Left Hand Tree: Stories of Spiritual Horror

Left Hand Tree: Stories of Spiritual Horror by Jay Gunter
Published by October House Publishing
Ebook
Published 19 January 2017
405 pages
Review copy

I was given a copy by Jana Roberts of JR Marketing & Design and voluntarily reviewed it. Jay's publisher has designed the Necklace below especially for the launch. If you like and share the book's page on Facebook you will be entered to win the necklace. This was actually my last read of 2016 but I was asked not to publish the review until launch date. WHAT'S IT'S ABOUT "I LOOKED INTO DARKNESS . . . AND THERE I DID SEE . . ."

In these pages you will encounter strange stories of otherworldly evil, sent from a place eerily familiar, yet utterly bizarre, to deliver a stealthy sense of disquiet that will haunt your dreams.

LEFT HAND TREE

Tales like the title story, where an infant awaits a monstrous fate, and whose only salvation is a man with an ocean of blood on his hands.

LEFT HAND TREE

Tales like, "The Fourth Son of Adam," where a sceptical reporter makes a pilgrimage of dark discovery that will threaten to poison his soul, his sanity . . . and even extinguish his humanity.

LEFT HAND TREE

Tales like "Triptych", where a maestro of evil is haunted by an unthinkable revenant intent on delivering him to an unimaginable confrontation.

"THE DEAD ONES DANCING ROUND THE LEFT HAND TREE . . ."

All these and more you will discover when you read these pages and enter their world of horror and strangeness.

Come, if you dare, and be changed . . . perhaps forever . . .

OPENING

From Left Hand Tree

In his dream, the baby's mother came to him and bent over him, smiling.

WHAT I THOUGHT

You know that moment when you discover a new author and you fall completely in love with their words and characters and the dark and twisted little world's they create? I'm going through that just now after reading Left Hand Tree which is essentially a novella and some short stories. It's been a long time, too long since I read horror fiction this bloody good. The novella, Left Hand Tree is one of the best pieces of horror fiction I've read in ages. I found it creepy and so unsettling my flesh literally crawled off my bones and hid in the corner. Unlike a lot of horror fiction, this collection doesn't contain any blood and gore. It's just so unsettling and creepy. The stories and style of writing remind me of John Connolly's Charlie Parker novels with a dash of Clive Barker and a pinch of HP Lovecraft thrown in for good measure. Who can resist such a combination? Not me, that's for certain. I loved how all of the tales were linked in some way by the same ideas and themes. I loved each tale in the collection but Left Hand Tree and Flowers hold a special place in my heart. I'd highly recommend this collection.

I'm thirty-five years old and live in Glasgow in the UK with my partner of ten years. I work in a support team for a call centre. I like reading especially Joyce Carol Oates and Stephen King. I write fiction and poetry. I enjoy watching TV (Grimm, Torchwood, Doctor Who, Lip Service, The L Word etc). I like to play video games and am a fan of survival horror especially the Silent Hill franchise. I like to watch movies especially horror and anything where someone dies. View all posts by pamelascott30