REVIEW: Malevolent Nevers by Tom Rimer

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Malevolent Nevers by Tom Rimer
Published by Shadow Spark Publishing on November 29 2021
ISBN: 9781956883022
Genres: Horror
Pages: 345
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Author
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'Tis thy turn.Abel Ward just wants to reconnect with his son. After having been a ghost for seventeen years, he's returned and trying to be a parent again. He doesn't want to mess it up. If only he knew where to start.Here they wait for all our evers.Simi Ward wants his dad to leave him alone. He's happy just hanging with his girlfriend, Mags, and though Abel is trying, it's far too late. Sometimes you really can't make up for lost time.Our demons to bear.And when a mysterious midnight call summons them both to an old family estate in New England, neither could have expected what would be lying in wait. An ancient evil so rooted in the story of their ancestors, it'd be impossible to dig up.Our demons to share.Will the secret remain buried, or will Simi and Abel finally learn the truth? Does knowing the truth do anything to stop the evil from spreading?Sometimes they be locked away, where no one can see 'em, outter sight.Sometimes they be a droolin' face, starin' in through 'yer winder, in the dead of the night!

Malevolent Nevers packs a serious punch, cracked jaw, fractured skull, split orbital bone, bruised, battered, and beaten. The story feels like an old friend, an old friend who likes to live life on the edge, a friend that you can never tell if they want to help or hinder…a friend that has you walking across glass. A sense of familiarity, this is the kind of book you want to curl up with in front of a roaring fire and a nip of whisky. Pick up this book for its kick-ass cover and stay for the characterisation and penetrating gothic atmosphere.

Malevolent Nevers starts from the ground up. You feel the foreboding, the undertones, the impending shadows are never too far away. If my brain was installed with a red alert system, then it would be screaming at me by this point. You get a sense of the author’s style, he wants to walk you down a tight rope of fear, and he paints a parallel. This world and the other one. It’s a world you don’t want to walk to, a world we wouldn’t want to claim exists, a world that can paint all your nightmares onto a blank canvas…seeing it makes it all so much worse.

Tom Rimer has the exquisite skill of transporting you into the abyss of his storyline. Nothing is as it seems, no it is far, far worse! He has created something so deliciously dark and took me on a journey that would not only test my emotions but my resolve not to yell at the protagonist, Abe. Just how can a man be that blind, Jeez!

Malevolent Nevers feels like life and death…if I stop reading will something catastrophic happen? Make sure all your chores are done because you won’t be moving anywhere until it’s finished.

Imagine being Abe Ward, he’s finally trying to reconnect with his teenage son, Simi after being absent a lot of his life and living a life of excess. It’s hard, he doesn’t know this young man anymore, but he is trying to make amends. Suddenly he receives a call from an old school friend, Daisy, who he hasn’t heard from in thirty years, only to tell him his Aunt Elma is dying, and he needs to make the journey from Atlanta to Massachusetts. With Simi’s mum being away on a trip, he needs to come with him which lands as well as a brick on rubber.

His aunt is nothing like he remembers, she’s frail and spouting delusional nonsense, but what Is the howling that he can hear at night? It sounds very animalistic, but an animal couldn’t utter the words, Ward, could they? Tom Rimer plays hard in Malevolent Nevers, no sugar coating, it’s straight for the throat. Each clue to the story meant something, nothing is given away for free.

Malevolent Nevers takes us on a hellish journey into the dark waters of Rimer’s mind. Be careful of when you read it – it’s likely to steal your sleep!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Rimer is an author living in Foxborough, Massachusetts with his wife and two children. The Glowing (book one of an epic sci-fi trilogy) is his first novel. His short story “Clown” was published in 2016 as part of the horror anthology, 13 Tales to Give You Night Terrors.

Right now, he’s probably lost in an old bookshop. You can find him on Twitter, musing about what he finds funny and talking about all bookish things @RimerTom.

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