Strange relationships between species of animals have become common these days. Recently I saw a hamster and a snake become buddies in a zoo in Asia. A tortoise and a hippo, and even a tiger and a rabbit have developed friendships. So who’s to say that if you come face to face with a monster in the woods, you can’t spend the rest of your life as best friends? That’s what Jeff Strand the writer of that great book Pressure decided to do with his new novel, Dweller. It’s hard to top a book such as Pressure, but don’t count out Dweller just yet. You’ll be surprised at how great a story it is.
Dweller is the story of Toby, a loner who befriends a monster living in the forest behind his home. As a boy, Toby had seen glimpses of the monster and would run home in fear to his parents who ignored his stories as just his imagination. However, when Toby one day ventures farther into the forest than his parents would allow, he comes across a cave. After Toby throws rocks into the cave, the monster appears, and after he has visited a few times and realizes that this monster in the forest is no threat, Toby and the monster he names Owen become the best of friends. Toby is a loner, and is bullied a lot by some of his school mates. Toby does find a way to use Owen to his benefit, however by forming a lifelong friendship, Toby has to sacrifice more than he would like if he wants to keep his relationship with a monster that has always been there for him. Owen and Toby are best friends and it seems nothing will keep them apart.
I cannot praise Jeff Strand enough. This may be only the second of his books that I have read, but his stories really drag you right into the action. Pressure is a real page-turner and Dweller is also. I wanted to keep reading the book from beginning to end. Strand really knows how to trap a reader with his stories. You become addicted right from the start and it’s hard to put the book down.
Just as in Pressure, Dweller is a story that takes place over a lifetime. The story starts with Toby at a very young age and continues right though his adolescent years, into adulthood and well into his golden years. Owen, of course, is there along the way, aging right along with Toby. Strand not only envelops the reader in his stories, he lets the reader live the life of his main characters. When you enter his books, you become someone else and live their life and experience it through in imagination.
While Dweller is not as thrilling and horrific as Pressure, you still get the feeling of uneasiness when Toby is around Owen. You know that Owen is a wild beast and is capable of anything, so in certain parts of the book, you heart is in your throat and the chills run up your spine as you turn the pages. Jeff Stand has proven that he can not only terrify the reader with his stories but make the reader feel other emotions as well. Strand is a writer who is rising to the top of the genre. If Pressure and Dweller are just the beginning of what he can do, we are in for a real treat in the years to come.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
