Snowby Ronald Malfi
Synopsis: When a group of travelers have their flight canceled due to bad weather, they rent a car and begin a treacherous journey home. They find themselves stranded in a seemingly deserted town. However, there's something alive in the snow... and it's hungry.
This is the first novel I've read from Malfi and if it's a good indication of his style I'll be looking for more of his work. He's got a very nice narrative style that flows with good descriptiveness. It reminded me a bit of the work of Dean Koontz or Richard Laymon the way it takes off right from the beginning and never lets up. There's some character development, but it's squeezed in between lots of action. Most of the main characters feel very human and are nicely crafted.
The story itself has a bit of the same-old-same-old, as in a small isolated town, cut off by a blizzard, being overtaken by something sinister etc and so forth, but the inventive twist of the way snow comes in to play is cool and unique. It's pretty creative really and never really explained exactly what the hell is going on, although the characters have their own theories. The atmosphere becomes pretty suspenseful and creepy and there's plenty of horror and gore to go around.
If you like the way Stephen King draws his characters combined with John Carpenter's The Thing and possibly even some Lovecraftian horror at the breakneck pace of Richard Laymon... check this out.
8/10
