Corpse Creek
Bleak Haven #3
by Vincent Ralph
My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: YA paranormal horror
The town of Bleak Haven has had more than its share of serial killers, almost as if it’s under a curse. But Ethan’s older brother’s death was ruled an accident, though Ethan has never been able to accept that. Four years after Brody’s death, Ethan still hasn’t found the closure he needs to move on and hopes visiting the creek where Brody died will help. Instead, he seems to have roused the spirit of his dead brother, who now tells Ethan that he can bring Brody back if he’s willing to sacrifice someone else to do so—a life for a life.
After enjoying the first book in this series, which is a straight-up slasher thriller, the next two books have been more of a letdown. They both still involve horror and suspense, but in a different sub-genre from the first book and even different sub-genres from each other. The second book was more of a zombie story, and this book…well, this one is more difficult to define. It has supernatural elements, though it’s difficult to say how much of it is meant to be real and how much imagined. In the end, there’s not a whole lot of plot, and though yes, it does have some creepy moments, it’s much more of a drama showing how grief can eat away at one’s life and relationships than a thriller. The only character I really cared about at all in this book is Ethan’s dad, as I did appreciate his progression through the book. But in the end, the drama side of the book is repetitive and tedious, while the thriller side is confusing and unfulfilling.
I was really interested in this town after reading the first book and hoped for more insight into why it has such a history of serial killers and violence, but none of the later books so far have delved further into that, at least not in any remotely satisfying way. Like the previous books in the series, this one has no sexual content, but I do seem to recall more language this time. It’s really not necessary to have read any of the other books before reading this one—past events in the town are referred to quite a bit here, but none of them were the subject of any previous books. On the other hand, there are a lot of references to the event that the 4th book is named after, which made me wonder if this installment might have any spoilers for the final book. As for recommendations, I’m sure there is an audience for this kind of exploration of extreme grief with horror elements, so if that interests you, you may want to read some of the positive reviews at the link below.
I received an advanced review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
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