The Dunnie by Keith Thomas is a book I intended to read and review much closer to Halloween (which was also its publication date). Unfortunately, I got sidetracked with life and a few other books I absolutely wanted to read. As usual, so many books, so little time. But now that I’ve finally read it, I have nothing but praise for this novella!
The Dunnie is a very quick read, packed full of things that make a horror book great: suspense, gore, creepy creatures, mysterious characters, and yes – even a disturbing cover that draws you right into the pages of the book! The story centers around a family with a history of abuse (trigger warning here). Young Asher has been troubled and his mom thinks some time with his grandfather will do him some good. They make a trip to the small town where strange and disturbing events start happening as soon as Asher steps foot outside of the car.
The pace of the book was great. I didn’t experience a slow moment at all. The characters were developed well enough for me to care about what happened to them. And here’s something that is annoying when it’s glossed over – the monster was well explained – its origin, the way it looks and moves, etc. And it was plenty creepy!
There were a few things I wish were elaborated upon a little further. If they had been, this might have been a full novel rather than a novella. I won’t go into them here because it will spoil some of the story. But that little bit extra in the story could have taken my rating from four stars to five.
There’s a promise of more stories along this theme in the future. I’m keeping Keith Thomas on my radar so I can read them as soon as they’re available – I enjoyed this book that much! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Night Platform Book Company, for the electronic review copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Mysteries and Mayhem 