever unearthly is doing the killing won’t stop and can’t be killed.

These types of stories are a favorite of mine. Give me something unearthly, a beast from hell or whatever, and I’m rubbing my hands together in fiendish glee. I’m not squeamish, so the bloodshed only adds to the creep factor.

Throw in some sweet innocent victims and prey, some feisty, tough protagonists, plus a suspicious character or two, and you’ve got the makings of a great chiller.

A hellish feast of horror, to be sure.… (altro)