Wednesday, July 16, 2014

IT LIVES IN THE BASEMENT by Sahara Foley

Tooting my own horn today
5 star review for my book.



The cover of this book caught my interest, the first time I saw it as did the title. I am a huge Stephen King fan and I love horror. Who can resist picking up a book called ‘It lived in the basement’. And I wasn’t disappointed. Though the story is short, it is engrossing. It has been well written and keeps your attention throughout. For the best experience, switch off the lights, get under the blanket and read it with a flashlight. Sahara Foley has an exceptional style of writing and I hope to read more horror stories from this talented author.

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A lot of the idea of this story is given away in the title, but it's the fine details that make it a good one. It starts out with a police investigation because a couple is missing, along with their three cats. The house is locked from the inside and investigators are baffled as to what happened to everybody.

The husband is a writer and has recorded strange happenings in a journal, which serves to fill in some details of things from the couple's point of view. It fits in nicely as a way of conveying information unobtrusively. The first chapter on its own would make a great short story, leaving a mystery for the imagination to sort out at the end, but the book goes on to introduce new elements.

I'm one of those sticklers who checks online to see if myths and legends in stories are based on any historic or known myths, but it appears that Foley has created a whole mythology for the story, which I find rather impressive. Horrific happenings are explained in context of this mythology in an all too believable manner.

The story definitely held my interest and the last part had me at the edge of my seat, waiting to see who would live or die. I'm just glad I'm not a man. I'd never use a toilet again!

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It Lives in the Basement,” by Sahara Foley begins with a bang. The noises in the house, the owners thinks are your normal settling house noises, are followed by brief glimpses of something in the shadows. Then, the cats disappear without a trace. Soon the owners are reported missing.

John and Pat haven’t been seen for days, their car is on the drive, all their things are still in the house. Lt. John is a writer who is aware that his imagination can sometimes lead him astray. As a result, he uses this as a way to explain some of the curious things that are taking place in his house. Lieutenant Flynn begins to read what he thinks is one of John’s stories, telling of the things that have been happening over the past few days. This was the creepiest bit of the story; I was truly engrossed with the diary/story.

Soon Flynn disappears without a trace.

Ten years later a man is found dead under very strange circumstance at the same house. Detective Pete Alvarez, attends the scene, he knows what’s killing people.

Along with a few others, including Flynn’s old partner set out to trap the mythical beast.

For a short story this was very well crafted. 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.

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It Lives In the Basement is a classic horror story. I don't want to give anything away, but people are disappearing and investigation begins. As the plot unfolds, we discover some shocking events. I, myself, did not expect the story to go the direction it went. But I enjoyed this story. It's a quick read and each page is full of action. So much happens and the author does a great job moving the story forward with the dialogue. The characters are also developed nicely considering it's a short story. I don't typically read horror stories so there were definitely times when my heart was beating fast. I read this book in two days because I just wanted to know what was going to happen next. Recommend this to all you horror lovers.


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