A NEW HOMEDawna Temple let herself be moved from the familiarity of Pittsburgh to the wilds of West Virginia, all so her mentally exhausted husband, John, could heal from a breakdown. Struggling with the abrupt change of location, Dawna finds a friend in her neighbor, Suzanne Miller, known to the locals as The Hag Witch of Tripp Creek.A NEW FRIENDDismissing it as hillbilly superstition, Dawna … hillbilly superstition, Dawna can’t believe the things she hears about her funny and empathetic friend. Suzanne has secrets—dark secrets—and eventually she reveals the truth behind the rumors that earned her the wicked nickname decades earlier.
OLD WOUNDS
Now in possession of the truth, Dawna has conflicting emotions about Suzanne’s past deeds, but when her husband’s well-being takes a downturn, she finds there is no one else to turn to. Will she shun her friend as others have done before? …or can she accept that an act of evil is sometimes necessary for the greater good?
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This story is very layered with a great female lead. It has everything a literary work would have and the elements a strong horror story needs, too. I feel good about recommending this work and this author to horror fans and fans of great family dramas.
A couple moves from Pittsburgh to the West Virginia countryside as a chance to reset, reconnect, and rejuvenate. There, an ostracized older woman’s property is marked with warnings. Avoid the Hag Witch.
But is this woman with the lush garden a witch, or a mislabeled loner?
Modern, rational urbanites find the idea of a witch haunting the wilds infeasible. However, sometimes there’s a kernel of truth in even the most outlandish rumors. In The Hag Witch of Tripp Creek, Somer Canon tells a heartbreaking story within the story of friendship, revenge, and forgiveness.
This story is, at its heart, a tale of frustration at the inability to protect those who most need the protection.
That leads to trigger warnings: This is horror, and part of the horror involves child abuse/rape/harassment and animal abuse. Suicide, ignorance and prejudice, and harassment, too, play parts in these women’s stories. Suzanna makes some decisions that left me wanting to scream with frustration, but she had spent such a lot of her life on the fringes of society that she probably distrusted authority.
Somer Canon tells the story in straight-forward, page-turning prose, and the supernatural horrors pale in comparison to the real-life injustices presented.
3.5/5
I’m late to the game discovering Somer Canon’s writing. My first go-around was her fantastic short story in ‘Midnight in the Graveyard.’ Her story ‘Join My Club’ scared the crap out of me and when Pete from Bloodshot Books asked if I’d like a review copy, I jumped on the chance.
‘The Hag Witch of Tripp Creek’ tells us the story of Suzanne Miller, a widower living in a very isolated small town. She’s been branded a witch, and rightly so, but when Dawna Temple and her husband move nearby – wanting to escape their hectic city life in Pittsburgh, Dawna doesn’t believe the rumours and soon strikes up a friendship with Suzanne.
During this friendship is where the meat and potatoes of the book happen – Suzanne opens up and shares with Dawna her past and what started the rumours about her. I really enjoyed the flashback story and it was the deepest, most fleshed out section of this shorter read.
I think what would have heightened this entire read for me, was if the beginning and ending were of similar detail. When the book begins, it feels really rushed, to the point of this feeling left out and glossed over.
When we come back from the flashback to present day again, things once again hum along. Because of this disconnect between beginning, middle and ending, it read to me like three short stories that were then attached and connected by these characters. I didn’t fully understand why some of the stuff happened at the ending with Suzanne, based on her friendship with Dawna, but to stay spoiler-free I’ll leave it at that.
I found this story had so much potential to become a gruesome, folklore based story but then for unknown reasons things would back off, as though the volume of a song was turned down from 8 to 6 instead of going up to 10.
At the end of the day, I enjoyed my time in Tripp Creek, but it just felt like I visited for a day instead of a week, and in this case I think an extended stay would have helped me enjoy it more.
The Hag Witch of Tripp Creek by Somer Canon is a heartbreaking and totally captivating tale. Once I picked it up, I couldn’t stop reading.
While this story needs a few trigger warnings; child abuse, rape, and domestic violence being the biggest one.
I will say that I thought that each element was handled wonderfully. But please know that if any of these things are triggering to you, you may want to skip this one. The author didn’t shy away from the horror of it all, but she didn’t dive to heavily into the finer details of each event either.
While this story centered upon the couple and their personal lives and struggles, the heart of the story lay with Suzanne and her past. The message? Even the best of intentions can have disastrous consequences, and those consequences can spill over and infect the lives of others.
My goodness, the characters in this story! I really felt for them. The unfairness of some situations is just too much. Put in the same place that Suzanne found herself in, I can’t say I would have taken a different route.
There is so much more that I would love to say about this one, but I don’t want to give any of the plot away!
On a last note, I will just say… THAT ENDING! God I love endings like this! While on one hand it leave the story open to a follow up if the author wanted to do so, it’s also perfectly satisfying as it lets the reader imagine what could happen next.
This is one that I highly recommend just diving into! Somer Canon’s writing style will hook you from the start and draw you deeper and deeper into the story as it goes along.
I really enjoyed that this had a peaceful and friendly start, but quickly jumped back into the past and got very dark. I loved that it was organized as a story within a story as it gave the readers more insight into the rumored witch that Dawna had become so close with.
This one is just screaming for an adaptation!