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This is a book review tour hosted by Black Tide Book Tours. A copy of the book was provided in exchange for my honest review.
MY REVIEW:
Hell Spring
This book was nothing like I expected! Honestly, I had read the description and remember thinking to myself “this sounds like your run-of-the-mill monster story; I’m in!”. That’s not exactly what this is – it’s so much more!
A small town in 1955 succumbs to historic floods that essentially wash away the town. But during the storm, local residents all manage to find themselves at the local general store as they seek safety from the storm. But no one realizes the entropic danger that awaits them.
As each characters sins are exposed, their guilty conscience or murderous thoughts are the exact nourishment that the lurking demon feeds upon. The ensuing story focuses heavily on the internal battles each character struggles with as they accept their fate and admit their sins.
But no battle is without push back and everyone wants to survive in some manner of speaking, but finding the right way to fight such a formidable force seems too difficult to manage. They have to combine their experiences and draw a plan of action if they have any hope of surviving.
The literary draw on id, ego and super-ego was fascinating for me as a psychology graduate. Really digging into the drives and desires that battle with our understanding of morals and values and then imposed with our actions is powerful and Thorne does an amazing job of making this story just that. A battle against ourselves and what will survive on the other side of that battlefield.
GET IT HERE:
Bookshop.org | GoodReads | Amazon
Trigger warning: Hell Spring contains graphic sexuality and brutal acts of violence that include gore, domestic violence, and self-mutilation. This story also contains psychological abuse, such as gaslighting and abusive levels of shaming. It also contains questioning and criticisms of religion and spirituality.
In the twilight of March 21, 1955, eight people take cover in their local general store while a thundering torrent and flash flooding threatens life and livelihood alike. None of the eight are everything they claim to be. But only one of them hungers for human souls, flesh, and blood.
An overflowing waterway destroys their only path of escape. The tiny band of survivors is forced to confront themselves and each other when a peculiar stranger with a famous face tries to pick them off one by one.
Can the neighbors survive the predator in their midst as well as the 100-year flood that drowns the small town of Lost Hollow?
Or will they become victims of the night the townsfolk all remember as Hell Spring?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Isaac Thorne is a Tennessee man who has, over the course of his life, developed a modest ability to spin a good yarn. Really. He promises. The screenplay adaptation of his short story Diggum from the collection Road Kills is the winner of several horror film festival awards. His previous novel, The Gordon Place, was a finalist in the 2020 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards. The audiobook edition narrated by Sean Duregger won the 2020 Independent Audiobook Awards horror category. You can find Isaac on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok at @isaacrthorne or on his site at isaacthorne.com. Just don’t corner him during a flood.
- https://www.isaacthorne.com/
- https://www.instagram.com/isaacrthorne
- https://www.tiktok.com/@isaacrthorne
- https://www.twitter.com/isaacrthorne
- https://www.facebook.com/isaacrthorne
- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCepqKkTAMo7737CVmkWUv-g
- https://www.pinterest.com/isaacrthorne/
Looking for book recs…
Adventures in Literature 
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