Review: A Soul to Steal

A Soul to Steal by Rob Blackwell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this for the Modern Masters of Horror square for Halloween Bingo

Today is the first day of October. By the end of it, five women, five men and five children will be rotting in the ground. You cannot stop me, just as you cannot stop change. I am night. I am cold. I am flesh rendered and torn. I am steel. I am the harbinger of fail: I am death. You can call me Lord Halloween.

Borrowing heavily from the Headless Horseman legend and adding some Jack the Ripper and Freddy Kruger elements, this definitely had a nice Halloween feel to it. Our heroine Kate finds herself having dreams where she is being chased by a headless horseman and her mother is trying to warn and help her. When Kate was little her mother was murdered by Lord Halloween and he always told her he would come back for her. Unable to ignore her dreams Kate goes back to her hometown to try and solve the Lord Halloween mystery.

Quinn works at the local paper and immediately is drawn to the new reporter Kate. He's also been having dreams about a headless horseman chasing him. Coincidence? I think not! What follows is a murder mystery involving a Lord Halloween who writes letters to reporters describing his murders and wanting them printed so he can get the respect he thinks he deserves for everyone celebrating his holiday. There is also a paranormal mystery with the headless horseman chasing Quinn and Kate in their dreams and real life. There is a sizable cast of characters that work to keep you guessing as to who the murderer/s is/are and how Kate and Quinn tie in to it all.

I think adding the paranormal aspect overly complicated matters and gave the story a looser feeling; I couldn't follow along with it. The graphic and at times creepy letters from Lord Halloween were adequate enough to provide some spook factor. This looks to be a continuing series and I imagine the paranormal storyline and connection Quinn and Kate have will be continued on and maybe flushed out a bit better.

The writing was overall good but like I said, the murder and paranormal plot lines had a tendency to get a bit loose. A great October read though to get you in the Halloween mood.

We are night. We are October. We are flesh rendered and torn. We are the rider that was promised long ago, the harbinger of fall: We are death, riding on a black horse. You can call us the Prince of Sanheim.


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