Friday, November 13, 2015

The Beast of Barcroft by Bill Schweigart

Before you buy a house, be sure to check out the neighborhood.  Some people are difficult to deal with as neighbors...

Hydra and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published November 17th.

Ben's next door neighbor is the neighbor from hell.  She started out rehabilitating raccoons and then started feeding the birds and taking in cats.  It turns out that rats were attracted.  And soon something else is, too.

This situation causes enough strain that Ben's fiance moves out on him.  She says he's angry all the time.  Now he's alone, buried in debt and has only his dog for company.  When he takes his dog out for final bathroom visit, he tries not to look at the house next door.  When he turns around, he sees his dog being tossed across the fence!  He follows the monster who has taken it.  It appears to be a large cougar.  When it turns and walks toward him, he's sure he's going to die.  But it walks away, taking his dog.

He calls the police, who are less than impressed.  He looks crazy, his story is unbelievable.  When he gets the curator at the local zoo to look at the tracks and the hair left behind, she's amazed.  She's also up for a hunt for the animal. That's not the best idea she could have.

The next witnessed attack is a wolf.  It tears the neck out of one his neighbors as a public meeting is getting out.  All that Ben learns from this is that he has no idea what kind of animal or being it is.  How can it change shapes?  Is it just one being?  How do you fight something you think is coming for you when no one believes you saw what you saw?

This is a haunting horror story of a monster.  It takes several people to help rid the community of the menace.  It also didn't die, it just moved on.  Let's hope it moved a long, long way away...

Be careful when you go out at night.

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