When Nathan Milton wakes up to discover his wife is missing, his life turns into a nightmare. There are twigs and mud all over the bedroom but no signs of Cassie. After the police dismiss his concerns about her disappearance, Nathan pursues the investigation by himself. He moves to Cassie’s hometown in hopes of unearthing some clues about her whereabouts. But Boontown isn’t friendly towards outsiders like Nathan.
FEAST OF CRONES by Alexander Katz features a cool monster and a sympathetic lead. While the first one is somewhat common in horror fiction, it’s somewhat surprising how often writers overlook the second element. It’s hard to get invested in a horror story if you either don’t care about or dislike its leading character. But Nathan is an affectionate father of twin girls, Susie and Sarah, who merely wants to find their mother. Admittedly, this premise isn’t exactly fresh, but there’s a reason writers use it: it works. Katz doesn’t waste time on subtleties. FEAST OF CRONES begins with a gruesome prologue and doesn’t let go. But the novella truly shines in moments of purely psychological tension, like when Nathan encounters Kirwin, the town sheriff, who enjoys intimidating others. Because, of course, it’s the humans who are the real monsters here.
The main issue with the FEAST OF CRONES is that it doesn’t feel like a novella. Instead, it reads like an outline for a novel. There are elements, like its setting or supporting characters that could (and maybe should) have been fleshed out more. What we get instead is Katz leaning into horror tropes, employing them as story-telling shorthand. Boontown is insular creepy community that readers will recognize from so many other horror stories. The local sheriff is a bully. Legends about forest monsters turn out to be much more than that. And so on. And then, before you realize it, the novella is over. The ending is genuinely great, but its impact is blunted since the novella is so short. There’s not enough space for a story to establish a mood or for a reader to develop an emotional connection with characters. FEAST OF CRONES is a fun read, but it could have been so much more.
~Danijel Štriga for IndieReader