Andrew Van Wey
Forsaken

Review brought to you by OBS staff member Autumn

Synopsis:

The painting loomed, large and foreboding. At a little over six feet tall and five feet wide, it wasn’t the strangest he’d ever seen, but close. A girl with a wounded, sack-like face; a boy with pinhole eyes and a cruel sneer; and a distant shadow peering out from behind a dying tree, all stared back at him.

Yet it wasn’t only the subjects that challenged him, but the note that came with the anonymous painting.

“Here in Art, Denial.”

For professor Daniel Rineheart, these four words herald a riddle that sets off a surreal nightmare. Where objects from his past manifest in canvas and oil. Where painted clocks tick-tock away in the dark hours before dawn and a missing dog whimpers from between the walls. Where the painted subjects themselves leave the canvas to stalk the halls of his once quiet house.

And where all answers lead back to a blind artist and an impossible creation, one that threatens to destroy his family and devour his sanity. (Goodreads)

Review:

I had to walk away from this book several times while reading it.  Not because I didn’t like it.  It genuinely frightened me and I had to go and turn on every light in the house.  I consider myself to be someone who is hard to spook, but this book did the trick.

“Forsaken” seemed to be quite benign in the beginning, but amped up pretty quickly.  There were several twists and turns in the story that quite literally had me gasping.  Van Wey had a real grasp on his characters and what was going on inside their head. The first person point of view puts the reader right on the front line and I actually found myself liking the characters despite their obvious flaws and circumstances. The story was intricate, disturbing, unexpected and scary.  I can honestly say that I haven’t read something like this in a long time.

I would highly recommend this book for all lovers of the paranormal and horror genres.  “Forsaken” is a deliciously wicked read.