Ye Olde Braaaaains!

Book review time again!  I just finished a horror e-novel by Ken Davis, a relative newcomer to the writing scene, that thoroughly impressed me.  It was so good that I felt compelled to share it here, as well as leaving my customary reviews on Goodreads and Amazon.  All authors, but especially indies or those just out of the gate, benefit enormously from posted reviews of their work.  Please remember to say at least a few words on some of the major review sites after finishing someone's book.


It seems that I either love or hate horror novels these days.  Buckets of blood and gore getting splashed around do not entertain or scare me.  That's just gross.  And don't even get me started on sparkly vampires.  However, when I am drawn into an interesting setting with characters to whom I can relate facing dire peril, then well-written horror can grab me like few other things.  This novel did just that.

Where the Dead Talk by Ken Davis is a gripping tale of the undead which takes place in a rural part of the Massachusetts colony on the very eve of the American Revolution.

As a mix of horror and historical fiction, well-researched and skillfully written with an intriguing plot, this novel would have likely earned five stars from me anyway. However, the character of Major William Pomeroy, "one of the finest officers of the King's Own Regiment" (in his own words), pushed Where the Dead Talk over the top for me. Sarcastic and smarmy, arrogant, at times cowardly and at other times brave, Major Pomeroy is ultimately endearing to both the reader and other characters in the story. He absolutely steals every scene in which he appears.

While Pomeroy is the best in my opinion, he is only one of several intriguing characters in Where the Dead Talk who kept me reading chapter after chapter long past my bedtime. There is the black tavernkeep who struggles against racism and vicious rumors, the desperately unhappy preacher's wife looking for a way out, the young deaf boy from a family thought to be cursed who feels he is not much good for anything, and the very reluctant Indian shaman who holds the key to stopping the horror that has descended upon the countryside surrounding the tiny colonial village of West Bradhill, Massachusetts.

I don't consider myself a real horror aficionado, and my Kindle is littered with horror titles I have started and soon abandoned. However, when the story is driven by compelling characters you really do not want to have munched up by the undead, it's not hard to love a book like this. Where the Dead Talk is definitely worth your attention. I am keeping my fingers crossed that Davis will consider another novel with some of these characters, especially Major Pomeroy.


By the way, you can follow Ken Davis on Twitter at @kencdavis, and you can also follow a zombie on Twitter at @zombie.  Just so you know.