“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” Levi recited the fourth verse of the twenty-third Psalm, “I will fear no evil, for You are with me, Lord.”But as they followed the crooked path, Levi wondered if that was true anymore.

Brian Keene’s popular occult detective Levi Stoltzfus is back in an all-new novella!

There’s an old Pennsylvania Dutch legend about the forest surrounding Chickies Rock — how it’s the home to a reclusive race of Sasquatch-like creatures known as the Albatwitches. Levi Stoltzfus has long thought these gentle forest-creatures to be extinct, but after investigating a young woman’s strange death, he’s not so sure.

Now, Levi’s racing against both the Cryptid Hunters reality television team and a squad of private security contractors from the mysterious Globe Corporation, to unravel the source of the legend and determine what manner of monster has turned the forest into a killing ground. But even if he solves that riddle, he still has to figure out why his magical abilities have suddenly stopped working… and what that means for the future of those he is sworn to protect — and himself

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Book was ok. First read from Brian Keene from myself so I had not met the supernatural detective before. Seeing as this is the fourth book in a series, I was expecting a bit of confusion to ensue, but the books were written well enough to be an OK read standalone. With only a few back-references to other possible adventures.

This book features two stories, both very similar in nature, both totalling under 125 pages making it a very short read indeed. Most of the story time is trying to figure out what they are fighting against, the rest to exorcise it.

It could be a nature spirit. A dryad or nymph or perhaps something from the Native American canon. This area was, after all, once the seat of the Susquehanna Indian Empire. Or it could be something else entirely.

It’s interesting that they went down the path of exorcism and spent so much time with Judeo-Christian concepts they forgot that the entire concept stems in paganism 🙂

Abalam was a lesser demon, one of the two hundred servants of Paimon, one of the Kings of Hell.

For me it was a meh read. I will try some of the Author’s other books but this one did not even register as a good story / book, especially compared to other Halloween reads.

About the author

BRIAN KEENE is the author of over forty books, including Darkness on the Edge of Town, Take The Long Way Home, Urban Gothic, Castaways, Kill Whitey, Dark Hollow, Dead Sea, and The Rising trilogy. He’s also written comic books such as The Last Zombie, Doom Patrol and Dead of Night: Devil Slayer. His work has been translated into German, Spanish, Polish, Italian, French and Taiwanese. Several of his novels and stories have been developed for film, including Ghoul and The Ties That Bind. In addition to writing, Keene also oversees Maelstrom, his own small press publishing imprint specializing in collectible limited editions, via Thunderstorm Books. Keene’s work has been praised in such diverse places as The New York Times, The History Channel, The Howard Stern Show, CNN.com, Publisher’s Weekly, Media Bistro, Fangoria Magazine, and Rue Morgue Magazine. Keene lives in Pennsylvania.