While searching for a good scary book to read for the Pages and Pause Screen Halloween episode, I stumbled across The Haunted Forest Tour by James A Moore and Jeff Strand. The synopsis did grab a chuckle out of me and I thought okay, clever. Maybe if the book could be half as clever, it’ll be enjoyable. Boy, was it more than just half as clever! It was surprisingly fantastic!
Haunted Forest Tour is a constant thrill. Every time a question is raised, it gets answered within the next ten-ish minutes. A character pops up that is just horrible? Guess what? He’s dead! Everything is just constantly flowing and and moving. Which is surprising considering this book has two authors. I’ve found that most books with co-authors can become clunky and the handoff from one author to another is blatantly obvious. This is definitely not the case in Haunted Forest Tour. It is fluid and seamless.
Then, there’s the perfect balance between horror and comedy. You’ll get one scene where you are completely terrified, but it will be followed up by something so foolish, you can’t help but laugh, and then we can go back to gore (which is light, in my opinion, esp when compared to something like Little Heaven by Nick Cutter). It’s all just so wonderfully crafted, a truly fantastic horror story. What makes it even better is that the questions are all answered. You don’t really need them answered, you accept it at face value. Yeah sure, New Mexico seems weird enough to have a random forest full of monsters pop up. Why not?
If you are looking for just a fun, but scary book to read, I DEFINITELY recommend The Haunted Forest Tour by James A Moore and Jeff Strand. It’s just super great and really makes me want to pick up more stuff by both authors.
