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Uncaged Review – The Child with Silver Eyes by Kristen Collins with Excerpt!

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

To read an interview with Kristen Collins, see the August 2017 edition of Uncaged Book Reviews!

The Child with Silver Eyes
Kristen Collins
SciFi/Fantasy

Ash was just your average Alpha, his pack was loyal and they had not been visited by trouble in years.
Life was good.
Life was simple.

That is until fate decided to mess around and not only place his mate in the picture but also a dying Angel that fell from the sky with her baby. In a single moment his life was forever changed. Protect the hybrid child to serve good and keep her out of the Lucifer’s hands. If evil was to get a hold of her she would be the world’s undoing.

Life for Mia hasn’t went well since leaving Ouray and everything she had ever known. Then by chance she meets Ash Stormcloud and his adoptive daughter, Tibby. Tibby is a beautiful child and Ash is alluring, pulling her in a way that other men never have done before. Things take a turn for the better until Damon, Tibby’s father, and Alpha of the HellHound pack decides to come searching for Tibby. In a fight of good versus evil, who will win?

Excerpt

“So, are you a nurse? I noticed you’re wearing scrubs,” I asked curiously.
“Yeah, I just moved from Colorado; the year-round winter-like weather just wasn’t for me. My family had a shop there for generations. I don’t know how to explain it other than I needed a change of scenery. I guess I just felt the mountains of New Mexico were calling my name for too long, so I decided to settle down here. I love my job, though; helping others is just my passion in life,” Mia said nonchalantly while sipping her Dr. Pepper.
“Sounds like you live an interesting life,” I said, impressed by her and her words.
“Enough about me; what about you? What do you do besides taking in children and giving them a wonderful life?” she said, still grinning from ear to ear. My rough hands itched to touch her soft, porcelain skin.
“I’m a forest ranger actually; ya know, Smokey the Bear?” In my best voice impression, I looked at Tibby, saying, “Only you can prevent forest fires.” Tibby giggled, reaching for me, so I scooped her up, cradling her to me. “Making sure the forest is safe and the people traveling in and out of it are part of my job, too.”
“You know, for someone who just got that baby there, y’all sure are cozy. You, Ash Stormcloud, must be some kind of child whisperer or something. She absolutely adores you, and rarely takes her eyes away from you.”
“We had a talk; she means everything this world to me now, above all else.” And it was true, I thought to myself. Tibby might as well have been born to me, instead of whatever she was born into.
Tibby started fussing, and threw her bottle of juice across the table. “Tibby, what’s wrong?” My inner wolf stirred, a feeling of possessiveness threatening to come to the surface.
Strange feelings came over me out of nowhere, and the smell of sulfur tinged the air. The hairs on the back of my neck rose, along with goosebumps on my arms. Subtly, I sniffed the air; the sulfur smell lingered, mixed with an unknown wolf scent. Someone was in my territory without my permission.
“Mia, could you excuse me for a minute? I need to run to the bathroom for a second.”
“Yeah, go ahead! I’ll get Tibby and me some ice cream. Would you like some chocolate ice cream, sweetie?” Mia said playfully.
I nodded, hustling to the bathroom and locking the door behind me. Quickly I dialed Pete; as always, he picked up on the first ring.
“Hey, Hoss, what’s up?” he said, extra chipper.
“Hey, Pete, have we had any shifter visitors check in today?” My nerves were starting to feel shot, and I’d only had Tibby fewer than twenty-four hours.
“Umm…” I could hear papers rustling in the background. “No, we haven’t had any visitors since the Bear Claw Alpha visited a few weeks ago. Everything all right? Is Tibby okay?” I could hear the concern in his voice.
“Yeah, she’s fine. We’re at Mad Jack’s and I smelled a wolf—he smelled different, strange…like sulfur. I didn’t see who it was but I want you to call Tessa and Jason up here to track the scent ASAP. I gotta get Tibby out of here and home, where she’s safe.”
“We’d better call the elders together and decide on a battle plan in case of an attack. I’ll get started on that; meet in thirty?”
“Yeah, we’re packing up now. See you there.” I needed to get Tibby out of here now.
As I made my way back to the table I noticed that Mia and Tibby were gone, and so was the bag. Instantly I was alarmed, and looked around the restaurant. Panic and anger clouded my vision; my wolf was ready under the surface, claws out.
“There he is! I told you he would be right back, honey.” Mia’s voice sounded sweetly behind me.
“Tibby! Thank God; Mia, where did you go?” I said harshly.
Mia was taken aback by my sternness. “I’m sorry, Ash, I didn’t think. She was dirty and needed changing, so I took her to the bathroom and cleaned her up.”
“Dirty?” I said, confused.
“Yes, Ash; she had a dirty diaper, and food covering her from head to toe. Where did you think I took her?” Mia said accusingly.
We were getting stares from everybody around us, so I dropped a few bills on the table to cover our check and tip the waitress. I then grabbed Mia’s arms and guided her, with Tibby, outside to my pickup.
“Mia, look, I’m sorry; that was really rude of me in there. All I saw when I came back was that you and Tibby were gone, and I lost it,” I said regretfully. Man, not only was I getting paranoid but I might have just blown it with this beautiful lady standing in front of me.
“Oh God, Ash! I would never hurt a child, especially this beautiful little angel. I never thought of it; I’m such an idiot! Okay, well, I’m gonna go before I embarrass myself anymore today.” The doubt I felt quickly faded to panic. I couldn’t just let her go after making an ass of myself, when she’d done nothing wrong. Talk about an open mouth and insert foot moment.
“Mia, stop…”
“No, I’d like to leave with some grace while I still have it.” Guilt was written across her face, and I wanted to bang my head against a wall a few times for acting so stupid.
“Just wait a minute, please, Mia. You did nothing wrong. I should have never assumed you just took off with Tibby; I’m a total jerk.” I buckled Tibby into her carseat and gave her some toys to play with.
I turned around and took Mia’s hand. “Look, I’d like to make it up to you…” She would barely look me in the eyes. “Please, Mia? I swear I’m usually not such a jerk. What do you say?”
“I’ll think about it,” she said, a mischievous glint in her eyes. The tension between us had passed for the time being. Her scent wafted through the air, filling my nose and imprinting itself in my brain.
“Well, how about you text me every time you’re thinking about it, and we can discuss the pros and cons about everything.” I couldn’t help but smile back at her as her smile spread from cheek to cheek.
“I’ll think about that, too…but it really was nice to meet you, both of you. May I tell her goodbye?” she asked sincerely.
“Yeah, sure!”
Mia climbed into the backseat and gave Tibby a gentle kiss on the forehead. “Okay, big girl. Make sure you keep him out of trouble, and make sure he gives you some extra chocolate pudding, too. If not, then keep him up all night long to teach him a lesson.”
Tibby let out a squeal of laughter, and cooed and ga-ga’d baby talk back to Mia. I felt pleased that she really liked Tibby; for just meeting her, I really liked her as well. Mia rubbed her thumb across Tibby’s forehead in a strange way, almost like she was drawing an invisible symbol on her. I shrugged it off as nothing.
Mia jumped down from the pickup before I could assist her, and turned back to me. Slowly she backed away to her Jeep, as if daring me to chase her. Little did she know that my inner wolf wanted to chase her like prey and take her as his own. She was a temptress, whether she meant to be or not, and she was playing a dangerous game with me. Mia was Little Red Riding Hood and I was the Big Bad Wolf, and I wanted to devour her from head to toe.
“’Bye, Ash Stormcloud. See you around…”
“Oh, you will—I’m looking forward to it,” I said, a smug smile on my face.
“Maybe, maybe not…” she said with a quick wink as she took off down the road. I watch the taillights of that red Jeep disappear around the corner, but her scent of cucumber lingered.

Uncaged Review: 

A classic tale of good vs. evil, in the very literal sense, with Angel and Demon involvement but an interesting twist. A child is born, part Angel, part shifter – a forbidden union. When the shifter Damon, makes a deal with Lucifer, after the birth of his daughter Tiba with the Angel Allita, she knows she needs to get Tiba somewhere safe and hidden from Damon – so he doesn’t corrupt their daughter. Wounded – she manages to make it to shifter lands that promise to protect the child.

This is a short story so I won’t get into details, but it’s nicely written and even though a lot of it felt a bit rushed to me, the author does a nice job with the room she has. There is a character overlap in this book from Grimm Love – and still remains in that world. Reviewed by Cyrene

4 Stars

Uncaged Review – The Accidental Wife by Cj Fosdick

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

The Accidental Wife
Cj Fosdick
Western Romance/Time Travel

Self-determined Jessica Brewster is wary of any emotional relationship, after being betrayed in a bet. When the beloved grandmother who raised her dies, she inherits a mysterious teacup which when rubbed transports her back to 1886 in Old Fort Laramie, switching places with her look-alike great-great-grandmother—wife to her ancestor’s magnetic first husband and mother to his charming nine-year-old daughter.

Uncaged Review: Jessica Brewster is mourning the death of her Grandmother when she spots a teacup which transports her to a time period in 1886 where she has to play a charade of wife and mother, plus find a way back to her time. The storyline was well written and thought out. In the book we are subjected to a lot of ups and downs. This is the first book in the Accidental series. A must read for fans of Time Travel Romance. Reviewed by Jennifer

5 Stars

Uncaged Reviews – The Escape Series by Rachel Rust – with Excerpt!

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

The first two books in The Escape Series by Rachel Rust. Excerpt from Or The Girl Dies, see the August edition of Uncaged Book Reviews for an interview with the author.

Or the Girl Dies
Rachel Rust
Young Adult/Thriller

One school project. One kidnapping. One night they won’t forget.

Natalie is an honors student with perfect grades. Victor is a drug dealer with a cryptic past. When a school assignment forces them to work together, things quickly spiral out of control.

Victor fails to complete his part of their project, so Natalie hunts him down the night before it’s due. But Victor’s kingpin boss interrupts their study date and drags Natalie down into a seedy underworld where anything can be bought and sold—including her.

Over the course of one night—while dodging bad guys and trying not to inhale—Natalie discovers shocking truths about Victor. And she’ll need to choose between preserving her perfect academic future and helping him escape his troubled past.

Except one final revelation about Victor may be too much for Natalie to survive.

Excerpt

Victor’s eyes had fixated on the rearview mirror. He downshifted, slowed down, and wedged himself into the next lane of traffic.
“We’re being followed.” His gaze held steady, watching behind us in the mirror. I made a slight movement to look over my shoulder. “Don’t look,” he said. “Stay facing forward.” He shifted gears. “Got your seatbelt on?”
“Yes.” My skin prickled under the weight of unseen eyes and a cold rush of blood coursed through my veins. Terror was outdone only by the pounding of my heart in my ears.
Victor hit the brakes and we fishtailed off the street and into a narrow alley, jamming my shoulder into the car door. The alley was barely wide enough for one car with a row of garbage cans sitting outside of dingy, rusted back doors to various businesses. My eyes squinted half-closed as though that would protect us from other cars or people or flying bullets. I had watched enough TV to know that fleeing down an alley didn’t always produce desired results.
Victor slowed down at the end of the lane, then turned right into a grocery store parking lot. He weaved in and out of the aisles, and then backed into a parking space with a view of the alley. We sat there in silence with the car in first gear and Victor’s body visibly tensed for a solid couple of minutes before I developed the nerve to speak.
“Who is following us?” I asked. “Was it the guy in the white car that was at your house?”
Victor’s phone buzzed. He stared at the screen, jaw clenched, then scanned me head to toe. “Where do you live? We gotta go to your house.”
“What? Why?”
“Because you need different clothes.”
I sucked in a quick breath. “What’s wrong with my clothes?” Getting fashion shamed by my friends was one thing. Being criticized by a guy whose t-shirt looked like it hadn’t seen the inside of a washing machine in years was a whole other level of rude.
“Nothing’s wrong with your clothes, but you can’t wear that.”
I glanced down at my jeans and sneakers. “Everyone wears jeans.”
“Not where we’re going tonight.”
“Oh no,” I said with a laugh. “I’m not going anywhere with you tonight. Especially not if you have scary people following you.” Maybe I had been hell-bent on making him help me with our school assignment before, but being encountered by a mysterious man in black and then chased down an alley had knocked my determination down a few notches, and increased my self-preservation. Maybe I could convince Victor to come to my house and work on our project there, and then once we were finished he could go off on his demented adventures with whatever crazy people he called friends.
“You have to come with me,” he said. “You have no choice.”
“The hell I don’t, I’m not —”
Victor shoved his phone in front of my face. A text message stared back.
Go chat with LB and bring the brunette. Dress her nice.
“The brunette,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. “Me?”
His silence confirmed it.

Uncaged Review: High school, only ten days left until graduation, and the teacher pulls a partner assignment, and Natalie gets stuck with the biggest loser in the class, Victor – who seems to sleep the whole way through the class. Rumor is he’s a major drug dealer and a complete jerk – but if she doesn’t ace this assignment, her GPA will falter and her scholarship to college could be lost. This book spans over a 24 hr period and when her teacher and her father tell her she needs to figure out how to work with her partner, she sets her mind to make sure the assignment gets done.

This is the night from hell, and the twists and turns this novel takes will have your head spinning. Natalie gets more than a high school senior could bargain for, and we are left on a roller coaster of danger and intrigue, and even though you are on the edge of your seat, there is a bit of humor to break up the tension. Natalie is thrust into a world she could never had imagined and all she wanted to do was keep her 4.0 GPA. Great fun. Reviewed by Cyrene

5 Stars

The Watched Girl
Rachel Rust
Young Adult/Thriller

Where do you run when there’s nowhere to hide?

After barely surviving a dangerous school project, Natalie Mancini is relieved to have her normal life back. Until she’s terrorized by a vengeful associate of the drug trafficker she helped arrest.

Along with Eddie and the FBI, Natalie fights to save herself from an opponent more powerful than the last. But outrunning the watchful eyes of her new enemy may prove impossible.
Natalie and Eddie grow close as they struggle to escape danger once again. And details begin to surface about why they were put together for their school assignment. Was their pairing more than just coincidence?

Uncaged Review:  This book picks up soon after the events in book one, and it starts out with a major bang. You are thrust into the action within the first few chapters, and Natalie is back into the thick of it. If you thought the first book was fast paced, this one does it justice. The sophomore slump is nowhere to be seen. Natalie is kidnapped in broad daylight, and Eddie is MIA. Smacked around, and taped up, she’s too be sold to a human trafficker – whose lost a lot of money from Natalie and Eddie’s interference in book one. But the bad guys aren’t the only ones that have been watching Natalie, the FBI has been keeping tabs on her also.

If you like a fast paced storyline that keeps you on the edge of your seat and turning the pages – this set is highly recommended. The intrigue, the betrayals, and even the romance get a jumpstart in this one. As good or better than Or the Girl Dies, all I can say to Ms. Rust, is write faster please.
Reviewed by Cyrene

5 Stars

Uncaged Review – Progenitor by Sherri Morrer

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

Progenitor
Sherri Moorer
SciFi

Kalea Kerner was an electrical engineer focused on taking over her father’s company, until her uncle sat up from his deathbed and healed her broken foot. The miracle of their healing without the aid of recently developed nanotechnology puzzles doctors, especially when other cases of miracle healings are revealed. When the witnesses to the resurrections demonstrate abilities beyond human capacity, both medical professionals and government leaders are desperate to discover why witnesses to the healings are evolving, while the people who healed them are degenerating through their original diseases. These strange events on the brink of the twenty second century unite doctors, scientists, and ordinary people whose lives have been turned upside down grappling with the possibility that something greater than their advanced technology may have come into the world.

Uncaged Review: A solid SciFi – and even though I’ve read the type of plotline that is the base of this story many times, the author delivered it in a very unique way. When some terminal patients start recovering miraculously and without scientific explanation, and the ones that witness it, are gifted a slight boon in their abilities, you wonder if it’s a miracle, or what else is happening. When the scientific group discover some transmissions coming from outer space, will they be able to find out what and where it’s from before something else happens?

I’m not going to give spoilers, but this is a really well written book, but it is a heavily dialog driven story. The author does a good job getting the technical information to the reader via the dialog without slowing down the plot too much. The author also does a pretty good job with the characters, even though I never did picture them well in my mind like I normally do and even though I liked the characters, I never grew all that attached to them, and this is where the dialog driven narratives fail for me. I think the plotline held my interest and kept a good pace, and it did end on a cliffhanger. Reviewed by Cyrene

4 Stars

Uncaged Review – Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Volume 1 by Various

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

Best Women’s Erotica
Various
Anthology/Erotica

Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Volume 1, edited by award-winning author and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel, delivers risky, romantic, heart-pounding thrills. Featuring a diverse range of characters, sexualities and scenarios, these 22 steamy stories revel in erotic adventure, from the sparks between strangers to the knowing caresses of longtime lovers.

Uncaged Review: A collection of very sensual and erotic stories featuring all sorts of people and situations. To a couple who bring strangers back to their bedroom, to an older woman fresh from divorce wanting to feel loved and be alive again. Set in all different time periods. I’m sure there something for everyone in this book. I found it to be a rather enlightening and hot read. Reviewed by Jennifer

4 Stars

Uncaged Review – Behold! Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders – Anthology

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

Behold! Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders
Various
Horror Anthology

Want to see something weird? Embrace the odd. Satisfy your curiosity. Surrender to wonder.
Sixteen stories and two poems take you into the spaces between the ordinary—and the imaginations of some of today’s masters of dark and thrilling fiction.

Uncaged Review: This is a vast mixture of odd stories if you are of a curious nature. Some are unknown authors to me in this book, as well as a few known to me, for example Neil Gaiman and Clive Barker. A story that was my fave is an old women visits a charity shop and in the middle of buying some books she spots an ornament that she thinks will look good on her mantelpiece. What she doesn’t know is what she took home was the holy grail. I think all sorts of people will enjoy this book I highly recommend it. Reviewed by Jennifer

5 Stars

Uncaged Review – Isle of the Blessed by Suzan Tisdale

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

Isle of the Blessed
Suzan Tisdale
Historical Romance/Medieval

BONUS MATERIAL: Albert & Laurin’s Story.

“Trust is the most important thing between husband and wife. If you cannot trust your husband with your heart, your life, or your love, nothing else matters … only give the sword to your husband if you can trust him with all these things.”

Uncaged Review: In this story, you actually get 2 stories in one, both involving the MacAulay brothers and family. As a young lad, Graeme would find the young girl Josephine, hiding from her brother, for one reason or another. And as time went on, Graeme studied abroad, with his passion to learn as much as he could. When the letter came that his parents had arranged a marriage for him, to Josephine of all people, Graeme was so enraged that he didn’t return home until it was close to the time limit. Not wanting to shame his family, he would do the right thing. But what he found when he got home, was not what he expected….
Josephine has been hiding a sword, the Gladius, handed down from her dying mother when she was only 9 yrs old. She was only to give it to the man that that she could love and trust with her body and soul. Will Graeme be that man?

The second part of this story is Josephine’s best friend and heart sister, Laurin. Abused, beaten and raped from Josephine’s brother and his friends – Josephine refuses to leave her when the MacAulay’s come to collect her. Graeme’s brother Albert, pays for her freedom and they all go home to the island and the MacAulay keep.

This story is mesmerizing. I was hooked within a few pages. I could picture the world in my mind as I read along. The author gives you some danger, sadness, anger and happiness within these stories and brings you to a satisfying conclusion. Reviewed by Cyrene

4 1/2 Stars

Uncaged Review – Sister Agatha by Domhnall O’Donoghue

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

Sister Agatha
Domhnall O’Donoghue
Mystery/Crime/Dark Humor

Sister Agatha is a colossal 118 years of age, whose vim and vigour would put the most robust athletes to shame. During a routine check-up, however, her doctor claims she has just a week to live, news that proves to be quite inconvenient, seeing as the beloved sister has one ambition in life: to be the oldest person in the world. At last count, she was the fifth.
However, never one to admit defeat, Sister Agatha concocts a bold Plan B. Dusting off her passport, she decides to leave Irish shores for the first time in her very long life, and using the few days remaining, plans to travel across three continents and meet the only four people whose birthday cakes boast more candles than hers.
And then, one by one, she intends on killing them.

Uncaged Review: Sister Agatha is a whopping 118 years old she miss hears her doctor’s conversation. With another stating that she has only a week to live. So in her last week on earth she is determined to be the oldest surviving person not the fifth. I really liked this story as it was full of dark comedy and you really had to love Sister Agatha who is a one of a kind person. This book being the author’s first book I’m exited to see what he comes up with next. Reviewed by Jennifer

5 Stars

Uncaged Review – Enden by David Kummer

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

Enden
David Kummer
Young Adult/Medieval

They have grown strong in the shadows, the kingdom of Oldon. The land is void of hope and of strength against them. The human kingdoms grow corrupt everyday, so that the lines between good and evil are slurred.
One young man from a small village in the valley could change all of that. He fights with the passion of a warrior and the luck of a magician. And when the barbarians force him out of his home, the journey begins.
Trained by a knight, shadowed with secrets, and against the kingdom he once called home, Jonathan is an outcast, a rebel. But more than anything, he is a leader.
Enden is a world filled with wars, famine, sieges, torture, and death. But the greatest battle of all is to survive. Only one thing is certain. Something is rising, in the distance near the edge of the world where forgotten secrets brew. Something has risen. And it is coming.

Uncaged Review: Enter this book with an open mind and be prepared to not to put it down until the end. For a novel written by a young author is it completely breathtaking, heart stopping and spell binding. A tale that is so well weaved together that you not see the ending coming. A must read for any true dark fantasy reader. And series that just made to my go to re-read shelf. I simply cannot wait for the continuation. Reviewed by Melisa

4 Stars

Uncaged Review – A Storytelling of Ravens by R.H. Dixon with Excerpt!

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

To read a full interview, please see the August issue of Uncaged Book Reviews

A Storytelling of Ravens
R.H. Dixon
Horror/Thriller

Four people. Three secrets. One cabin. No way out.
British actress Callie Crossley is kidnapped and dumped outside a cabin at the edge of Whispering Woods. All she has is a scrawled message: DEAD TO ME; and two unexpected housemates: a former sitcom star (who looks like hell) and a girl in a wheelchair (who is full of hell).

When film producer Torbin Thurston, a man Callie knows personally, turns up at the cabin, Callie has no idea who she can trust anymore. She seems to be the only one who can hear strange whispering and it’s not long till she realises that there’s something dangerous lurking outside in the woods.

But are the rumours about Whispering Woods true? Do the trees really talk? And, for those listening, does what they say lead to blood-lust and madness?

One way or another, Callie must find a way out before she is consumed by the darkness of Whispering Woods.

Excerpt

‘What do the trees in Whispering Woods talk about?’ Sarah Jane asked.
Uncle Dean shrugged. ‘Suppose that depends on what it is they have to tell you.’ His blue eye sparkled with mischief, but his dead one conveyed a solemn truth.
Sarah Jane’s own eyes glittered with excitement. She shifted her weight to her right leg, so her arm was touching his. ‘Do you know any stories? About any of the people that have gone mad.’
‘A couple.’ He smiled; his teeth were white and straight and somehow, falsely or not, substantiated genuineness. ‘There used to be a man lived here as it happens. Old Mally Murgatroyd.’
‘You mean here?’ Sarah Jane pointed to the floor. ‘In this cabin?’
‘Yep. He lived alone. Went doolally. Some say it was cabin fever, but maybe he’d always been a tongue sandwich short of a picnic.’
‘Sounds like the picnic was better off that way,’ Pollyanna said. She was looking out of the window from across the room. Next to her was Roxanne Miller.
‘You think?’ Uncle Dean seemed to consider this. He scratched his chin and the whiskers there sounded coarse against his fingertips. He smelled of cologne; a citrus musk. Sarah Jane breathed him in, becoming more and more inebriated on infatuation.
‘One evening, late August, quite some years back,’ he said, his voice still low, ‘something really awful happened here.’
It was then, right at that moment, Sarah Jane felt a change in the atmosphere, as though Uncle Dean’s words had commanded a shift in the fabric of reality. She imagined the room was listening and changing mood to suit, altering to accommodate his story like an emotional chameleon that recognised their morbid interest and need for tragedy. All at once every bit of warmth that the earlier sun had left behind was spat out through the open bedroom door and the air became instantly cold; as cold as the blue of the covers on the two single beds. Sarah Jane shivered. She looked out at the woods, needing and longing to know its darkest secrets so she could ponder them as if they were her own. There was a murderousness about Whispering Woods and she wanted Uncle Dean to go right ahead and weave its stories into the here and now so she might glimpse beyond its frontline, to see what was really in there. To feel what it was like. To know if its insides lay ghastly and stinking beneath countless deciduous summers or if the frostbite of each winter was enough to have cleansed the horror of the trees. She wanted to walk through the undergrowth with Uncle Dean leading the way, the pair of them kicking up dead leaves with the toes of their boots. She tingled with excitement and all the while was aware of a delicious warmth on her arm – the warmth of him radiating through the fabric of his shirt sleeve. ‘What happened that was so awful?’ she asked.
‘Some broken-down motorists on their way home from a camping trip stopped by. A man, a woman and their two kids.’
‘Then what?’
‘Take a guess.’ Again he smiled; it was a smile that didn’t denote any sense of favourable outcome for the family in the tale, but a smile that crushed down on Sarah Jane’s heart nonetheless, adding more weight, more pressure, till it actually hurt.
‘Old Mally Murgatroyd killed them?’ she asked.
He drummed his fingers on the sill, a quick-fire sequence of confirmation, then pointed a finger gun at her. ‘All except the small boy.’
‘But why?’
He shrugged, looked puzzled for a moment as though he’d never considered this, then said, ‘Why does anyone do anything?’
Sarah Jane pressed her arm even closer against his. ‘How did he do it? Kill them, I mean. Did he butcher them?’
‘Sarah Jane!’ Roxanne Miller, still standing by the doorway, folded her arms over her chest. ‘Why do you always have to be so bloody horrible?’
‘Did it with a filleting knife,’ Uncle Dean said, seeming not to hear Roxanne Miller’s voice, let alone her disapproval. He was staring out of the window now, trancelike, unreachable. The room was breathing all around them. In. Out. In. Out. Big. Small. Big. Small. ‘Hacked all three of them up, right there in front of the little boy.’ His head jerked round then, and he regarded Sarah Jane with the most intense blue. ‘Can you imagine that? His mam. His dad. Then his big sister.’
Sarah Jane could. She half-smiled. ‘Then what?’
‘Old Mally Murgatroyd, he sautéed their flesh and made himself a stew for dinner. Made the boy eat some of it too.’
‘Oh come on, Dean,’ Roxanne Miller objected.
‘Once he’d had a bellyful,’ Uncle Dean went on, ‘he left the boy here and went out into the woods and hanged himself.’
‘Wow.’ Sarah Jane was still trying to determine if he was winding her up, but the white of his dead eye made it impossible for her to tell. ‘But why? Why would he do that?’
‘The trees, they told him to. That’s just how it is, sweetheart. Those touched by the madness of Whispering Woods do all kinds of crazy stuff. It’s like the trees…’
‘Dean!’ This time Roxanne Miller made sure she was heard.
Uncle Dean turned to her, startled, fully aware, his thoughts completely back in the room with them. ‘It’s okay though,’ he said, raising his hands in apology, ‘not everyone hears the trees anyway.’
‘What happened to the boy?’ Pollyanna asked, her voice a ghostly addition to the conversation.
‘Stayed here,’ Uncle Dean said. He edged away from the window, his eyes not leaving Roxanne Miller’s.
‘How long for?’
‘Hard to say.’
‘Where is he now?’
‘Look, I think we’ve all heard enough silly stories for one day,’ Roxanne Miller said. She was glaring, but her eyes lacked any real reproach. ‘I’m sure tales like this aren’t good for young imaginations.’
‘Yeah, sorry. I, uh, I’m sorry.’ Uncle Dean winced and Sarah Jane hated her mother more than ever for having made him look momentarily weak. It wasn’t a look befitting an ex-army sergeant. He owed her nothing, least of all an apology just because she was too feeble-minded to deal with the truth and the more unsavoury aspects of life.
Roxanne Miller shook her head and flashed him a different kind of sullen look which, deliberately or not, gave way to a certain sexual tension that brought a touch of uncomfortable warmth back to the room. She then turned and made off towards the lounge and Sarah Jane scrunched her fists tight, her nails burrowing into skin, when she saw how Uncle Dean sighed after her. The memory of the orphaned boy who’d eaten bits of his parents and sister lingered in the uncomfortable silence like a stewing argument and Sarah Jane thought of ways to encourage it. But nobody said anything for a while.
‘Maybe I’ll tell you the rest some other time,’ Uncle Dean said at last.
‘Can’t you now?’ Sarah Jane said, hopefully, her hands relaxing a little. ‘She won’t hear. And I won’t tell.’
Uncle Dean laughed and nodded. His blue eye shone. ‘You’re funny, kid.’ But he turned and left, taking with him the knowledge of Whispering Woods.

Uncaged Review: 

This is one tricked out story. We start out with a couple separate storylines, but don’t worry, they will merge together quickly. At the base of the story, is four people that are “hostages” in a cabin – where there is a ghost town nearby and things that live in the forest and come out only at night. None of these people have anything in common, except they are all stranded and can’t leave. But do they really have nothing in common?

This book never slows down, and you will be in for quite a ride. Even though I guessed about half way in parts of it, the author twists and turns the plot so well, that you begin to doubt your own conclusions. I don’t know that this is a “typical” horror book, it read more like a psychological thriller to me, but the result is still the same. As the characters struggle to find answers, you will be engaged right along with them – and the writing is excellent. The author will toss in a great twist at the end that I didn’t see coming. And did I mention there are ravens? Terrific read. Reviewed by Cyrene

5 Stars

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