After nightmares begin in the small town of Custer Falls, Montana, in 1992, it’ll be thirty years before they end.
Just outside of Custer Falls, something is sleeping. Life in the small town was never ideal, but it was safe, quiet, and predictable. After Wes Henson and his friends’ field trip to Bloodtooth Caverns, all of that changes.
All they did was stray off the path. They didn’t expect to break their bones and discover an ancient relic. But once it’s in Wes’s hands, he’s the one that has to put it back.
Until he does, the town’s nightmares are no longer harmless. The good side of your conscience may go quiet as the devil on your shoulder speaks up. Children fall into comas, while adults are torn to pieces in their sleep.
If Wes and his friends want to survive, they’ll have to conquer the waking world and the dreamscape.
Because when this evil is awake, no one’s dreams are safe.
What’s up, ravenous book munchers? I’m here today to talk to you about Bloodtooth. It’s a beast of a book that is savage on many a level. The first thing to say (though it begrudges me because I normally like to start by complaining, like a dickhead) is that clearly, a hell of a lot of work went into this story. We’ve got interweaving dual timelines, a whole host of characters that we follow in two time periods, multiple character arcs, and some truly dastardly evil here. I very much liked Brady (a novella by this author), but there is a clear leap in the quality of the storytelling and the writing in Bloodtooth. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with Brady, mind you. I’m really impressed by such an improvement in someone who was already pretty good.
A couple of things that weren’t for me – firstly, I hate dream sequences. HATE THEM. I tend to skip over them normally, however, I couldn’t do that here since they’re integral to the plot. However, I will say that I wasn’t irked by them really because they very much mattered. My problem with dreams normally is that they’re used as a function to illuminate a character’s subconscious thoughts, or as metaphors, or whatever, but basically I consider them filler because they don’t further the plot. Here, on the other hand, what happens in the dreams directly endangers the characters, so I was invested. The other thing I whinged a little about is that there are many characters. Too many, if you ask me. But I am someone that complains about this with certain Stephen King books too (I’m glaring at you, The Stand).
Things that I liked: most of the characters, the actual construction and development of said characters, the story structure, locations, the general plot, the stakes, and the pacing. At over 500 pages, this is a longer read than I normally like in a horror novel, but at no point did it drag. It’s definitely a book to curl up with and get lost in.
I’d say that in theme, this reminded me a lot of IT by Stephen King, and in general it has similarities to A Nightmare on Elm Street. I’d go as far as to say that this is a perfect read if you’re a fan of ANOES – it ticks the same boxes and is really good fun, despite how heinous some of the people and events are. I’d recommend this to general horror fans, especially those who like some surreal elements.
If you’d like to get your own copy, or check out the author, the links you need are below:
Happy Goat Horror 
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