A Tale of Two Screams: The Screaming Child is a haunting account of one mother's obsession to find her missing child

 

The Screaming Child

By Scott Adlerberg

Ghoulish Books, 2023

ISBN: 978-1-943720-87-3

176 ppg.

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Brace yourself. You are about to be pulled into a mother’s grief. No, her son is not dead – at least, we think he is not dead. But he is missing, and the not knowing of where he is, if he is safe, if he is cared for or even if he is alive eats away at the mother in this book. This story is told from the mother’s point-of-view, so readers get a very raw and very emotional grasp of what she is going through.

 

In the beginning, we are introduced to the child who will eventually go missing. The story begins just as it does for many parents of missing children: One day, their child is there, then they are not. They are gone, almost erased from the world.

 

Coping with her child missing is just too much for the mother, Eleanor. She can’t handle it, as I’m sure many parents with missing children cannot. The pain, uncertainty and anger gets to be so bad between her and her husband that they often argue with each other. There’s the blame, the confusion and the regret.

 

So, she decides to spend some time somewhere else for a while. Somewhere she can be alone and just try to PROCESS everything.

 

Plus, being at home, a place she shared with her child, is too much for her. "On Grahame’s bed, at the kitchen table, in the closet with his sneakers and shoes—everywhere in the house, through every square foot—a void existed where my son had been. My husband could not fill that void." (Page 55)

 

Eleanor tries to throw herself into the writing of a nonfiction book she was working on before her child disappeared. Even then, though, she struggles with it, wondering if she is focusing her energy on the wrong thing. But then, while she is at her “shack,” something happens: She hears a scream. At first, she is not sure if she heard this sound right, but then she hears it again. And again. And she is convinced it is a child screaming. A thought enters her head: ‘That could be MY child who is screaming.’

 

This, I feel, is what ultimately keeps her rooted to the spot. She is extremely against leaving the shack and returning home to civilization. Perhaps she thinks she is close to wherever her child is being held captive. Maybe it’s a sign that he is alive and she must not give up hope. Whatever she feels about it, she refuses to leave her spot, instead staying and hoping to keep hearing that scream again.

 

This takes Eleanor through a world where she’s not sure which is which. On one hand, she hangs on to this mystery of the scream, wondering if it really is her child. And on the other hand, she tries to focus on the tangible things she can work with: Talking with people who knew her son, who know the area better or have more knowledge about the case. She tries to stay grounded even as the lingering mystery of that screaming child keeps trying to pull her back into a world of “what if’s” that she knows will cause her to lose the last grip of her sanity.

 

This is not just a story about a mother dealing with the pain of her child missing; in a way, it’s also a mystery to be solved. So, appropriately, this is a mystery horror novel. Eleanor gets all these different clues and all this misdirection happens, and while I was reading it, I was trying to think ahead. I was right there with her trying to solve that mystery and trying to find out where her son had been snatched away to.

 

One thing I noticed about this story that really stood out for me is the scream itself. Before Eleanor hears the scream of a child, she hears the anguished scream of a mother who has lost a child. This parallelism made me wonder how it seemed to symbolize the meaning of the story itself. The whole message behind the story. There is the mother who lost her child screaming and there is a child, possibly taken from a mother, screaming. It’s a thought I entertained until I got to the real horrors of this story, a horror which I was not prepared for.

 

The Screaming Child is a gripping story of loss and isolationism, as well as a raw look into the stories we try telling ourselves to alleviate the harsh realities of the world. For some, mysteries may never be solved, and we must cope with them in our own ways. Where to go from there are roads we all must eventually travel on our own.

 

 

Five stars

 

 

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Beware the Demon Chompers Lurking Within the Ocean: Her Teeth, Like Waves tells a chilling tale of an urban legend with some truth to it

 

 

Her Teeth, Like Waves

By Nikki R. Leigh

Spooky House Press, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-959946-12-7 (ebook)

97 ppg.

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Kat and Mitch are twin siblings who grew up diving with their parents through various bodies of water. But there was one body of water their parents had warned them about, where something evil lurked.

 

Kat grew up shrugging the whole thing off, eventually losing her love for the water. Her twin, meanwhile, was captivated by the tales, and when he has the opportunity to lead a group of explorers on a deep dive expedition in those same waters – well, let’s just say that the opportunity to actually find the evil thing strikes, but not in a good way. Worried about her brother after he is reported missing, Kat sets out with her girlfriend, Jules, to find him.

 

Even though Kat and Mitch are twins, they are different in their own ways. Mitch loves exploring the ocean long into adulthood, whereas Kat does not. And while Kat is more cautious in life, Mitch has a strong sense of daring and mischief.

 

When a sea-hardy woman named Pauline offers to give Kat and Jules a ride out onto the ocean to help them find Mitch, they take her up on the offer. Kat is wary of some kind of “demon teeth” lurking in the waters, but Pauline assures her that there is likely a logical explanation to her brother’s disappearance. All the same, Pauline reminds Kat that the sea can be unforgiving. She also points out that, when it comes to the sea, “shit lives in it. And that shit gets hungry.”

 

It does indeed get hungry, and in this case, something evil is waiting in the ocean, literally starving and ready for its next meal.

 

The stories about the demon teeth are nothing but the stuff of urban legends – or are they?

 

Her Teeth, Like Waves is a dark tale of things better left unearthed, especially the things that can be said to be buried in the ocean. Those who ignore the warnings of what lay in the sea do so at their own peril. The next time you are out on the ocean, tread carefully, for you never know what sort of monster hides within those waves.

 

 

Five stars.

 

 

Disclaimer: I received a free contributor copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

 

 

 

Obsessive Love for a Dead Queen: Nemesis of the Gods is One Man's Obsessive Quest to Revive Cleopatra

 

Nemesis of the Gods

Catherine Cavendish

Weird House Press, 2022

668 ppg.

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Love makes us do stupid things. Obsession makes us do idiotic things. With obsession, there is no reality, science, reasoning, morals or common sense. There is only the obsession. And, too often, just as with love, obsession can make us blind. For Emeryk Quintillus, his love – or, should I say, obsession – drives him on a neverending quest to be with his queen. In this case, Cleopatra. Yes, that Cleopatra, the most powerful queen in Egyptian history. 

So powerful, in fact, that Emeryk fails to realize the futility of his quest to be with her. He may love her, but she does not love him. Her heart belongs to Mark Antony.

 

And you would think that would be the end of it.

 

Except, it’s not. Emeryk is determined to be with the dead woman he loves. He believes it is his destiny to be with her, even though Cleopatra has the misfortune of being dead. Still, he stops at nothing on his quest. But he is not alone in dealing with Cleopatra. Someone else from that point in time is participating, here, too. Someone just as deadly, and formidable.

 

Someone with the gods on their side, making this saga a quest for revenge and redemption.

 

And that’s the gist of Nemesis of the Gods by Catherine Cavendish. If you’re a fan of Cleopatra, Egyptian history or enjoy a good ghost story (I qualify for all three!), then this is definitely a novel you won’t want to pass on. The gripping, powerful ending had me furiously turning the pages and refusing to stop reading until I learned what happened next. At first, you might think that there is no way this story could work. No way that Emeryk will achieve the impossible task of bringing Cleopatra to life. But his quest opens the floodgates of impossibilities and a whole lot of strange and unusual things happen in this three-book series.

 

When I started reading this book, I thought it was three separate stories that were not related. But it turned out they are ALL related. It’s one VERY LONG story told through a trilogy. A lot of what happens in the stories have a lot of background. At some point in the trilogy, the telling of the story goes back to the very beginning, which was a little off-putting. But I had to get used to this, as there were many leaps between time periods in the telling of the stories. I was impressed that the author was able to handle this so well.

 

Before reading the first story, I had previously written an article about Cleopatra. That was pretty much what drew me to deciding to review this book. I did a lot of research about Cleopatra for that article and I am still interested in her story. I had researched Cleopatra’s life as well as her death and when I came across a name at one point in the story, it struck me as familiar. Sure enough, it took me back to my research – which made the story all the more interesting!

 

The first story is interesting, but so is the one with the little girl, Heidi. It is sometimes peculiar how in-touch children can be with the spirit world. It is as though children have a very strong connection with spirits on the other side. While this makes for a creepy story in how Heidi is able to communicate with the spirit of Dr. Quintillus in the story, it is very spooky as well, especially how the communication method seems to affect the child’s eye color, as though she becomes momentarily possessed. I really got into this story!

 

Although this is mostly a ghost story, with some elements of horror, I would be so bold as to call it historical horror or historical paranormal. There is so much history in this tome! Yes, they are all works of fiction, but in order to bring an historical story to life, the writer must capture some remnants of the historical period the story is set in. Cavendish does this brilliantly, either by having a character mention an historical movement or by describing important aspects of history in the story itself. I love history, which is part of the reason why I was drawn to reading this book, and so it was a delight to get the occasional snippets of history here and there in the book.

 

As I read through the book, I often wondered why Quintillus was so obsessed with Cleopatra. I mean, his obsession is more than a normal obsession. It’s a very strong fixation. But I kept wondering, why Cleopatra? What was it in his past or in his life that made him so obsessed with her? Well, that answer is given towards the end of the story. It was an answer I found hard to accept, though, because of what I learned from my research of Cleopatra and what I knew of her life. I read that part of the book and thought, “No way!” But, it would seem, the dead never rest.

 

The ending had me on the edge of my seat and that story stayed with me for a VERY long time after I finished reading it. It is such a well-written and well-told story. Yes, the time changes did take some getting used to, but I was able to stay in the story with each time period change. Cavendish manages to cover all the bases in this story and I liked how she told it in a way that had this reader jumping from one point in time to another.

 

Reading this book had me wondering, how can we writers portray historical figures in our work? It must have been a daunting task to try to portray Cleopatra, her sister and even the Egyptian gods accurately. For the most part, we can only go on what we know about them and how they interacted with people. I think Cavendish did a stellar job in portraying these historical and mythological figures. It’s all part of what makes this book stand out as an amazing story to read.

 

If you enjoy reading ghost stories, historical horror or anything about Egyptian history, pick up a copy of Nemesis of the Gods by Catherine Cavendish. You won’t be disappointed.

 

Five stars

 

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.