Welcome to Safe Haven, Wisconsin. Miles from everything, with one road in and out, this peaceful town has never needed a full-time police force. Until now . . .
A helicopter has crashed near Safe Haven and unleashed something horrifying. Now, this merciless force is about to do what it does best. Isolate. Terrorize. Annihilate. As residents begin dying in a storm of gory violence, Safe Haven’s only chance for survival will rest with an aging county sheriff, a firefighter, and a single mom. And each will have this harrowing thought: Maybe death hasn’t come to their town by accident . . .
Book Review Blog: Afraid
I remember first seeing the cover of Afraid years ago when perusing the local big box bookstore, shrugging my shoulders, and then moving along the aisle to find something else. After reading the book’s synopsis, I deduced that it wasn’t for “ten years younger me.” Ten years later, I revisited Afraid’s summary, and this time it piqued my interest. What beckons me is horror, but not being riled up by the genre in quite some time, I thought I’d dip my toes into other “horror adjacent” genres where it is not necessarily horror but embodies elements of the kind. Another excellent example of this is with Ani Ahlborn’s Brother, where while the novel is quite horrific and gruesome, I steer away from calling it horror and more of a thriller – so, horror adjacent. I attributed this feeling to reading Jack Kilborn’s Afraid.
Afraid had me from the second the author said GO! and never yelled STOP! The book’s introduction was in tune with a film’s ‘cold open’ where the film gives the audience a sneak preview of what’s to come and sets the tone. The ‘cold open’ in Afraid never let up, and Kilborn kept packing in as many punches as he saw fit, and, let me tell you, there were a lot. As stated in the synopsis, a helicopter crash in the small town of Safe Haven causes a stir in the community. But, that was only the beginning. What comes along with the crash is equally as terrifying and threatening as the notion of a downed bird. The helicopter’s inhabitants are on a mission, plowing through the townspeople like paper-mache and stopping at nothing until they complete their mission. But these aren’t ordinary men – there is something off about them.
Like his narrative, Kilborn plummets his readers’ page after page with a no-chapter format that barely gives us a moment to stop and catch our breaths, much like our protagonists in the book where they strive to survive the night from these invaders unbeknownst of their plight. We follow a multitude of characters throughout the night, going back and forth to highlight each of their dilemmas. Because of this, there were times when I found it challenging to keep up with who is who. This anecdote was easily remedied by reminding us of the situation they were in, which made it much easier to follow. While there were no chapters, there were breaks that allowed us to get up to speed with each character and the conundrum they were in, sort of like very brief cliffhangers that left us hanging only to jump into another situation that had us gasping for more air. I loved this facet of the book because it was adrenaline-filled and I found myself talking out loud to the characters, in the same manner, I would while watching a movie (in the comfort of my home, of course).
There are shocking moments in Afraid, and it would be hard-pressed to say that this was predictable. On the contrary, I was pleasantly surprised as Kilborn had a few tricks up his sleeve that kept me guessing with each turn of the page. And, yes, there is a body count. Being that this was a survival narrative, where a band of people comes together to fight invaders, I expected there to be quite a few characters that would become a nuisance and, for lack of a better word, annoying. I see a lot of this in the works of Stephen King where you love to hate the “co-villain” (Henry Bowers in IT, Mrs. Carmody in The Mist, all the teenaged jerks in Carrie) and bring unnecessary turmoil to our protagonist(s) as they try to overcome the “true” villain in the story (Pennywise, the creatures within the mist, etc.). Of course, this poses a question to the question of who, in fact, is the real villain. Not in Afraid, the real villain is made abundantly clear – no ifs, and, or buts. The villain is raw, unforgiving, relentless, and downright scary! Afraid holds back no punches right up to its satisfying and thrilling conclusion which made me give off a loud clap at its finale. I loved this book, and I recommend this one tenfold!