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The Fallen
Ten years after leaving peaceful Sauls Run following his mother's tragic death and a terrible quarrel with his father, Henry Sleep returns home after the suicide of his father and finds a town in which a mysterious and horrific darkness is beginning to stir. Original.
281 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 5, 2002
11 people are currently reading
155 people want to read
About the author
Dale Bailey
125 books170 followersDale was born in West Virginia in 1968, and grew up in a town called Princeton, just north of the Virginia line. His stories have appeared in lots of places—The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Amazing Stories, Sci-Fiction, Lightspeed Magazine, and various anthologies. Several of them have been nominated for awards, and “Death and Suffrage,” later filmed as part of Showtime’s television anthology series Masters of Horror, won the International Horror Guild Award.
In 2003, Golden Gryphon Press collected his stories as The Resurrection Man’s Legacy and Other Stories. Two novels, The Fallen and House of Bones, came out from Signet books around the same time. A third novel—Sleeping Policemen, written with with his friend Jack Slay, Jr.—came out in 2006. He has also written a study of haunted-house fiction called American Nightmares.
He lives in North Carolina with his wife and daughter.
In 2003, Golden Gryphon Press collected his stories as The Resurrection Man’s Legacy and Other Stories. Two novels, The Fallen and House of Bones, came out from Signet books around the same time. A third novel—Sleeping Policemen, written with with his friend Jack Slay, Jr.—came out in 2006. He has also written a study of haunted-house fiction called American Nightmares.
He lives in North Carolina with his wife and daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
July 29, 2014
2.5 stars rounded up.
Henry Sleep's father visits him in a dream.
It's time to come home.....
When he calls to check on his father he finds out that he has committed suicide. So Henry returns home to Saul's Run.
A small town where people live long lives, no crime occurs and sickness has a weird ebb and flow.
This book could have been really good. The story just didn't flow smoothly. The first half of the book kept me coming back for more and then it just fell to crap. The writing became so uneven that I just couldn't care anymore.
I received an ARC copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Henry Sleep's father visits him in a dream.
It's time to come home.....
When he calls to check on his father he finds out that he has committed suicide. So Henry returns home to Saul's Run.
A small town where people live long lives, no crime occurs and sickness has a weird ebb and flow.
This book could have been really good. The story just didn't flow smoothly. The first half of the book kept me coming back for more and then it just fell to crap. The writing became so uneven that I just couldn't care anymore.
I received an ARC copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
October 31, 2012
I very much want to give this book five stars, I really do. It's the best horror novel I've read in years. The characters are deftly, if lightly, drawn, and their stories are immediately engaging. The antagonist is one of the most ingenious - and sympathetic, and simple - villains I've ever read; no irredeemable and totally evil bad guy, but a flawed and sad character who is as interesting as the others who oppose him. And the writing is sublime; far too assured for a first novel, with King's pacing and eye for detail, and Bradbury's lyrical description, it's a pleasure to read.
But it's a first novel, and there are many - minor, minor - faults that come along with that. It's too short, for one. In these days of ponderous doorstops, that's a rarity, but I could have read so much more of this. The characters, the setting, the mystery, I could have managed a book twice the length. And with its brevity comes a scarcity of incident; while the central mystery, and its attendant investigation, is gripping, there seem to be many avenues of plot left untapped. This gives the impression of a novella stretched to novel length, though any writer with as firm a grasp of his craft as Bailey shows here should be able to fill a novel easily enough, it's odd that so little happens.
It's a shame that these faults, small as they are, overwhelm the brilliance of the rest of the novel, but there it is. This book is far closer to five stars ("it was amazing") than it is to four ("really liked it"), but honesty prevails. It was very nearly amazing, and I shall be looking for more of Dale Bailey's work in the future.
But it's a first novel, and there are many - minor, minor - faults that come along with that. It's too short, for one. In these days of ponderous doorstops, that's a rarity, but I could have read so much more of this. The characters, the setting, the mystery, I could have managed a book twice the length. And with its brevity comes a scarcity of incident; while the central mystery, and its attendant investigation, is gripping, there seem to be many avenues of plot left untapped. This gives the impression of a novella stretched to novel length, though any writer with as firm a grasp of his craft as Bailey shows here should be able to fill a novel easily enough, it's odd that so little happens.
It's a shame that these faults, small as they are, overwhelm the brilliance of the rest of the novel, but there it is. This book is far closer to five stars ("it was amazing") than it is to four ("really liked it"), but honesty prevails. It was very nearly amazing, and I shall be looking for more of Dale Bailey's work in the future.
July 23, 2014
This was an eARC from Netgalley.
While well written for a first novel, this tale of hidden evil in a small town fails to really click as a horror novel, coming across more as a thriller with some supernatural shadowing. The story doesn't quite flow as smoothly as it could, the entity lurking in the background spends too much time lurking, and it's displays of power read more like displays of underlying psychological problems than the manipulations of an evil force. The religious aspects are a little off kilter, more twisted to fit the plot than a well thought out alternate view of the belief as a whole.
Regardless, I will be checking out more of Bailey's writing.
Fans of old school small town horror should enjoy this book.
While well written for a first novel, this tale of hidden evil in a small town fails to really click as a horror novel, coming across more as a thriller with some supernatural shadowing. The story doesn't quite flow as smoothly as it could, the entity lurking in the background spends too much time lurking, and it's displays of power read more like displays of underlying psychological problems than the manipulations of an evil force. The religious aspects are a little off kilter, more twisted to fit the plot than a well thought out alternate view of the belief as a whole.
Regardless, I will be checking out more of Bailey's writing.
Fans of old school small town horror should enjoy this book.
December 5, 2014
Disclaimer: This ARC was given to me for free in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley.
4.5 stars
This is one of my favorite [new to me] horror novels of this year.
I think if you are not a gore-hound, but someone looking to start reading the genre, this would be perfect.
There is some rape, child abuse, and animal death (but not overly graphic).
I thought the writing was well done, and the build-up of tension and mystery was well-done. The various story-lines were all tied up seamlessly.
4.5 stars
This is one of my favorite [new to me] horror novels of this year.
I think if you are not a gore-hound, but someone looking to start reading the genre, this would be perfect.
There is some rape, child abuse, and animal death (but not overly graphic).
I thought the writing was well done, and the build-up of tension and mystery was well-done. The various story-lines were all tied up seamlessly.
November 13, 2017
This is my second time reading this book. I really like this book. It has mystery, romance, action, angels and demons. What's not to love? I like the way Bailey writes, the first page got me hooked.
July 28, 2012
Sauls Run is a quaint little town where people live to a ripe old age and everyone is super nice. But every few years murder and mayhem erupt, only to calm down yet again. All of that seems to cycle through the suffering and rest of a creature that lives deep in Holland mines - a secret that isn't revealed in brilliant detail until the last 20 pages.
Bailey tells the story mostly from the point of view of Henry Sleep, a tragic character who has lost both his mother and father and goes back to Sauls Run to bury his most recently departed parent - is father. Into that mix is the sherrif - an imposter with a history of creating his own murder and mayhem. But the town has a good effect on the sherrif as 99% of the time he is good and kind, while the other 1% of the time his evil side makes an appearance with a hunger that can only be sated by killing something. Bailey's portrayal of a dog slaying was something I could live without forever, but I suppose it was injected to illustrate the madness and evil that was lurking in Sauls Run just below the surface.
I admit that I really did like the book, though it did lack the smoothness of a practiced author. There were many transitions that didn't work well. Still, on the whole, this was a good read that kept me up way past my bedtime last night.
Bailey tells the story mostly from the point of view of Henry Sleep, a tragic character who has lost both his mother and father and goes back to Sauls Run to bury his most recently departed parent - is father. Into that mix is the sherrif - an imposter with a history of creating his own murder and mayhem. But the town has a good effect on the sherrif as 99% of the time he is good and kind, while the other 1% of the time his evil side makes an appearance with a hunger that can only be sated by killing something. Bailey's portrayal of a dog slaying was something I could live without forever, but I suppose it was injected to illustrate the madness and evil that was lurking in Sauls Run just below the surface.
I admit that I really did like the book, though it did lack the smoothness of a practiced author. There were many transitions that didn't work well. Still, on the whole, this was a good read that kept me up way past my bedtime last night.
April 13, 2017
hated it. I only made it to chapter 5 and I had to call it quits.
October 2, 2021
I've always discovered new authors through short story anthologies, and found Dale Bailey through his 2015 story Snow, a post-apocalyptic tale that takes place in Boulder, Colorado (one of my all-time favorite cities). It's a very scary story with a horrifying finale, and after reading his other novels and short story collections, his short fiction is definitely superior.
This is his first novel, and although it has a lot of atmosphere, it comes to a disappointing conclusion; yet it does reveal his potential.
This is his first novel, and although it has a lot of atmosphere, it comes to a disappointing conclusion; yet it does reveal his potential.
January 20, 2020
Too many unnecessary and badly flourished descriptions. The idea behind the story had a lot of potential, but the execution was awful.
February 1, 2019
I'm not every sure what to do with this now that I'm done reading it. I couldn't keep a few of the main characters straight because of the generic names. Had to keep rereading to figure out who was who. Jolting flashbacks at the end that were super confusing. Moral of the story is bad and the characters come out of their trials with little wisdom to show for it. They more or less come into close contact with some kind of angelic being only to realize they now believe that "there might be something out there." Continue to deny benevolence of God that that think "might exist" after seeing the being in the mountain despite that being having been responsible for the town's low crime/death rate and having been described by the characters as a "servant" i.e. doing what it was told. Further, the author was spontaneously crass/disgusting in ways that pulled the reader (at least this reader) out of the story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 10, 2011
As far as stories of the supernatural go, this one has a potential: a prehistoric angel crashed and trapped under a mountain close to an American mining town. The execution is dreadful: unimaginative, chliched characters, and one of the most intrusive self-consciously wordy vocabulary ever. An English major on a late-night Red-Bull induced Thesaurus Trip. Consider a randomly picked, but exemplary sentence on p. 259: "Flashlight beams punched radiant alleys through the murk." And it goes on.
June 21, 2023
There is so much to say about this book and a lot of conflicting opinions on my part. It 9 months for me to read this book and most of this is because I was using this book during my appointments when you can’t have electronic devices with you.
The book itself was blah, blah, blah. I was waiting and waiting for the heightening to occur and it started in the last 50 pages out of 281. There’s a section in the book where the author is jumping from past to present and from person to person. That wasn’t done well. I would have to go back and read where it’s coming from.
The fantasy, I don’t want to spoil the story, is something in the mines that helps the town thrive, health wise and then deaths occurring in numbers. There’s nothing spectacular about the characters except the sheriff. Nothing like an attempt to throw a wrench into the story only for it to make the story stranger than it already is.
The book itself was blah, blah, blah. I was waiting and waiting for the heightening to occur and it started in the last 50 pages out of 281. There’s a section in the book where the author is jumping from past to present and from person to person. That wasn’t done well. I would have to go back and read where it’s coming from.
The fantasy, I don’t want to spoil the story, is something in the mines that helps the town thrive, health wise and then deaths occurring in numbers. There’s nothing spectacular about the characters except the sheriff. Nothing like an attempt to throw a wrench into the story only for it to make the story stranger than it already is.
June 8, 2021
Can’t Get THOSE Hours Back
I’m not even sure where to start. I believe this had the makings of a pretty good book but it never coalesced. I really don’t want waste a lot of time critiquing it, let’s just say I believe the author should have woven his threads a little tighter. Yikes!
I’m not even sure where to start. I believe this had the makings of a pretty good book but it never coalesced. I really don’t want waste a lot of time critiquing it, let’s just say I believe the author should have woven his threads a little tighter. Yikes!
February 23, 2021
I'm gonna give this book a "Meh." Well written but ....idk.
March 15, 2021
The atmosphere is nice, as a horror it's lackluster and more of a misery porn kinda thing.
July 29, 2016
Dale Bailey is a writer I probably never would have read if not for my time in graduate school. That was the time when I tried the hardest to become a published author, so I subscribed to a lot of genre fiction magazines to know the market better. During that time, I stumbled across the writer in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and saw that he was a professor at the school where I was enrolled. I reached out to him and asked if he would have time to speak with me about my writing, and he said he did, but for whatever reason, I never made that appointment. Despite that, his name stayed with me,but it took until just this past week to read anything more than that one story of his.
The Fallen is a pretty straightforward horror novel. The main character, Henry Sleep, returns to the town where he grew up after his father commits suicide. While there, strange things happen, and he's put on the trail of a mystery that's been lurking for hundreds of years. His allies are his old girlfriend, from whom he left on bad circumstances, and a newspaper reporter named Benjamin Strange.
(Which brings me to a minor annoyance at the characters' names. Sleep? Strange? These sound like comic book characters, or at least the names of characters in an urban fantasy novel. I know I've complained of the bland names Charles L. Grant uses, but could we find a middle ground between forgettable and unlikely names?)
The story is probably more fantasy than horror, though if pressed, I would recommend it to fans of horror over fantasy. There was never a real sense of dread throughout the book, though there was definitely something supernatural, and that it was a huge, unknown thing. There were some eerie scenes, and some atmosphere thanks to the central setting of the abandoned coal mine, but for the most part the heart of the story was the mystery. It was still engaging (this was a book that begged me to finish it), and I enjoyed Bailey's style and pacing, but it just didn't strike me as straight-up horror. The characterization wasn't the best, either; even the main characters, Henry and Emily, felt like they weren't fleshed out, and the death of another of the protagonists felt hollow due to not being realized enough.
Despite all that, for a book published in 2002, The Fallen feels like a book that could have come out during the horror boom of the 1980s and early '90s. It's not a carbon copy of anything that came out in that time, but there's something about its structure, pace, and format that reminds me of all the books I read back then. It also doesn't hurt that I read a Signet mass-market paperback edition of the book, and that the feel and smell of the book made me wax nostalgic.
I liked the book well enough to want to read more of Bailey's work, but I'm not sure if I would recommend it to other horror fans. There's a lot to like about it, style-wise, but I found the story to be lacking in too many ways.
The Fallen is a pretty straightforward horror novel. The main character, Henry Sleep, returns to the town where he grew up after his father commits suicide. While there, strange things happen, and he's put on the trail of a mystery that's been lurking for hundreds of years. His allies are his old girlfriend, from whom he left on bad circumstances, and a newspaper reporter named Benjamin Strange.
(Which brings me to a minor annoyance at the characters' names. Sleep? Strange? These sound like comic book characters, or at least the names of characters in an urban fantasy novel. I know I've complained of the bland names Charles L. Grant uses, but could we find a middle ground between forgettable and unlikely names?)
The story is probably more fantasy than horror, though if pressed, I would recommend it to fans of horror over fantasy. There was never a real sense of dread throughout the book, though there was definitely something supernatural, and that it was a huge, unknown thing. There were some eerie scenes, and some atmosphere thanks to the central setting of the abandoned coal mine, but for the most part the heart of the story was the mystery. It was still engaging (this was a book that begged me to finish it), and I enjoyed Bailey's style and pacing, but it just didn't strike me as straight-up horror. The characterization wasn't the best, either; even the main characters, Henry and Emily, felt like they weren't fleshed out, and the death of another of the protagonists felt hollow due to not being realized enough.
Despite all that, for a book published in 2002, The Fallen feels like a book that could have come out during the horror boom of the 1980s and early '90s. It's not a carbon copy of anything that came out in that time, but there's something about its structure, pace, and format that reminds me of all the books I read back then. It also doesn't hurt that I read a Signet mass-market paperback edition of the book, and that the feel and smell of the book made me wax nostalgic.
I liked the book well enough to want to read more of Bailey's work, but I'm not sure if I would recommend it to other horror fans. There's a lot to like about it, style-wise, but I found the story to be lacking in too many ways.
March 18, 2013
First off, let me state that I did enjoy The Fallen, which I believe is the debut novel by horror/fantasy author Dale Bailey—somewhat. Admittedly, my rating borders on two stars, but I decided to give Bailey the benefit of the doubt.
First, the positive: The story is, on the surface, interesting, the characters more or less well-rounded, and the setting compelling. Bailey, himself a native of rural West Virginia, adequately paints a picture of an everyday, small-town mining community in that state, with characters who, while not always multi-dimensional, are still more than meets the eye. And the aura of the supernatural pervades The Fallen.
But that's where the novel falls down. Let's leave aside, for the moment, the stock characterization—albeit not quite clichéd here—of the Protagonist Who Has Lost His Faith, the Character With Something To Hide, and so on and so forth. Let's also leave aside the first-time novelist's faults of overuse of adverbs; I sure know that in my first attempt at a manuscript, the adverbs flowed fast and furious. Let's instead look at the most serious flaw: For a horror novel, particularly a supernatural one dealing ostensibly with gods, demons, and such, The Fallen is just not sufficiently scary. Yes, it was a page-turner; it was indeed interesting enough to draw my attention. There's a . . . subtleness to the dread and unnerving that doesn't quite seem to fit what Bailey appears to have been going for. The Fallen was compelling enough, but there wasn't enough edging of my seat to warrant keeping it in my library.
More seriously, however, was some of the theology in the book. I understand that there probably aren't many Jews—the primary adherents of the "Old Testament"—in rural West Virginia; checking the West Virginia Jewish History & Genealogy Web site, the Jewish presence in West Virginia particularly declined in coal country, especially by 2002, The Fallen's publication date. I recognize all that. But the implication, as the plot drives forward, that the God of the Old Testament, the Jewish Bible, is not "sane" (to quote the novel), is vengeful, is not soft around the edges like the Christian God, misunderstands the Old Testament at best, and is off-putting or even offensive at worst. Without spoiling the plot, that the protagonist's father, a reasonable-minded, accepting and tolerant Protestant reverend, would subscribe to such a view about the Old Testament's God put me off the novel a bit.
So, in general, while I enjoyed The Fallen, it remains rather problematic, at least for me.
First, the positive: The story is, on the surface, interesting, the characters more or less well-rounded, and the setting compelling. Bailey, himself a native of rural West Virginia, adequately paints a picture of an everyday, small-town mining community in that state, with characters who, while not always multi-dimensional, are still more than meets the eye. And the aura of the supernatural pervades The Fallen.
But that's where the novel falls down. Let's leave aside, for the moment, the stock characterization—albeit not quite clichéd here—of the Protagonist Who Has Lost His Faith, the Character With Something To Hide, and so on and so forth. Let's also leave aside the first-time novelist's faults of overuse of adverbs; I sure know that in my first attempt at a manuscript, the adverbs flowed fast and furious. Let's instead look at the most serious flaw: For a horror novel, particularly a supernatural one dealing ostensibly with gods, demons, and such, The Fallen is just not sufficiently scary. Yes, it was a page-turner; it was indeed interesting enough to draw my attention. There's a . . . subtleness to the dread and unnerving that doesn't quite seem to fit what Bailey appears to have been going for. The Fallen was compelling enough, but there wasn't enough edging of my seat to warrant keeping it in my library.
More seriously, however, was some of the theology in the book. I understand that there probably aren't many Jews—the primary adherents of the "Old Testament"—in rural West Virginia; checking the West Virginia Jewish History & Genealogy Web site, the Jewish presence in West Virginia particularly declined in coal country, especially by 2002, The Fallen's publication date. I recognize all that. But the implication, as the plot drives forward, that the God of the Old Testament, the Jewish Bible, is not "sane" (to quote the novel), is vengeful, is not soft around the edges like the Christian God, misunderstands the Old Testament at best, and is off-putting or even offensive at worst. Without spoiling the plot, that the protagonist's father, a reasonable-minded, accepting and tolerant Protestant reverend, would subscribe to such a view about the Old Testament's God put me off the novel a bit.
So, in general, while I enjoyed The Fallen, it remains rather problematic, at least for me.
July 23, 2014
ARC for review.
Dale Bailey is about my age and grew up just down the road from me (I'm from Tazewell, Virginia). When I saw that this book was set in a West Virginia mining town I was excited - horror and West Virginia? Woo hoo!
I wish there had been more "West Virginia" in this West Virginia set book - some wonderful books manage to give an incredible sense of the locale (think The Shipping News, Empire Falls, Beautiful Ruins) and it can also be done well in horror (look at Stephen King's Castle Rock output). Here, other than the fact that there's a coal mine that is vaguely central to the story the plot could have taken place anywhere, so I was a bit disappointed.
Overall the general conceit was engaging (an ancient being lives under Sauls Run, West Virginia. Why? What does it mean?) but there are a lot of plot holes along with Daddy issues ().
Bailey does have some nice moments, "dawn comes slow to the mountains, and work won't wait." and the plot held my interest. I would like to see what he could do with a better editor and more Mountain State.
Dale Bailey is about my age and grew up just down the road from me (I'm from Tazewell, Virginia). When I saw that this book was set in a West Virginia mining town I was excited - horror and West Virginia? Woo hoo!
I wish there had been more "West Virginia" in this West Virginia set book - some wonderful books manage to give an incredible sense of the locale (think The Shipping News, Empire Falls, Beautiful Ruins) and it can also be done well in horror (look at Stephen King's Castle Rock output). Here, other than the fact that there's a coal mine that is vaguely central to the story the plot could have taken place anywhere, so I was a bit disappointed.
Overall the general conceit was engaging (an ancient being lives under Sauls Run, West Virginia. Why? What does it mean?) but there are a lot of plot holes along with Daddy issues ().
Bailey does have some nice moments, "dawn comes slow to the mountains, and work won't wait." and the plot held my interest. I would like to see what he could do with a better editor and more Mountain State.
April 12, 2015
(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)
Henry Sleep’s childhood memories of Saul’s Run are dark and jumbled images that terrify and confuse him in his all-too-frequent nightmares. When his mother’s horrible death and a bitter falling-out with his preacher father drove Henry from his West Virginia hometown almost ten years earlier, he knew he could never look back. But now the reverend Quincy Sleep is also dead, shockingly by his own hand, and the prodigal son must return to the tiny mining town where all of his most terrible secrets dwell.
And he will not be welcomed back with open arms. Not by Sheriff Harold Crawford, who hides a taste for dark things behind his lawman facade. Not by Emily, the girlfriend Henry left behind, now shackled to a dying mother. Not by his one-time best friend, Perry Holland, who feels nothing for him now but a raging, inexplicable hatred. But if Henry hopes ever to sleep again, he will stay in Saul’s Run until he solves the mystery of his father’s death . . . and forces himself to remember what he and Perry found stirring in the hills outside of town many years ago.
Going into this book, I had never read any of the author's work previously but was somewhat excited for a "supernatural horror" novel that I hadn't read before. I do get through quite a substantial amount of books in the genre so this was a new one for me.
And this book has quite a few positives: the writing is quite good. The author pops us into West Virginia well and we get a sense of location pretty much through the whole book. The characters are well done for a first novel - the MC is someone the reader can connect with quite quickly, the sheriff (what a piece of work he is!) plays an excellent part in the story, and I found a lot of the back history of the location quite interesting and well developed.
On the downside, my biggest concern was that this book felt more like an extended novella more than a novel. At about 250 pages, I felt that the author could have quite easily have taken this either much further or written a very tight novella. I wasn't totally convinced that this was the perfect length for the story.
However, if you like small-town horror novels a la Stephen King and Bentley Little, then this is probably something you will enjoy.
Paul
ARH
Henry Sleep’s childhood memories of Saul’s Run are dark and jumbled images that terrify and confuse him in his all-too-frequent nightmares. When his mother’s horrible death and a bitter falling-out with his preacher father drove Henry from his West Virginia hometown almost ten years earlier, he knew he could never look back. But now the reverend Quincy Sleep is also dead, shockingly by his own hand, and the prodigal son must return to the tiny mining town where all of his most terrible secrets dwell.
And he will not be welcomed back with open arms. Not by Sheriff Harold Crawford, who hides a taste for dark things behind his lawman facade. Not by Emily, the girlfriend Henry left behind, now shackled to a dying mother. Not by his one-time best friend, Perry Holland, who feels nothing for him now but a raging, inexplicable hatred. But if Henry hopes ever to sleep again, he will stay in Saul’s Run until he solves the mystery of his father’s death . . . and forces himself to remember what he and Perry found stirring in the hills outside of town many years ago.
Going into this book, I had never read any of the author's work previously but was somewhat excited for a "supernatural horror" novel that I hadn't read before. I do get through quite a substantial amount of books in the genre so this was a new one for me.
And this book has quite a few positives: the writing is quite good. The author pops us into West Virginia well and we get a sense of location pretty much through the whole book. The characters are well done for a first novel - the MC is someone the reader can connect with quite quickly, the sheriff (what a piece of work he is!) plays an excellent part in the story, and I found a lot of the back history of the location quite interesting and well developed.
On the downside, my biggest concern was that this book felt more like an extended novella more than a novel. At about 250 pages, I felt that the author could have quite easily have taken this either much further or written a very tight novella. I wasn't totally convinced that this was the perfect length for the story.
However, if you like small-town horror novels a la Stephen King and Bentley Little, then this is probably something you will enjoy.
Paul
ARH
November 1, 2012
***SPOILER ALERT***
I was going in for day surgery and didn't want to bring a book I was worried about misplacing, so I grabbed a 50 cent water-damaged library discard by an author I hadn't heard of. I was more than pleasantly surprised to be pulled in to the mystery surrounding the hamlet of Sauls Run. The hospital staff had to pry the book out of my hands to wheel me into surgery, and my first thought upon coming to was not about the surgery's outcome, but whether Harold Crawford would win his battle against Del Grubb!
I found the characters to be compelling and sympathetic. I was even rooting for the antagonist. Bailey even brought the setting to life, making it another character in the story.
Though it seems THE FALLEN is classified as a horror novel, I found that it crossed many genre lines, even into a more literary scope.
I will most definitely be on the lookout for more stories by Dale Bailey.
I was going in for day surgery and didn't want to bring a book I was worried about misplacing, so I grabbed a 50 cent water-damaged library discard by an author I hadn't heard of. I was more than pleasantly surprised to be pulled in to the mystery surrounding the hamlet of Sauls Run. The hospital staff had to pry the book out of my hands to wheel me into surgery, and my first thought upon coming to was not about the surgery's outcome, but whether Harold Crawford would win his battle against Del Grubb!
I found the characters to be compelling and sympathetic. I was even rooting for the antagonist. Bailey even brought the setting to life, making it another character in the story.
Though it seems THE FALLEN is classified as a horror novel, I found that it crossed many genre lines, even into a more literary scope.
I will most definitely be on the lookout for more stories by Dale Bailey.
July 15, 2014
Scary!
When I selected this book, I was familiar with the author, but didn't realize that this was a reissue of a very old book. While not quite as polished as Bailey's later work, the book is meaty and scary - you definitely see the talent throughout.
I loved the town of Saul's run. There's a ton of taint under the quiet surface of the town and as you read, the book gets darker and darker. The town is practically a character in and of itself, it is so richly described.
Bailey's characters are wonderfully flawed. You can't quite like them because of their darkness, but you find yourself drawn in and fascinated by them all the same.
At times, the pacing was just a little uneven for me - I wanted a non-stop horror rollercoaster ride - but this is a very well written and scary book!
4 Stars
*ARC Provided by Netgalley for review purposes.
When I selected this book, I was familiar with the author, but didn't realize that this was a reissue of a very old book. While not quite as polished as Bailey's later work, the book is meaty and scary - you definitely see the talent throughout.
I loved the town of Saul's run. There's a ton of taint under the quiet surface of the town and as you read, the book gets darker and darker. The town is practically a character in and of itself, it is so richly described.
Bailey's characters are wonderfully flawed. You can't quite like them because of their darkness, but you find yourself drawn in and fascinated by them all the same.
At times, the pacing was just a little uneven for me - I wanted a non-stop horror rollercoaster ride - but this is a very well written and scary book!
4 Stars
*ARC Provided by Netgalley for review purposes.
July 28, 2014
This fits under so many genres, and I love that. I think the supernatural reigns a little bit, but it's still a very creepy book.
While there are some religious themes, as is probably obvious from the cover, this is not a book that the old lady sitting next to you at church would read. The book is so well-written and the characters are given a great deal of attention to, which really brings you into the story.
There is something deeper than the characters going on in the story, and I love that we don't really find out until the end of the story exactly what that is. Plus, you don't wait the whole time and have it be something completely roll-your-eyes stupid.
A tense, thrilling, creepy, shocking book that takes you for a ride. Definitely read this one!
While there are some religious themes, as is probably obvious from the cover, this is not a book that the old lady sitting next to you at church would read. The book is so well-written and the characters are given a great deal of attention to, which really brings you into the story.
There is something deeper than the characters going on in the story, and I love that we don't really find out until the end of the story exactly what that is. Plus, you don't wait the whole time and have it be something completely roll-your-eyes stupid.
A tense, thrilling, creepy, shocking book that takes you for a ride. Definitely read this one!
December 9, 2014
I really liked the writing style and it kept me interested, but this story could have easily been fleshed out and made more intriguing and personal had the characters been formed more fully and the mystery been deeper.
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