Review Copy

Jack Bishop's father has gone missing. The fact that his disappearance coincides with an incident involving something that escaped from Helix, the town's principle employer, where both jack and his father work, is no coincidence.

Residue is a YA novel that is a bit simplistic for my taste. I prefer my horror with a bit more bite. Not to say there's no violence, there is. There's even a good bit of death, but I feel somewhat shielded from most of it.

The characters are a bit one-dimensional and the monsters are not very well fleshed out.

The good news would be the overall story. There are some good ideas here, but it seems evident that this is a first novel and there is a lot of room for growth. It looks like Steve Diamond will get a chance at that growth as there is a sequel in the works.

Residue is the latest offering from Angelic Knight Press, the horror imprint of Ragnarok Publications. As such, I'm a bit disappointed as I'm used to a higher standard from both of these outlets. I just hope that future installments will offer more to sink my teeth into. ( )