| Title | : | A Child Alone With Strangers |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 631 |
| Publication | : | First published October 18, 2022 |
A Child Alone With Strangers Reviews
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"I'm just a bug. Like you."
I love stories about monsters.
Monsters are a universal language.
They are like math.
If aliens had to try to find a way to communicate with us, they might choose calculus, sure, but they might also choose xenomorphs.
There was once an experiment where scientists showed footage of sharks to monkeys and gorillas. Just video footage of sharks. And the apes freaked the hell out. Because the apes looked at those things that they had never seen before and completely understood.
OH, THEY UNDERSTOOD.
They didn't know why, they didn't know what, but a part of their brain, older than time, older than humanity, remembered.
Instinctively remembered the language and symbology of monsters.
Every culture, every species, speaks and is fluent in the concept. Because monsters have come to define millions of years of our survival. Before we could think, we adapted to spot them. That understanding was passed down to our ancestors, written in our DNA like eye colour.
Monsters are why we can see so many variations of the colour green. To see them. And now we're trained by evolution to look harder. To see more colours. In everything. And now we see monsters in every gap of the unknown, not just in shadows and empty doorways.
But in the shadows and empty places in people's hearts. We see them in the hollowed out spaces where people have been hurt. We see them in blank and empty smiles that never quite reach the eyes.
We see them in young faces that suddenly look a hundred years old.
They live in pain, they grow in pain and they consume and spread through pain. Like a religion.
Monsters are fun, but they are also a philosophy. A philosophy of fang and flesh.
And this book has a ton of monsters.
We're talking about a high-octane, triple down, Big Van Vader six somersault flip to the front of the line of an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord of monsters.
Lots of different kinds of monsters. Strange phantoms, Lovecraftian terrors that sexually violate people, insects, maggots, rabid dogs, wasps, bullies, nightmare cockroaches, sadists, strangely cute abominations that devour people's faces, emotionally damaged psychos, creepy psychic children, incestuous lovers who stab their daddy to bits ...and Jim!
And all the monsters are weirdly sympathetic. They each get back-stories explaining what broke them and turned them into the exceptionally dangerous horror shows they are today. Some of them come from pits of torment and despair (like San Diego) and some of them are Lovecraftian terrors.
But every one of them is relatable!
Except Jim. That guy's a mess.
A Child Alone With Strangers is about a young boy Henry who lost his father in a terrible incident. This very same incident nearly killed Henry as well. But Henry survived and after he woke up in the hospital he seemed to have gained psychic powers. The strange ability to see people's emotions and read them. To read the colours of people. He also gained a hefty sum of money because of a lawsuit pushed by his Uncle and Aunt who took care of him. And because the world isn't nice Henry became a target. His differences made him a target of fear and ridicule. And violence. Because broken is attracted to broken. Weird is attracted to weird. Hurt is attracted to hurt. And criminals are attracted to money. So poor little Henry becomes the center of a meticulous scheme hatched from a methodical and predatory mind to make a couple million dollars.
A trap is set, Henry is kidnapped and it's a race against time for the police to find him while the clock runs down on Henry's chances of survival.
Henry is taken to a farm house and empty property that is a den of monsters. As if this kid doesn't have enough problems, now he's surrounded by a gang of criminals, cut-throats and psychopaths. Mad dogs all too eager to show their teeth. To rip apart innocence and naivete and shake it in their jaws until it's bloody. Because hey! That's what happened to them and they turned out JUST FINE. But that den of creeps and sister-humping weirdos is sitting on top of another more primeval den. A nest for a nightmare that can hear the child's cries for help in its mind and responds with a horrific song of blood and terror.
And OH BOY does the shit hit the fan.
Now I'm sure Philip Fracassi's a wonderful fella. Great writer! Stylish dresser. He's got a lot of nice traits, I'm certain, but he writes stories that make the milk curdle in your stomach. Philip Fracassi's books makes Stephen King novels look like Bunnicula.
A Child Alone with Strangers is what would happen if Reservoir Dogs was blended with Evil Dead, The Thing, The Shining, a bit of Cujo and that Del Toro film Mimic. With just a hint of The Ritual.
We got people drowning in fire-ants, heads melted in acid, folks ripped apart like a balloon of blood, axes to the belly, cockroaches crawling into people's mouths giving them PTSD nightmares, we got swarms of maggots and hornets and bees and hunger-crazed abandoned dogs. Also: we got a forced monster blow-job that would make a hentai artist gag.
And there's a big surprise waiting to hatch in the basement!
I need a tetanus shot after reading this novel. This book is a big, dirty, nasty, trash-humping degenerate. I think this story is where the smell of Axe deodorant comes from. It's got a mean streak that's brown and stinky and makes you itch while you read it.
Oh damn, I nearly forgot to mention the scene with the bedbugs. Jeez, I must have been mentally blocking that out. Because when I was reading it my flesh wanted to crawl off and join the circus.
Don't get me wrong, A Child Alone With Strangers is not extreme horror, but it is very, very effective and brutal horror. It will gorilla slam your stomach into your heart. You're gonna want to bathe in industrial alcohol by the time this book's done with you. The gore and grime and grit and slime and sweat and mold is so thick you're picking it out of your teeth while you're reading. It's shooting all over the walls! Let me tell you Bubba, this book has got a lot of guts and it really wants to show them to you.
And before the novel is done? Pop goes the weasels, baby.
Contrary to popular belief, I'm not all that difficult to please. I came for a good creature feature, and this book dished out more beasts and frothing antagonists than a D&D Monster Manual. It's got rampages and bloodshed and more crazy sequences than ten other monster books combined. That's a 8/10 fiesta of freakishness right there. Easy rating. But the thing is, on top of delivering the goods, this book brings extra sauce. It's got a ton of thought and themes to play. And the plotting and characterisation by Fracassi is pitch perfect. Philip's juggling so many balls that his ability to bring it all together and pay it off in a way that's satisfactory, internally consistent and unpredictable had me shaking my head. Fracassi's horror fiction is playing on Dark Souls level insane difficulty and he makes it look easy.
The set-up impressed me a lot. The tension between the criminals is razor-tight and expressed almost completely through characterisation. Each one of them is an explosive pack of hundred year old TNT sitting on a hair trigger. And Henry's ability to see how close these psychos are to melting down like an emotional Chernobyl makes every interaction with the boy a teeth-gritting nightmare. Having the ability to read people's minds and seeing folks sitting across from you at a table smiling and thinking "I COULD STAB HIM" isn't exactly good vibes.
It's not a question of 'if' Henry's gonna step on a land-mine, it's when. And how often. And what will be left? And the biggest and most dangerous landmine is waiting at the end.
All of the villains are sympathetic enough that when they get mentally and physically attacked you're stuck between cheering and puking. Don't get it twisted, all the villains got reasons for the horrible things they do, but there's no redemption here. Not for any of them. Despite some last minute gasps at humanity. Even when they're trying desperately to be good. They're just huge, flawed, self-destructive, impulsive monsters. That they occasionally direct their psychopathy at themselves or other targets more deserving than a little kid doesn't redeem them. It only draws an emphasis to how dangerous and unpredictable they can be.
Henry is an exceptional protagonist, balancing between being a tragic child in peril who is completely sympathetic, but also a creepy psychic who is playing dangerous games with forces he doesn't understand. He's seeing things he shouldn't be able to see. Speaking to people who aren't there (or are they) and listening to emotions and voices from horrors under the ground who he probably shouldn't be trying to spark a conversation with. I mean when we say "don't talk to strangers" that includes Dagon. Right? And by the end, something really, really deep starts talking back to Henry.
Goodness gracious.
And then there's the monster. Who's also sympathetic despite being utterly alien. There's a big reveal where she finally shows just how truly strange she is, and holy fudge in a fly factory, the more you see, the more you don't understand. It's one of those creatures that starts out totally demonic, becomes more and more animal and in the finale is both almost human and utterly unknowable. It's an incredible reveal because it unravels the last of the armour of the main antagonist. Where the imposing Jim who dehumanises everything and everybody for his own ends, who seems invincible and unflappable, finally connects with something. He recognises someone as another human being.
And it's a horror from the pit.
Jim looks into the abyss and sees himself.
And that brings us back to the language and symbology of monsters. The better we get at seeing them, the more we see them everywhere. Yeah?
Even in our own reflection.
9/10 -
4.0 Stars
This is a gripping piece of epic horror. I love kidnapping stories, so I thought this one would be up my alley, but there was actually so much going on. Many aspects of this book reminded me of Stephen King, particularly in the content and character work. I think this book's greatest success was its ability to create numerous complex protagonists who were immediately likable and sympathetic. Also, for the size of the book, I felt it was incredibly fast-paced and gripping, with short bingeable chapters. I don't think the ending was perfect, but I rarely find horror books that perfectly land the ending.
Overall, I really enjoyed this one and strongly recommend this one to readers looking for a horror story in the vein of Stephen King. -
Prepare yourself for old-school horror...full of depth, realistic characters, monsters (the human and non-human kind) and a climax that will keep you up reading as it devours you.
Fracassi wastes no time in this book. The prologue announces, loud and proud, "This is HORROR, get comfortable, we're gonna go for a long ride, deep into the woods and we may not make it back!"
It is quite a journey. After some early gut-punches, things move with creeping dread. Fracassi throws fuel on the fire as the story progresses, until it becomes a raging inferno of nightmares. This book will make your skin crawl. There are a kaleidoscope of terrors along the way and the crescendo is a non-stop barrage of thrilling, visceral, horror-action.
But it's not just about the horrors. You'll love some of the characters and hate more than a few. You will feel for Henry. You will experience his isolation and despair. His heart will make you ache for him and his courage will make you cheer.
One of my favorites this year. Epic and unforgettable. -
4.5 stars rounded up for pure entertainment value
Ten year-old Henry Thorne is a kid who's been through a lot in his short life. Living with his aunt and uncle after a horrific incident which left him orphaned and near death, Henry (or more specifically, the payout his family received after the tragedy that nearly killed him) becomes the target of a ruthless group of kidnappers. Executing what the terrifying leader of the group Jim Cady swears is a no-fail plan to pick up some easy money, they stash Henry and themselves away in an abandoned farmhouse in the middle of the woods while waiting for their ransom demand to be met. What the kidnappers didn't account for in their schemes was the fact that Henry Thorne came back from the brink of death with some very special abilities, and that something very old and very deadly has made the abandoned farmhouse they've chosen to hole up in its home, and it will do anything to protect the secret it has hidden there.
A Child Alone with Strangers, particularly in the first half, reminded me a lot of Stephen King in both story elements and character work. It's a chunky book, but it was still an easy read and I found myself flying through hundreds of pages in no time at all. I started off with the audiobook, but was soon picking up the e-book more frequently as the story progressed, to allow myself to be fully immersed in the story. At times, I found it really hard to tear myself away, which doesn't happen often these days.
There's a lot of action in the final act of the book, which isn't my favorite thing, and four out of five of the kidnappers were one-dimensional villains, but I can't really hold these issues against the book because I had a great time reading it. Henry Thorne was believable as an intelligent, precocious child with special abilities and a huge heart, and my heart ached for him in many of the scenes. There's also an interesting contrast in the story between the monsters of the human and the non-human varieties. I knew pretty quickly who I wanted to come out on top. A Child Alone with Strangers is the fourth book I've read by Fracassi and definitely my favorite so far. -
This is a story that has it all. Great characters, suspense, action, heartfelt moments, setting and a whole damn boatload of originality! Absolutely loved it from the first chapter to the end, and for sure didn't want it to end. Told a buddy yesterday that this was going to blow the hell up it's so good. Fracassi was already a favorite but this one is a step beyond and puts him solidly in my top three authors.
Was lucky enough to get an arc from netgalley but will be looking forward to having this baby on my shelf! -
H.P. Lovecraft wrote, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” That unknown can take the form of something supernatural, completely alien to day-to-day existence such as what Lovecraft is still known for, but regular life offers plenty of unknowns for mankind of fear. One can try to know their own mind, but they can never know what intentions or motivations exist in those around them. Tragedy can lurk behind the eyes of anyone we come across, just waiting for a simple decision to be unleashed on us.
For young Henry Throne, that tragedy came about in a walk with his dad.
You can read Chris' full review at Horror DNA by
clicking here. -
A massive book with a huge beating heart at its centre… crazy good with human and not so human monsters, an epic book in ever sense and one that will linger for a long while… heartache, scares, thrills and spills… a great read sad the journey is over, I’ve ventured with this book for some time! But all good things must come to and end!
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You like cosmic horror?
You like crime thrillers?
You like tear-jerkers?
You like ghost stories?
You like revenge novels?
You like police procedurals?
You like stories set before the invention of the invasive smartphone?
You like classic Stephen King?
Then you will LOVE A Child Alone with Strangers.
Fracassi brought it all.
The story's about a kid with special abilities who finds himself abducted and held for ransom by a really mean crew of killers. They take him to an abandoned farmhouse where something has set up shop and isn't in the mood to entertain.
Then Fracassi proceeds to throw EVERYTHING at them. It's fantastic.
It's like Tarantino was snowed in at the Overlook with King and they decided to drink and write a story. They stay up all night adding more and more, trying to out-crazy the last contribution and by the time the snowcat arrives to liberate them, this is the story in a neat pile next to a smoking typewriter. The Hateful Shining Eight.
Magic.
The characters are all well-defined and you love the ones you should and hate the ones you must.
The story carries you through stages and constant escalations. Even though it's 600 pages, it's too short.
Exactly the vibe I ride after a classic King read.
Read it now so you can say you've been a Fracassi fan from the beginning.
5 stars. -
3 stars--I liked the book. Content warning for violence against animals (I'm happy to report that 2/2 cats survived the novel... but sad to report that MANY dogs did not survive) and children.
This combines a monster plot, a gritty crime plot, and a "special child" plot into one. I really loved Henry and felt anxious for him throughout. I didn't love the multiple character POVs, especially since it seemed every other chapter introduced a new person we never heard from again. -
Fracassi is 3 for 3 with me and personally, I think A Child Alone With Strangers is his best yet.
Haunting, thrilling, and heartwarming, this story of horror, failure, and triumph had it all.
I absolutely loved this. -
Fracassi’s done it again
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Philip Fracassi’s outstanding second novel effortlessly
blends monster horror with the kidnapping of a child
Over recent times the career of Philip Fracassi has picked up serious traction and his second novel A Child Alone with Strangers is guaranteed to create even more buzz. His limited-edition debut novel Boys in the Valley became such a highly valued collector’s edition that even the great Stephen King himself tweeted about his troubles in snagging one of the 500 (rare as gold dust) copies! This new wave of interest in Fracassi’s work is well deserved and those first-timers dipping into his outstanding back-catalogue are in for a rare treat with two full collections of short stories Behold the Void (2017) and Beneath a Pale Sky (2021) being terrific introductions. Fracassi also has a range of impressive novellas, my favourites being Sacculina (2017), Shiloh (2018) and Commodore (2021).
His 2021 jump to the longer novel format with Boys in the Valley was totally seamless and this has been consolidated by the highly ambitious A Child Alone with Strangers, which at over 550 pages is by far his longest and more ambitious work to date. Early praise for the novel was universal, with Laird Barron noting “Fracassi’s novel hits me like a cross between McCammon and '80s King. Might be one of them summer blockbusters readers love.” This is a banger of a comparison and I had already thought of McCammon before I came across the quote, but was thinking more of McCammon’s later, more mature work, in particular The Listener, which this book is most reminiscent of.
If you were to sum-up the plot of A Child Alone with Strangers in a couple of sentences it would undoubtedly resemble one of many trashy horror titles from the seventies or eighties, but in reality due to the depth of characterisation, particularly the boy Henry Thorne, and the compassion the reader feels for the child the novel soars above most genre fiction. Even though the action is beyond preposterous it reads as smartly as the best literary fiction with Fracassi nailing sentences to the page like an old master. 550+ is long for a kidnapping/monster novel, but it never became a slog and I whizzed through it over three days with Henry, the entity and the darkening circumstances getting well and truly under my skin. Hell, even though there are some truly brutal body horror style killings you will still end up feeling compassion for the creature!
Although the novel is seen in the third person from multiple perspectives it is Henry Thorne who steals the show, but he is satellited by a group of adults who all want something from him in varying degrees. After an incredibly powerful and heart-breaking opening Henry is kidnapped and held prisoner in a remote farmhouse surrounded by miles of forest. However, coincidentally shortly before being snatched, due to a very serious accident Henry begins to develop ESP type powers and connects with a strange force living in the woods. Unknown to the boy, however, is that this force has its own reasons for wanting the kidnappers gone and as the novel moves through the gears with some great set pieces, suspense and riveting moments. Although the action was restrained for much of the time, hold onto your hat for a truly outstanding and bloody final one-hundred pages where everything goes to hell in the most memorable of finishes.
A Child Alone with Strangers was a fine example of old-school horror where the monsters of the humankind were just as nasty (or worse) than the creatures and as things develop you might start cheering for a different side. The support characters were equally well fleshed out, from the
distraught uncle and aunt to the FBI investigator leading the search. The kidnappers themselves had varying amount of page time with the main players being Liam and Jim who had very different relationships with the boy. The setting was terrific and virtually all readers are guaranteed to feel the isolation and despair of the boy as he has to survive in a freezing cold room, whilst battling a host of internal demons.
It is not easy maintaining tension for so long in such a chunky book, and even though the FBI seemed to be scratching their heads for slightly too long, it was a fascinating journey that nicely balanced the monster horror with the kidnapping angle. Both were equally believable and when mixed with feuding kidnappers and Henry’s developing powers everything evolves into an explosive mix with an ending which is a sheer barrage of non-stop visceral horror and some truly breath-taking sequences which were vicious throwbacks to seventies and eighties era horror.
Authors do occasionally explode (not literally!) and should the next name to go supernova be Philip Fracassi then it is well deserved with A Child Alone with Strangers being a quality follow up to Boys in the Valley. If you have never tried this author you will never have a better opportunity. -
I am now obsessed with author Philip Fracassi.
After my friend Tara recommended BOYS IN THE VALLEY to me, which is quite possibly the best religious horror book I've read in the last few years, I went directly into this one, which was gifted to me by another friend, Shaun Rosel. Before I was done with it, I was scouring for more books by Fracassi and settled on GOTHIC for my next one. I can't get enough. There are no words adequate enough to thank these two for putting this author on my radar."Life is questions you don't know the answers to and figuring things out is what makes us human."
I have not once cracked open a crime thriller/horror novel expecting heartwarming moments or character interactions that would make me shed actual tears, but A CHILD ALONE WITH STRANGERS did exactly that - on more than one occasion.
Fracassi executed this story to perfection. It starts off introducing us to our main character, nine year old Henry Thorne. Right away, readers are going to get their heartstrings plucked because we meet Henry at the absolute worst time in his life, things no child should have to suffer.
Henry is later targeted by a criminal mastermind who has his sights set on the child's trust fund said to contain a cool two million. This crew kidnaps Henry and holds him prisoner at an abandoned farmhouse house located in a remote area of a state forest.
A startling connection - a presence - makes itself known to Henry. It becomes clear that this presence wants them to leave - including Henry - or none of them will...
I really appreciated that this book was high stakes for all characters on ALL sides of this ordeal. While the constant fear of what would happen took years off my life, it really lent an extra element to the reading experience that I enjoyed. Immensely. (I just plucked out all the gray hairs it gave me once it was over, lol!)
This book begins as a slow burn as we meet the characters, witness the setup of the kidnapping and its execution. I loved reading about the planning of the crime and watching it unfold and even when the FBI comes onto the scene to take over the investigation. Once Henry is taken prisoner and he makes the connection with the presence at the farmhouse - oh my, but I was hooked. I went to Vegas for a week with the husband and I still made sure to set aside a couple hours to read. There did come a point where enough was enough and it came time to pay the piper and that slow burn turned into a raging inferno.
Philip Fracassi is outstanding when it comes to creativity and writing style. The two books I've read by him couldn't be more different from each other, yet both were excellent in their implementation of pacing, plot and atmosphere. This is an auto-buy author for me going forward and I'm already hard at work collecting his current published works!
Fracassi has become my Stephen King replacement.
You can find this review along with other reviews spanning multiple genres at
The Nerdy Narrative or if you prefer video format, I do have a
BookTube Channel
A heartfelt thanks to my Patrons on
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Special thanks to my highest level Patrons: Ev, Sharon, Andrew, Star, Amanda L., Kate, Gail, Amanda F., Lourdes, Tara, John, Sharon A-B, Ann, Chad K. & Ashley E. -
I’m just going to say it. I think this book is the most overlooked horror novel of 2022. Philip Fracassi has written a fucking stunner.
In search for a quick payday, a group of criminals concoct a plan to kidnap a child for some ransom money. A carefully curated plan that seems to be going smoothly. Until they get the boy, Henry Thorne, back to the hideaway: a derelict cabin in the middle of the woods.
There's something waiting for them in the cellar below. Something more terrifying than the baddies that kidnapped him, and it’s reaching out to Henry. Telling him they are not welcome here. That they need to leave before it’s too late. Mother wants them gone.
This book combines some of my favourite things: Spooky kids! Violence! Revenge! Gross siblings! Eldritch horror! Grief! Bucketloads of grief. Like, so, so much grief.
The sense of dread and tension I felt the entire time I was reading this book is unrivaled. I needed to finish this one quickly so I could breathe again.
Perfect book for King fans, and I know maybe a few of you around here.
Thank you so much to @skyhorsepub and @netgalley for an arc of this title. -
This book is incredible. Combining a thrilling crime narrative with tons and tons of horror, this one also has a ton of heart and at its core are great characters. For being a bigger book, this one flies as you just have to keep turning the page to find out what happens next. Fracassi is a modern master of storytelling and this is one of his best works to date.
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This is a huge disappointment. The story is way longer than it needs to be. I like the fat in a Stephen King novel because SK has the talent to make me eat (almost) anything. So the more the better. But this novel needs some serious editing. Fracassi gets carried away with all the descriptions (which sound like recycled writing exercises) in an already overlong novel. These descriptions are superfluous and drag the narrative. Fracassi is over detailing every single mundane things with goofy metaphors/analogies. It feels forced, just here to fill up the pages.
The characters are poorly written and don’t have any texture (except maybe the FBI dude). Fracassi painstakingly shows us that they had lives prior to the events described in the book, with big dumps of life stories dropped randomly here and there, but fails to make them live on the page. It’s like a roleplaying game where a new player comes with his character’s huge biography. You get every details about his life but the player is a terrible role player and fails to embody it. This is what happens here.
The story is all over the place with too many different ingredients that Fracassi doesn’t know how to mix. I admire the will of writing an old school supernatural thriller but it feels like Fracassi was way over his head with this one.
As I’ve always enjoyed Fracassi short fictions I’m not ready to give up on him yet but this was a BIG let down. -
Wasn’t as big of a fan of this one as I thought I’d be, considering the hype and rating. It’s overlong, sloppy, with out-of-nowhere supernatural elements added in a hat-on-a-hat fashion. (The central conceit is that the kid can read minds - why do we then also suddenly ladle on Ghost Dad, his uncle’s prophetic dreams, the Dale Cooper detective? It just doesn’t feel like these are part of the same universe.)
And even the mind reading didn’t influence the plot in any meaningful way. It doesn’t help the kid with the gangsters at all - quite the opposite - and the (mild SPOILER) mental link with the creature seems like yet another, different supernatural element, not mind reading.
PS: This has to be the ugliest cover I’ve ever seen. The content begs for a pulpy, schlocky ‘80s King paperback treatment, not a community centre pamphlet for Child Psychology Studies. -
I have mixed feelings about this book even though I didnt finish it it had some trigger warnings that dug into my skin I just couldnt do it I love the cover the premise I can't spell the boy Henry poor kid dear god but the other characters damn no but the writing was good it did remind me a little of Imaginery Friend ro be honest.
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This was seriously one of the best books I've ever read in my adult life and so far my favorite read of 2023. It felt like I was watching an intense and surreal movie the entire time I was reading.
Philip is truly a gifted writer. His ability to shape-shift into each character's personality type was wild to see. One moment we are young Henry - thinking how an intelligent child would think. The next we are the bad guys. And the next moment we are something else.
I was totally immersed. Couldn't recommend this book enough. -
I have to thank Mr. Fracassi for the digital ARC. This was one killer book. With Fracassi you can never rely on the fact that you can guess what is going to happen next. This kept me turning pages a mile a minute, even though it's nearly 600 pages. The characters are great and the tension is superb. Great horror and a solid ending. This is the second book of his I have read and I intend to read everything he has written. Would recommend highly to everyone ages 5 and older.
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This one is flawless. From start to finish I never got bored or wanted to hurry it up. Fantastic writing and an epic story. Loved the supernatural elements and how emotionally connected I became with a lot of the characters. If I didn’t know any better I would of thought it was a King novel.
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I was lucky enough to be able to get a copy of the limited Boys In The Valley, and I knew right away I was gonna be a Fracassi Fan. I've read his short story collections, and a couple novellas. I was so excited for this book,and it delivered. This story is full of elements from all types of genres. There are some twisted characters and Fracassi doesn't shy away from gore. One of my favorites of 2022. I have his next novel Gothic on pre order.
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Trust me when I say, this is messed up..." - Philip Fracassi, author "A Child Alone with Strangers: A Novel is a novel that surprised me in the best way possible. It will leave you with your skin crawling. A Child Alone with Strangers blends the cynicism of horrifying events, the greasy and believable characterisation , and the vivid ghastliness of the more literary examples of pulp horror.
I must say its an excellent example of some of the exciting dark fiction being written today and a tale that will leave a lasting impression on any horror fan brave enough to read it. Three days after finishing the final word I still couldn't bring myself to even crack open the cover of something new. Not because I didn't enjoy A Child Alone with Strangers, but due to the power and strength living inside the writing. I love horror as it’s my favorite genre to read but when it comes to extreme horror, this one definitely pushes the envelopes to realms that will definitely offend readers.
A brutalised vision of the very rawest of human hurt, loss and instability magnified out of all proportion. -This is a story that will stick with you.
Highly Recommended! -
If you have not read the author Philip Fracassi and you are a fan of horror, do it! This is my second Fracassi book and it was awesome!
A Child Alone With Strangers is about a young boy named Henry. Henry has special abilities of the sixth sense kind. He ends up getting kidnapped by a horrible group of people. They take him out to the woods and hold him for ransom in an old decrepit farm house. The kidnappers think they have everything under control, but little do they know of the ancient entity that inhabits these woods. But Henry does and due to his abilities he is able to sense it.
Horrible things await those that hole up in the house in the woods, unspeakable, unbelievable, and menacing things...
This is one of those books that kept me up till 4 a.m. Highly addictive and an absolutely superb horror. -
A psychotic version of Saul Goodman faces off with a xenomorph, what more could readers want? Oh yeah, there's also a psychic kid to hook the King fans.
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Netgalley provided ARC.
What a story! Full of bad guys, strange creatures (watch out Hunter Shea), and a curiously precocious little boy. Great story and character building. -
Such an incredible book, this was. I had no idea what I was in for, since I went into this book completely blind. Besides the glowing reviews on GR, I had never read Philip Fracassi (had only heard of him within the last few months). All I knew was that this book was a horror, involved some sort of kidnapping, a strange creature, and the damn thing is over 600 pages.
But I would highly recommend this book to ANYONE that is a fan of horror, because this book is no joke. It's very graphic, and is far from pulling the punches, so to speak. The writing is engaging and detailed, which I liked because there was absolutely no fluff here. This story moved, beat for beat. The tension stays high from the beginning, and never stops. Barely a comfortable moment.
Just when you think things are close to an end, you realize there's still 200 pages left. That just shows how much goes on within the story, and it doesn't get stale.
Great work, Mr. Fracassi-- I can't wait to read the next one! -
One of the better horror / thriller books I have read in some time. It’s a mishmash of child abduction by a group of misfits, FBI procedural, creature feature and kid with slight telepathic abilities. ACAWS oozes Stephen King vibes. Having long ago given up his Richard Bachman pseudonym, there were times I wondered if he had created a new one under the persona of Philip Fracassi. From strong character development (providing interesting backgrounds for most), a kid reminiscent of Danny Torrance (though reads people’s emotions through color display instead) to a neat and original creature with some very interesting abilities. Fracassi even integrates the seldom used inner dialogue in italics technique so popular in SK books. I wish more authors would utilize this style as it just adds more layers to the characters.
It’s difficult to find any real flaws with this book. The search for young Henry by the FBI is solid as is its chief investigator Sali. He is the glimmer of hope to Henry’s family while mixed with his inner reflections of the realities of finding the boy alive. As for Henry himself, I’m usually not a big fan of young central characters however Fracassi paints him in just the right light: intelligent, a bit of an outcast while scared with the right mix of bravado. Lastly, Fracassi doesn’t let the creature dominate the pages, providing just enough horror element to add further suspense to the story. When it does make a presence, the use of its rather unique abilities really messes with Henry’s tormentors. Geez, wouldn’t you know there were moments where I actually felt bad for the damn thing.
ACAWS really needs to find a bigger audience. If you are a fan of the great SK, oh my, are you in for a treat by reading this book. Fracassi may just very well be the new voice in horror given his book of short stories and novel entitled Boys in the Valley have also earned strong reviews. His upcoming book Gothic, is already garnering high praise. I was planning on picking this up before reading ACAWS, but now I’m just giddy at the prospect of having it between my hands. -
“Sometimes good people did bad things. Only nine years old, Henry Thorne hadn’t yet learned this valuable life lesson. But he would. He would learn it on a mild summer day in 1995 in the most horrible way possible…”
In A Child Alone with Strangers, Philip Fracassi has managed to evoke emotional connection with characters to root for and villains to detest while giving added layers to some of these. Another strength of the book is taking familiar tropes and plot points and making them compelling. He’s done this with a steamrolling writing style which makes for a fast read even at 575 pages. That said, there are small digressions throughout which add to the atmosphere and humanity of the story but this book could have been a bit more trim. This is one reason for the four rather than fine star rating. Another reason for my rating is that, while I liked the concepts of the story, I found myself wanting those aspects to be explored in more ways that surprised me and leaned toward a more epic feel. Overall, a fun and propulsive read with many strengths that does remind of classic King in its characterization, dialogue and plotting. For me, Gothic has been the more enjoyable Fracassi experience in comparison, but I will continue to seek out his work. -
This book is one part horror story and one part crime novel, but all marvelous. The action starts right from the get-go and doesn't let up until the end. Ten year old Henry has a gift. He can visualize other peoples' feelings as colors and movement. A rag tag group of petty criminals see him as an easy target for kidnapping, A huge mistake as they come to learn.
I like this author's writing style. He is very good at setting the scenes and laying out the action. He injects a dash of sarcasm into the book, which adds to its appeal in my opinion. I had a hard time putting this one down and I hope to read more from this author.
