Broken Shells: A subterranean horror novella by Michael Patrick Hicks

From Goodreads

Antoine DeWitt is a man down on his luck. Broke and recently fired, he knows the winning Money Carlo ticket that has landed in his mailbox from a car dealership is nothing more than a scam. The promise of five thousand dollars, though, is too tantalizing to ignore.

Jon Dangle is a keeper of secrets, many of which are buried deep beneath his dealership. He works hard to keep them hidden, but occasionally sacrifices are required, sacrifices who are penniless, desperate, and who will not be missed. Sacrifices exactly like DeWitt.

When Antoine steps foot on Dangle’s car lot, it is with the hope of easy money. Instead, he finds himself trapped in a deep, dark hole, buried alive. If he is going to survive the nightmare ahead of him, if he has any chance of seeing his wife and child again, Antoine will have to do more than merely hope. He will have to fight his way back to the surface, and pray that Jon Dangle’s secrets do not kill him first.

My thoughts

What a read, I was debating between a 4 and 5 star read for this and would happily give it a 4.5 stars. This is a well written novella length horror story. My thanks to the Author via TBConFB for a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

Just look at the cover, it's a proper old school style cover very reminiscent of early horror books written by the likes of Stephen King and James Herbert. The cover alone could sell the book to you, the eyes looking out at you, drawing you in to the horrors that lie within the pages of this novella length story.

Anyway, back to the story. I was soon drawn in and I would definitely not recommend anyone of a squeamish nature reading it, as there's plenty of gore, followed by more gore and if that's not enough gore for you then there's some more. The unlikely hero of the story Antoine DeWitt, has you rooting for him as he fights to survive the horrors of the subterranean world that he's found himself in. All he wants to do is get back to his family and with those thoughts in his head he has the motivation to keep going against all the odds. Does it end well for him or not?

Just grab a copy to see what everyone is raving about, I doubt you'll be disappointed.