A psychological horror with a literary twist, Kill Creek delivers elevated prose, while evoking the unnerving, atmospheric terror essential to greats like Peter Straub and Stephen King-a haunting that lingers long after turning the last page.
Kill Creek
By scottthomas
For a debut novel, this story was absolutely AMAZING! I love good horror stories and this one did not disappoint me.
A haunted house, 4 famous horror authors and, an internet wonder kid, what could possibly go wrong?
This book delivers along the line of Stephen King and Adam Nevill. I recommend this to all of the horror lovers out there and can not wait to see what the author gives us next!
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley.
Really enjoyed Kill Creek. Thought it was a pretty creepy Haunted House story with a twist. My first by this Author and I wasn’t disappointed.
Phenomenal story of a haunted house and the consequences of going there!
Welcome to the house on Kill Creek…
We start with Sam McGraver. Sam is teaching a college class on Horror. He talks about some authors and stories we all know and tells us about the rules of writing a horror story. After that you see Sam struggling with his new book. You see, Sam is a horror writer with some bestsellers under his belt but is suffering from writer’s block.
Then we get to know T. C. Moore. She’s also a bestselling horror writer, albeit a different one from Sam. She’s rawer and more violent, contrasting with Sam’s softer and “run of the mill” horror.
They both get an invitation for an interview in Dallas, and accept for different reasons, while at the same time believing it’s an interview for one person only. Well, the joke’s on them because two other writers were invited. Daniel Slaughter, who writes “horror with a lesson”, and Sebastian Cole, an older, traditional horror writer who’s been a sort of inspiration for the other three.
It is at this time that Wainwright, the person who invited them, tells them that the interview is a Halloween set-up for his genre website and that it will be made at the Finch House in Kill Creek, a supposedly haunted house.
The five, along with Wainwright’s aide and camerawoman/photographer Kate go to the Finch House, where Wainwright pushes the writers to their breaking point just to create shock value for his show. During that night at the house the writers have strange dreams but they dismiss them them and return home.
And then it’s when the trouble starts.
We get back to Sam, writer’s block over, being tormented by visions and dreams every time he stops writing. He discovers that all four writers are writing similar stories and that they all suffer from the strange visitations and decides that they should return to the house to find a way to stop them.
And then… Well that’s for you to find out when you read it.
This for me was an amazing book not just because of the story but because of, well, everything.
The setting is beautifully described. When Scott Thomas describes the house you can’t help but imagine yourself walking those halls and corridors, and the characters are believable and living believable lives.
Scott Thomas also makes use of the rules of what makes a horror story, which he explains through Sam making it somehow full circle. Not only does he tell you what should be done, he actually does it.
This is my type of horror, it doesn’t need a jump scare or a completely described monster to make you feel fright, but you feel it all the same. I got goosebumps in some parts and they weren’t even the scariest ones.
But you don’t have to believe me, just cross the creek and open the front door to the Finch House and see for yourselves. If you dare…
A house with a legend that is given power when spoken about has long fallen asleep. When suddenly it is awakened when four masters of horror along with an Internet hero and his girlfriend descend upon a famous house in Kansas. It should be a simple publicity stunt but it turns out to be something far more sinister when this legend comes life to haunt these six people. What follows is a sinister haunting that kills. I found this story slow in the beginning but then it picked up towards the end. More of a suspenseful read than a downright scary story, but it was still a good story that kept me up at night.
Who doesn’t love a good haunted house story? This one kept me turning pages fast, and dared to ask the question: What if when you leave the house, the house doesn’t leave you?
I started this book, expecting the whole story to take place in a haunted house. I was wrong. The first half of the story takes place there, but the real horror begins later on. As the surprises kept coming, I didn’t have a clue as to what would happen next. I’ll be hanging on to this one and look forward to reading more by this author. He certainly knows how to spin a truly creepy tale.
The Author really knows how to write a suspenseful, page turning horror novel.
The book focuses on four horror writers, and a millionaire who is full of himself. Sam Carver, T.C Moore, Sebastian, and Daniel Slaughter are horror writers who write different types of horror. They are invited by internet media mongrul , Wainwright, to do an interview inside the old Finch house aka Kill Creek house. The horror waiting for these five is not what is in the house, but what follows them once they leave. The five characters are plagued by haunting events that lead them straight back to Kill Creek.
The author does a wonderful job developing characters that are deeply connected to the story. As the antagonist of the book exploits the characters, we get a in depth look into the grief, love, and loss in each of the characters lives. This makes the book a heart pound, and emotional experience. You just want to see everyone survive. The book setting and description are what make the book revenue more juicy. During the tense scenes, you can really feel the fear the characters experience.
My main criticism is the book does start to feel overly long, but it needs to be in order to flesh out the story.
A book I recommend for fans of horror and suspense.
The Haunting of Hill House + The Shining + The Last Broadcast
Justin Wainwright has been blessed with a filthy rich dad. He is able to start up a passion project, a website meant to bring new fans to the horror genre. He comes up with a sure fire way to make his project the next big thing. He invites the four most influential horror authors for an interview to be live-streamed Halloween night. However, there’s a fifth star, and the biggest. Kill Creek. It’s a house that urban legends are made of.
I ADORED this book! I got off gabbyreads’ rec. but she’s right. WHY don’t more people talk about this book? This reminds me of the horror I grew up with: classic King, Shirley Jackson, Edgar Allen Poe. Where the scares come not from the gore, but what is unseen and has to be guessed. There is plenty of blood and guts to go with the psychological scares, don’t worry!! Thomas did a masterful job in character building. Each character, primary, secondary, and even the ones we never meet, are completely fleshed out. I didn’t want this book to end!!
Buy this for yourself or someone who wants classic horror. Or, if you’re twisted, get it for a budding author.
When (not if but when) you read this superbly written novel, you will most certainly be needing some time to recover. I’m in the midst of a book hangover of epic proportions. But don’t fret, the author has yet another novel to fill the horror void in your life. VIOLET is a book that comes highly recommended by those that live for horror fiction. Let the words consume you as they did for me and devour every terrifying word Scott Thomas puts to paper.
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WOW! This book rocked me to the core!
This was my first time reading this author and the writing style just slowly reeled me into the storyline of the book. This is also a debut book by this author so I am very impressed of how the story just weaved itself around me!
A little backstory for you readers:
Justin Wainwright has his own podcast show called WrightWire and he reaches out to four well known horror authors as he wants to give them the opportunity to do an interview in the famous haunted Finch house on Halloween night.
The authors are intrigued, but they have a hard time deciding if that is what they want to do, but Wainwright talks them into it and they make their way to the house.
When they get to the house and get settled nothing happens right at first, but the longer they are there little things start happening within the house. Whispers, drafts, apparitions, along with a bricked wall that was built on the third floor landing keeping anyone from entering past that point. The house starts to slowly come alive to the point that the authors wonder if it was such a good idea after all to come out to the house.
What happens to the authors while they stay in the house? Why is the house haunted? What is the mystery of the brick wall? No spoilers here as you will just have to read the book!
This book just slowly drew me in to the storyline as in my first sit down read I just could not put the book down as I read near nine or ten chapters straight till the early morning hours!
I really didn’t even want to go to sleep as I wanted to keep reading to see what would happen next. This is one of the most original haunted house stories that I have ever read and was quite surprised by how quick I became drawn to the story. The characters were perfect as they were suppose to be from different horror genres, so I really liked the characters in this story.
The author slowly builds up the story from the first few pages in the book bringing the storyline up to a crescendo of suspense, intrigue, perfect haunting pace, and mystery. Then the author starts to slowly lower the boom as the book picks up speed to the point where things start happening in the story and I started feeling the hyperventilating/nail biting tension as the haunting went into full force terror!
I spent a few nights reading till the early morning hours as it just wasn’t that one night – it was every night reading the story till near three in the morning. This was an awesome ghost story and I highly recommend it to all horror fans! Five “Haunting” Stars!
So this book started out with GREAT potential but the just flopped. I still don’t know if the author was trying to propose the idea that you can create your own ghosts to haunt your house or if the house really wasn’t haunted? But then why are the visitors acting all weird? Naturally, all the main characters are majorly flawed. They all have some deep secret, which isn’t scary, that “haunts” them.
I don’t know. I just finished it and I felt like I was reading 5 different books at the same time. It made no cohesive sense.