Dark Entry

[cornerofmadness]

Dark Entry by John B. Kachuba

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Got this from the author at a cryptid con and it sounded exciting, the dark woods and a curse. And it wasn't a bad story at all but on the other hand, it didn't offer up much new in the way of storytelling. Content warning: gore, attempted rape, murder, domestic violence

Set in the late 80s, Sandy has walked away from an abusive relationship and her friend Leslie offers up her father's (now hers) cabin in the Connecticut woods on Dark Entry road. They assume Kevin, the abusive ex, won't be able to find her there. This cabin is where Dudsleytown was, a place where charcoal making (a big deal 100 years prior) took place, a toxic occupation. Something made the town abandoned after a string of killings. Adding to the allure is the ruins of this town and adding to the tension, the fact is Leslie's cabin is one of the few in the area.

Sandy is settling in okay with the help of Nathan, Leslie's handyman (and potential love interest for Sandy) but what she doesn't know is there is someone watching her, a young, skittish boy (or so we think at first). The real tension doesn't start to rachet up until Kevin does find her here. and things go badly (points to content warnings above) Sandy ignores Leslie's demands she call the cops thinking it must be something she did.

Okay this infuriated me but I've dealt with enough domestic violence victims to know that so many of them feel this way and like Sandy also fear reprisal when their partner is not kept in jail (because that happens more often than not)

Kevin meets the other entity on the mountain, the one that wants them all dead including the little boy spirit. This is where I wish the author had done something different. I think the intent was to let the Indigenous people get some justice for the things that happened to their tribe but by having the monster appear most often as an Indian (as he's referred to) missed the mark. It felt more like casting Indigenous people as savage (which I don't think was intended but it came across that way) There were so many other possibilities that could have been used here but weren't.



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