IT WAS ONLY MEANT TO BE A GAME . . .
None of us ever agreed on when it started.
Was it when we started drawing the chalk figures, or when they started to appear on their own?
Was it the terrible accident?
Or when they found the first body?
Dark bleatings, my lovely tribe. This novel is one that’s been on my shelf for too long, and I’m delighted that I finally got around to it because–review spoiler alert–I loved it!
Written in the first person, our protagonist takes us through the present (he still lives in the town he grew up in working as a teacher, and has a lodger living with him that is a woman half his age. Things are relatively normal), and enlightens us on significant incidents from his childhood. The most formative one is a day at a fairground where there was a horrible accident injuring a girl around his age, and he helps her along with a teacher that’s new to the town. Our protagonist’s memories mostly centre this teacher, who was immediately regarded by the town with an unfair level of suspicion just based on his appearance, but our guy formed a bond with him.
When someone resurfaces from our protagonist’s past wanting help writing a book about some of the weirdness of their childhood, including a murder, things take a shift and another body turns up.
I was so engrossed in this story and had no idea where it might truly lead. I knew that there would likely be a twist or some sort of shocking revelation, but what I didn’t expect was how many irons the author had stoking the fire. I was surprised in the most satisfying way SO many times as revelations came out, especially towards the end. Each extra sting in the tale was so well set up and so much fun. I really admire the author’s skill for not only set up and pay off but for misdirection, because I saw hardly any of it coming.
I enjoyed reading this so much that I resented every time life interfered and I had to put it down. It’s an easy 5/5 for me and obviously, I recommend it to horror and thriller fans.
If you’d like to check out the book or the author, I’ve popped some links below for you:
Bleeeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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