Something Wicked This Way Comes
In Amy Rae Durreson’s horror-tinged romance Something Wicked This Way Comes, two broken men face their pasts, an evil force, and a hopeful future.
When the charity he works for sends him to a remote Scottish village, Leon discovers Vainguard, a run-down orphanage that was the site of four unrelated childhood deaths. Leon, who’s been suffering from panic attacks and visions related to his parents’ deaths, is tasked with cleaning and repairing the orphanage. He throws himself into the work.
But the orphanage and countryside are affected by a dark spirit. More sinister information comes to light, including a surprising revelation about Leon’s parents. Hope arises from an unlikely source: a bitter blacksmith, Niall, who is prone to pushing everyone away. The two find solace in each other as the disturbing history unfolds and a child goes missing.
The book’s transition from a creeping horror story to a supernatural thriller is abrupt, if the changes are engaging. As Leon and Niall allow something to blossom between them, their connection comes to function as an anchor, and that centering proves essential for the coming showdown. Vainguard’s tragic past is about to clash with a fatal present.
Leon and Niall’s romance is sweet, all the more so because of the darkness that besets them. Both endured world-shattering losses and distance themselves from the world, burying their pain in work. They are thrown together by circumstance, but their passions bind them together. Their connection and growth contrast with the violence and bloodshed in the story, strengthening its core messages about community being essential.
Something Wicked This Way Comes is a suspenseful supernatural romance in which balance and forgiveness prove essential.
Reviewed by
John M. Murray
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