Winner Best Mystery-Thriller — Writer’s Digest 6th Annual Ebook Awards”Gilchrist by Christian Galacar is terrifying. Stephen King made his readers afraid of clowns, cars and so much more; Christian Galacar WILL make you afraid of small towns and memories!” – Charla White, WordsAPlenty“If you like Stephen King or Dean Koontz you will like this story.” – Sunny DuPree“A genuinely scary book that I … story.” – Sunny DuPree
“A genuinely scary book that I should not have read right before bed.” – Dannielle Insalaco
Bag of Bones meets Stranger Things. . .
Gilchrist is as beautiful as it is terrifying — a novel of mounting suspense, with an unsettlingly human heart at its core. . . black as it may be.
Two years after losing their infant son to a tragic accident, Peter Martell, a novelist with a peculiar knack for finding lost things, and his wife, Sylvia, are devastated to learn they may no longer be able to have children. In need of a fresh start, and compelled by strange dreams, the couple decide to rent a lake house in the idyllic town of Gilchrist, Massachusetts, a place where bad things might just happen for a reason. As bizarre events begin to unfold around them—a chance encounter with a gifted six-year-old boy, a series of violent deaths, and repeated sightings of a strange creature with a terrifying nature—Peter and Sylvia find themselves drawn into the chaos and soon discover that coming to Gilchrist may not have been their decision at all.
Set against a small New England town in the summer of 1966, Gilchrist is a sinister tale about the haunting origins of violence, evil, and the undying power of memory.
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Where do I start? Oh, I know…
AWESOME.
I’ve read better books, but the number is few. My biggest complaint is that Mr. Galacar hasn’t written forty-eleven more books for me to read. Stephen King is one of my favorite authors, and I feel the same way about him if that tells you anything.
The dialog, the setting, the world-building–all of them combine to suck the reader into the 1960’s, into a believable fictional world laced with terror. Tragedy is interwoven with a sense of hope, despite the undercurrent of impending doom Galacar weaves expertly throughout the story.
I’ve been wracking my brain, trying to figure out what I liked best about Gilchrist, and I can’t come up with only one thing. This book is good…no, scratch that… This book is AWESOME and if you haven’t read it, you should start right now.
What are you still doing here? Go. Start reading. You won’t be disappointed.
I was hooked from the first few pages! This author did a fantastic job with this story and the characters bringing a small town in the 1960’s to life…I will not do spoilers but if you like a page turner this is a must read! Best ‘spooky’ story I have read in a LONG time!
Loved this book, but I wasn’t wild about the ending.
Peter and Sylvia lost their young son due to a tragic accident. Trying to save their marriage and sanity, Peter rents a little cabin on a lake in the bucolic little town of Gilchrist. Unfortunately, a town haunted by entities that thrive on pain and misery may be the wrong place to recharge your batteries.
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I discovered this book thanks to #bookbub, and it was definitely a sleeper gem. This novel is so entangled, a spoiler-free review is difficult, but this is definitely a must-read for horror fans. For an author with only one other novel under his belt, Galacar has a wonderful grasp of both character development and pace of action. The tension is almost palpable, as the reader is left awaiting the next atrocity committed in the name of the gishets. Christian Galacar is one author I’m expecting great things from in the future.
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My Rating: 4.75/5
I am a huge fan of Dean Koontz, whom I have read for years and I enjoy a good Stephen King once in a while. I had high expectations, going into this book, because I had read that the author’s work was considered somewhere between Koontz and King. While I am not giving a negative review, as I did find elements that were good, I just consider it your average horror/suspense read. It didn’t just rivet me to the pages. It is a pretty long book and could have been consolidated more and flowed better. I will try another book from this author, written more recently, to see if there is more development in his style. I see the potential.
I received this book as a gift in a book swap, and I am sure glad I did! I went into it with 0 expectations and was completely immersed in the story from the get go. There was a lot going on, with multiple characters and multiple plot lines. The writing had a very Stephen King feel to it, which makes me want to check out Mr. Galacar’s other works. If I’m being fair, I felt the last ~100 pages of this 500 page beast didn’t quite keep up with the same feel as the first 80% of the book. That’s not to say it wasn’t good, it just took on a different vibe; perhaps a bit more distant and immersive. All in all, I definitely recommend giving this a read!
Just didn’t do it for me.
Very original premise. Authentic in it’s detail and plodding.
Fantastic Read!
I stumbled on this book somehow, I truly don’t remember. I believe I googled “free kindle horror fiction” and this came up as a promo. Snagged it, and then it sat. And sat. And sat. I read 17 other books before I was scrolling through my library and thought ‘you know what, let’s read this’.
Holy crap, I can’t believe I didn’t read this earlier!
This is (and this isn’t a bad thing) the best Stephen King book he hasn’t written. The characters are phenomenal, the setting both superb and unsettling and the evil that lurks is creepy as all hell.
This book has skyrocketed into my top 10 of all time. Not bad for a random decision.
Had to get to the end to find out what happened! Reminded me of Stephen King and Dean Koontz
Interesting
Didn’t much care for this one. Difficult to like any of the characters, and there’s an atmosphere to it that just feels suffocating. I also couldn’t get past the animal cruelty.
Great read!
A splash of sci-fi…or non-fi depending on what you believe about the universe.
Quick read
Reads like early Stephen King. A good story.
Grabbed my attention from the beginning. I was hoping for a different ending because I got attached to the main couple but it was the logical one
This was a very good horror novel. The quality of the writing was excellent and painted scenes with gritty realism. The evilness in the story was unique in description. Definitely recommended.
I liked this one. It was a little different. You didn’t know what was coming next.
Not interesting enough to throw me out of the chair or keep me wanting more and more. It’s not especially scary, and the characters of the book were somewhat insipid, especially the woman. If this is the only book in the shelf in a rainy night, go for it, otherwise, there are others more suspenseful.