This was definitely worth reading and certainly as creepy as the front cover suggested. It wasn't full on horror in the first half, but rather a slow burn, establishing the background story and dropping hints of what was to come. Not slow in a boring way though. The writing was descriptive without being too wordy and the words painted an eerie picture. I was hooked from the start and felt compelled to keep reading.

There was some nasty, twisted stuff going on and I really felt for the main character. The reader learns what he has suffered through in the past and travels with him into even darker experiences as the story moves on in the present.

There was no cliche ending but rather a mix of satisfaction and melancholy.

This author knows how to create a dark, sinister tale and I hope to see more in this genre by Daigle in the future.

Content warning: animal cruelty

I received this arc from netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Definitely a weird story. Something deep, dark, and old lives in the woods. This reminded me of an old Stephen King tale. This book is not fast-paced. It is slower, and it builds up to the mystery and the murder that happens within the walls of this story being told. We are introduced to our characters, headed to the cabin that has been in Ryan's family forever. When a snowstorm hits and makes them unable to leave, things start to go crazy. Animals doing their own thing, and it is not natural.
What we and our main character Ryan discover is far more sinister than we would have thought.
I really liked the darkness that this book gave us; it was something the author just did a good job and building.
Everything is not happy; it is sad and hungry and will take everything from you.

I couldn't finish this one before the time ran out. It seemed to be moving quite slowly and the prose was not very evocative, plus I didn't really identify with the protagonists.

Kept In the Dark Until the Darkness Takes Them

I'm in Texas and already feeling the heat, so I was looking for a chilly getaway when I found this book. It looked like the perfect choice: the characters get trapped in a winter storm of Snowmageddon-fast accumulation. I imagined gusting winds turning snowflakes into icy needles and dreadful isolation keeping them beyond outside help. I got exactly what I was looking for, though not without surprises.

The three of them planned a hunting getaway, but the location of the Burdette family's cabin isn't like any wilderness these sportsmen have hunted before. Ryne Burdette and his best friends, Shawn and Noah, must deal with worsening driving conditions, strange encounters with locals, and weirdly-behaving wildlife just to get there. It soon became plain to me that The Broken Places is a supernatural survival thriller, even if the characters didn't know it. So, just like that, I was hooked.

This is Blaine Daigle's debut novel, but he writes like a seasoned horror author. Word by understated word conveyed an overwhelming sense of doom hanging over all three men. He gave them backstories that compelled my interest in their fates. I felt that they were all at the end of their ropes, that they were already broken and that the road to that cabin was inescapable for them.

Daigle's reiterations of the title within the text, well-placed and as natural as nails in a coffin, made my hope that what was broken could be healed heartbreakingly remote. But, hope is a stubborn trait in horror lovers, so I dug in and rooted for them to make it anyway. I'm happy to say that the ending was shockingly satisfying.

Thank you to Blaine Daigle, Wicked House Publishing, and NetGalley for the free advance reader's copy. I accept no obligation or compensation for my reviews. The Broken Places was terrifying and will likely haunt me for some time. I loved it.

This was a very atmospheric story of family and friendship, of old tales about a faceless, nameless monster. It was about tradition and what it means to sacrifice.
If you like your horror hauntingly dark, then this is a great book to pick up. I highly recommend this one.

It took a while for this one to get going, but ultimately it was a satisfying read. The story of three friends who get together for one last trip to one friend's family cabin in the Yukon turns into a nightmare involving ancient spirits and trapped souls. The friends fight to survive the bitter cold and an unknown force that doesn't want them to leave. The first half of the book involves too much setup and not enough actual happenings to really pique your interest. The second half, mainly the last fifty or sixty pages, kick into gear and reveal what's really going on in this cold, vast wasteland. A solid ending helped make up for the slow, dragging start. Mostly well-written, with a few repetitive and trite phrases sprinkled in here and there. I'd read more by Daigle. Thanks to Netgalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beautifully written & atmospheric!

This story follows 3 friends that take a trip to a family cabin deep in the woods. The friends had all suffered deep losses and needed a getaway. They couldn't have chosen a worse place!

Absolutely recommend!

Thank you to netgalley for providing me an arc in exchange for an honest review. The opinion reflected is that of my own.

I admit I fell for the cover of this book first. I like a good chilling stag. This book was creepy but a little slow. I devoured it in one sitting though as it's only 240 pages.

Three friends take a much needed break to an isolated family cabin but things seems off.
Holy crap, I am in love. The Broken Places had me hooked almost instantly and didn’t let go. I read it within the day. It has a little bit of everything that one looks for in a spooky supernatural horror. Little bit of body horror, creepy animals who stare a little too much, disembodied voices. I can’t wait to have the physical copy on my bookshelf!

The Broken Places by Blaine Daigle is a horror novel about three friends who go hunting only for weird things to start happening to them. Ryne, Shawn, and Noah head off to the cabin in the Yukon, a cabin left to Ryne after his uncle's death. With a terrible snow storm looming and creepy town folk lurking, they find themselves facing an evil that wants a sacrifice.
The isolated cabin in the woods aides in setting up a creepy atmosphere. The three friends all have faced some extraordinary obstacles prior to this trip, making them jumpy and paranoid. The strange behavior of the animals leads you to wonder what trials the friends will endure in the woods.
I thought the story had some repetitive issues as it told the friend's backstories over and over again. It also had a few plot holes in reference to Ryne's unborn son. Despite this, it was an original and interesting story that I enjoyed reading.
Thanks to Netgalley and Wicked House Publishing for the advanced copy of the book. The opinions are my own.

Rayne and his friends, Shawn and Nate, visit the hunting lodge that Rayne inherited from his family. The author set the cabin in the middle of the Yukon woods. As a child, he would go there with his dad and uncle and experience strange things.

“The Broken Places”, by Blaine Daigle, occurs in the dead of winter over a three-night period. It starts off as a slow burn, but tension builds around the 40 percent mark. The novel is atmospheric. Daigle uses vivid descriptions to create an ominous feeling towards the cabin, woods, and the surrounding areas. I did not mind the gradual build because I got lost in the woods and snowstorm storm 🥰. The author creates a few of isolation and dread with both strange events, howling winds and cold heavy snowstorm.

Aside from a well-developed environment, the characters are fleshed out. Their thoughts and feelings pop off the page. The author wove their backstories and personal struggles without information dumping. These friends are broken ans so is the setting.

The title “Broken Places” is the perfect title for this debut novel by Blaine Daigle. If you are looking for a supernatural story with somebody horror set in a cold setting, this is the book for you.

Blaine Daigle has found a new fan, I absolutely loved this book. It was so scary at times where I just couldn’t put the book down even though I was getting a tad creeped out.

The plot was submersives, the characters were written thoughtfully and the horror was all amazing. Will be reading more books by Blaine.

I had a very hard time getting into this book, if I'm being honest. I am the kind of reader who gets easily bored with detailed descriptions of the scenery/setting and I felt like there was SOOOOO much of this. While I understand this was likely done on purpose, since the forest in this story is really a character in and of itself, it doesn't mean that I liked reading about it. There were large chunks of text that I skimmed in order to get through it.

Overall, I think the book was good. It worked as a horror story, the characters were flawed and I enjoyed them and their story. But the description-heavy writing made this a really tedious read for me and took away from my enjoyment. For those readers that love when an author paints you a detailed picture of the setting, I say pick up a copy and settle in.

Wow! Absolutely Wow!
I believe this is a debut and for a debut this book was written so well and kept me engaged the entire time!

Ryne inherits his family's old hunting cabin that is in the Yukon woods. When he was there as a kid he saw weird things, but his father always explained it away. Now as the last person in his family line, Ryne and his 2 friends go to the cabin one last time and boy do they have a fun ride.

This is totally an isolated setting supernatural horror novel and the vibes are there for sure. I really felt cold and secluded reading this! (It didn't help that I read most of this after dark!!) I enjoyed the way the characters were portrayed and how all the spooky things fell. I also love everything that was packed in such a short book! It was not dragged out at all.

The story started off pretty slow and didnt take off til almost the 25-30% mark and while reading it still did not feel like a bore. I wanted to know and I wanted to get to the cabin myself.

Check trigger warnings before going into this!

One sentence review: The author has done a great job of creating an atmosphere of impending doom for the characters, and I was particularly drawn to Ryne's character because of his deeply-rooted traumas. Although the other two characters also have their share of hardships, it would have been interesting to see more diversity in their personalities and backgrounds if at least one of the three friends has had simpler life thereby he can see things more rationally.

What works:
- Ryne's journey
- The atmosphere and the snow storm
- The legends and mythologies presented in the novel
- The horror.


What doesn't work -
- Other character also has equally strong traumas, thereby it sometimes feel like they're in a battle of who has the worst past.
- Repetition of many information over and over.
- Some places the author builds a momentum of horror, but then gets lost in over explanation of things.

I started this book because I was intrigued by the cover and title but honestly its one of the best books I have read so far. It started a little slow but it really picked up and it kept me glued throughout.

It’s been a long time since our protagonist Ryne Burdette last returned to Wolf’s Bone, Alaska. Yet he decides to return there one last time with two friends from his childhood. All of their lives have been irrevocably changed by personal tragedies in the last several years. Little do they know, on what is meant to be one last weekend hunting trip, their lives are about to change a hell of a lot more.

The Broken Places (Wicked House Publishing, March 2023) by Blaine Daigle is a book about ghosts. It’s about the phantoms that we all become when tragedy strikes our lives, and the ones in your own pasts that never let go of you. The book ponders over whether or not it is possible to repair that emptiness once it gets stuck within you. A difficult task, to be sure. A more difficult task still when something is stalking you deep in the Yukon wilderness.

Daigle’s protagonists have each had their life torn away from them - one more literally than the rest. Their unwillingness to discuss these catastrophic moments is mirrored by the silence that surrounds the people of Wolf’s Bone, and even Ryne’s own family’s unwillingness to discuss just what is happening in the snowy forest. Ryne doubts his own recollections - what did he see his uncle doing to the deer when he was only eight? Why isn’t he allowed to eat the meat that’s sold in town? The questions pile up like the snow from the storm as Ryne and his friends find themselves trapped in the cabin, the cold piercing through even though no one can quite discover where.

The book feels inevitable in the way that good horror always does. Whether or not the characters can escape their fates, you know they will be irrevocably changed. Daigle tells an excellent horror story, and this book is definitely one that all readers will enjoy. Mind the antlers on the cover: this book will hook you.

While this didn't scare the pants off me, it did make me think and try and figure out what was going on.
Does the ending leave things open for a sequel?
I wish there was more back story about Ryne's family.
Was this malevolent and sinister or was this protective? In a bit confused on that.
A worthy read though. I probably would have liked it more if it had been storming outside while I was reading.
I received an advance copy from NetGalley.
All opinions are my own.

Was intrigued and captivated from the beginning, however towards the end I lost this a little. Felt dragged out a little at parts. However, it was enjoyable and glad I took the time to read it.

Unfortunately had to DNF this one.
Although the concept initially intrigued me at first, I just couldn't get into the storyline. May be due to the author's writing style or the breakdown of the world. There were a bit too many descriptive words that took away from the overall plot and emotional aspect of the characters. I really wanted to enjoy this one but it just ended up being not my cup of tea.