Review: Closer by F.E. Feeley Jr.

Title: Closer

Author: F.E. Feeley Jr.

Length: 380 Pages

Category: Paranormal/Fantasy/Horror

At a Glance: Closer is a captivating horror story that begins with a bang and never lets up till the final chapter.

Reviewed By: Sammy

Blurb: Maplewood, Vermont is a picturesque town filled with unique shops, unique homes, and a quaint familiarity all centered on a lake with an unusual history.

Legends, old as well as Urban, float around like the mist that hovers above the lake at break of dawn.

But they’re just stories, right?

Hayden Moore’s life was destroyed when his husband, Malcolm, was murdered. Giving up his job as an assistant district attorney in Boston, Hayden moved to the little burg of Maplewood to recover.

A new life.

A fresh start.

However, something underneath the water is stirring. Something rotten. A deadly secret wakes underneath the black waters of Lake Veronica so disturbing it haunts the nightmares of the local residents.

It’s coming closer…

Review: Holy cow, this novel was freaking amazing! A perfect combination of horror, romance, and survival all rolled into a fast-paced, terrifying story that kept me up well into the night, reading with every light blazing in the house. F.E. Feeley Jr. has released a spellbinding story in his latest book, Closer. It documents the rise of a well-known folk tale that surrounds the small community of Maplewood, Vermont. A rather sleepy place that owes its livelihood to the tourism it attracts from the skiing set during the winter months.

One of the newer residents, Hayden Moore, has just bought a beautiful home that sits on Lake Veronica. Hayden is trying to start fresh, newly retired from the DA’s office in Boston after his husband was shot and killed by a mob family seeking revenge. The death pushed Hayden over the edge, and now he has come to the remote village to try and put his life back together. When he hires a local contractor to do some minor repairs to his new home, he never imagines that he will be drawn to the man so immediately.

Tommy Law is a bit of an outcast in his hometown due to a colorful and dangerous past. However, a stint in Special Forces and an uncanny knack for keeping out of harm’s way has given the ex-Army Ranger a pretty good ability to take care of himself. When he meets Hayden Moore, he realizes just what has been missing from every other relationship he’s attempted to have. Despite the fact that Tommy has never given much thought to his sexuality, it is a pleasant surprise when he realizes just how attracted he is to Hayden and how much he wants to take care of the man who is emotionally fragile yet stronger than he realizes.

As the two men grow closer, the thing that haunts the lake grows stronger. It will take everything the small community has to fight the evil that is rising from Lake Veronica. One grisly murder after another brings help from the unlikeliest of places, and strangers who almost immediately become involved with long standing members of the small town. Together with Tommy and Hayden, this ragtag team will be in the fight for their lives before it’s all over.

This is an admittedly shallow synopsis of a complex novel. While there are multiple players in this story, there was never a time when I was confused or unsure of who was who and with each new layer revealed, I was pulled deeper into the story. This was a horror story done to perfection. Each creepy murder gave you one more clue to the depth of perversion that lived beneath the lake and the lengths the evil would go to in order to regain its power. With almost mystical ties to the ancient religion of the druid, the story bounced back and forth between those who fought to contain and destroy the evil, those who were chained to the demon, and those who were sent to warn those who would lead the fight.

With chilling clarity, the author unwrapped the secret of what exactly lived in the lake and what its ultimate goal actually was. Closer had so many things going for it. Characters such as Tommy and Hayden and Paul and Michelle, to name a few, who capture your heart and have you rooting for them right from the start, grounded the story in realism even as the mystical took center stage. With a story reminiscent of the likes of Stephen King, the horror that unfolds as the novel progressed grips you in it’s fearful grasp and kept this reviewer up at night reading with one eye continually glancing into darkened corners and an ear attuned for any bump in the night. It was just so good.

Closer is a captivating horror story that begins with a bang and never lets up till the final chapter. Woven through the mysterious nightmare the novel imparts is a solid core of love and bravery found in a small group of people who stand against the tide despite the danger. It is a triumphant story of love and its ability to conquer the darkest evil. I highly recommend it to you.

You can buy Closer here:
[zilla_button url=”http://bit.ly/2G9LxzH” style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Beaten Track Publishing [/zilla_button][zilla_button url=”http://authl.it/B078SHG68B?d” style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon [/zilla_button][zilla_button url=”http://bit.ly/2G8LsMB” style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Barnes & Noble [/zilla_button][zilla_button url=”https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/closer/id1331096131?mt=11″ style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] iBooks [/zilla_button][zilla_button url=”http://bit.ly/2G7shCG” style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Kobo [/zilla_button]