A senseless tragedy sends two sisters fleeing back to the refuge of Goaway, their isolated family cottage. As children, Goaway was always a safe and comforting place, a fairy-tale realm of myths and legends. But the sisters have now left childhood far behind them, and the arcane mysteries they discover there as adults promise to lead them down an even more shadowy path. The woods surrounding the cottage may be filled with secrets, but it soon transpires that each of the sisters nurtures a dark secret of their own. What will happen when they discover the dreadful truth about the lies they have told each other . . . and the shocking reality of what awaits them at the end of the Corpse Road?
Dark bleatings, my…corpse(?) tribe! Why is no one talking about this novel? I have to tell you, it’s been a little while since I read a full novel, I think. I’ve been steadily working on my mission of making my way through as many review requests as possible before 2025 rolls around, and most of them have been collections, anthologies, and novellas. Truthfully, that’s been a relief, because all three of those categories tend to be a bit quicker for me than your average novel. However, this one made me forget that the (lovely) publisher sent the ebook my way. In fact, I did also buy a physical copy.
This is the story of two sisters with a layered, difficult relationship, that feels like it mostly revolves around a sense of obligation and family loyalty. If you have someone in your life that you love but struggle to like, I think this will hit a nerve with you. For a while, honestly, I didn’t even care about which horror elements the author might bring in because this sibling situation was so utterly captivating that I would have been happy to only have this aspect of the book to enjoy. Perfectly, realistically depicted, and a great source of tension.
Tragedy strikes, and though I could see it coming, my heart was in my mouth anyway. I liked one sister a lot, and lowkey loathed the other, but felt so sorry for both. Well…for a little while anyway. My empathy rapidly started vanishing for one of them somewhere around the middle of the story.
I initially gave this 4 stars on amazon and goodreads but upon reflection, I’m gonna go ahead and change it to a 5 once I’m doing writing this review. The author pulled off the one thing I ALWAYS look for in horror, particularly in films (it’s lesser seen in films than in books), and that is the art of horrifying an audience but with restraint.
I should probably tell you what the horror in this case pertains to. The sisters co-own a little home in Cornwall, which they learn is surrounded by a mean local legend. A mysterious road that isn’t always there, a weird well that…well, I’ll not spoil it for you. Maybe if you suffer a loss, The Corpse Road can change that…
I can’t speak on it too much because half the fun of this story is wondering which subgenre of horror it’s going to branch into, but I will say this….it’s soooo creepy, and then sooo scary. The kind of stuff that makes your flesh crawl. And, just when I thought the author was going to zig, he pulled a zag on me! And a zog. And a zug. Basically I just was delighted that he still had surprises up his sleeve, surprises that tie into the very real life issue that people can be surprisingly duplicitous and sometimes you only see what they want you to see.
It’s a great novel, one of my favourites of the year, possibly in my top 10. If you’d like to get a copy or check out the author, I’ve popped some links below for you.
Bleeeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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