Hell Town by S. K Gregory

19 year old Lani Scott longs to get out of boring, predictable Hill Town and retrace the route she travelled with her father and his band before his death.

There’s not much to keep her in Hill Town; a mother who abandoned her as a child, a dead end job at a tiny diner, and gorgeous Deputy Rick Tobin.

When a lawyer informs Lani she has an unexpected inheritance coming her way, she’s ready to brush the dust from her shoes and get the hell out of dodge. It’s a pity it just happens to be the day hell comes to Hill Town, and leaving is no longer an option.

This is a really fun novella. I loved the small town gone to hell vibe. The set up, the characters, and the creatures reminded me of Dean Koontz at his best. Gregory gives compelling back stories to her characters, ably shows the darkness hiding behind the veneer of civility, and produces some fearsome nasties that hunt out the dark sins that lie at the heart of the people of Hill Town.

While the characters, setting, and creatures are all set up like a 500 page horror thriller, this is a novella of only 70 pages, so the pace is absolutely relentless. You don’t have a second to catch your breath as things go from bad to worse.

I really think it’s a shame that the author didn’t spend more time expanding on the set up, characters, and plot, because they’re all top notch and I’d love to have spent more time with Lani and the other residents of Hill Town before, during, and after their experience with the creatures from the pit. With so many good things crammed into such a short book, I wish they’d been given time to grow, develop, and breathe.

Saying that, Hell Town is great fun. If you’re looking for a horror novella, and you don’t mind the frenetic pace, you can’t go wrong with this one.

I award Hell Town…