Wow...this book hooked me from the very beginning. It did not let up the entire way through. If you seek fast-paced, adrenaline induced, and terrifying reads, this book is for you.

This book follows Harry and a group of men he grew up camping with. The boys' fathers shared a secret that the boys would not find out until after their deaths, until it was too late. What ensues is the unraveling of their fathers' secrets and the terrifying nightmare that they cause.

I loved every second of this book and could not put it down. The only negative thing I can even think of to mention is that it's not in your face horror. It is more supernatural horror if you will with some gore mixed in here and there. Overall, great writing, amazing storytelling!.

This is a quick moving creature horror story and was a fun pallet cleanser. I do wish the story contained more of the tapes since it did such a good job building up the anticipation of listening to the tapes. I did feel the story could have used a few more pages to allow for more action in the final sequences, but overall enjoyed the pacing and conclusion.

This is one of the most beautiful paperbacks I've ever bought. I received an ebook ARC from the publisher through Netgalley, and had to buy a copy for my collection.

Before I get into the review, I have to talk about the formatting. I knew from reading the ebook that there would be splash pages for each part of the story, but I didn't know that each chapter would have a gorgeous two page spread of black and white forest art. Those pages really make the book pop on a flip through. If I saw this on a book store shelf and rifled through the pages, it would be an instant impulse buy.

The story itself is one of grief, depression, and growth. Five childhood friends, five dead fathers, and five cassette tapes that hold the secret burden that they took to their graves.

Our Fathers' Burden by William F. Gray tells the story of Harry, Dave, Bob, Lou, and Dennis carrying out their Fathers' dying wishes - to continue the annual hunting trip that they could no longer attend in death. For Harry, this comes with the added burden of carrying five tapes - one for each of them - to listen to once they are all together.

The story is told through third person, switching between character POVs first by chapter, and later by section break. The writing feels very visual and cinematic, almost like cutting from camera to camera.

This is a character driven story at its heart. Some of the boys you'll love, some you'll hate (looking at you Dennis), and some will grow on you as the action gets going.

All in all I have to say it's a masterful story, with as much emotional tension as physical. This is one I'll be sharing with whoever will listen.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Wicked House Publishing for the e-arc of Our Father’s Burden.

This book was fast-paced and a good dip into the horror genre. A monster in the woods is made up of things some people find hard to face. This book took trauma and grief and formed it into something monstrous. It was a lovely read and definitely one I’ll recommend.

Our Father's Burden
William F. Gray
4.25⭐️

Pub date: 2/16/2024

This was introduced as horror but for some reason, the first few chapters tricked me into thinking it's a suspense/Thriller. Oh how wrong I was! It was immediately engrossing. There's cassette tapes and s*icide and it reminds me of 13 Reasons Why but it's nothing like it at all. This "mystery" hangs over the plot, it was written well to keep me reeled in. But not only that, the book also covered grief and how the characters dealt with their personal monsters on top of the physical monster they were introduced to. I thought it also covered how each generation dealt with their issues which is a nice addition and made this book a little bit more relevant. I would've rated this higher but the last 80% of the book felt a little rushed to me. Eitherway, this book is either short or it was just too good that I couldn't stop reading. Gobbled this up pretty quickly. It's not perfect but I was creeped out and was kept at the edge of my seat throughout.

I was hooked from the cover, and this was such a great concept for horror novel. It uses the Appalachian mountains perfectly as a setting, and I really thought it worked with the story. I really felt for Harry and thought. He was realistic as a main character and I felt for him when dealing with his father's final wishes. William F Gray writes a great story and I was hooked from the first page.

Thanks to NetGalley and Wicked House Publishing. Well that book was something else. Fast paced and just horrific. I was shocked so many times in this book and the book was not very long but quite detailed. Whoa is all I really have to say for this.

Prepare to be consumed by a tale that will leave you breathless and questioning the very fabric of human relationships. Our Father’s burden is a masterful weaving of tragedy, mystery, and suspense that will ensnare you from the opening pages and refuse to let go. The story is a razor-sharp exploration of the secrets that bind and destroy us, set against the haunting backdrop of the Appalachian Mountains.

Harry's journey is a heart-wrenching odyssey of self-discovery, as he unravels the tangled web of his family's past and confronts the darkest corners of human nature. The writing is evocative and atmospheric, with a narrative that twists and turns like a serpentine path through the mountains themselves.

The characters are expertly crafted, their motivations and emotions laid bare with a nuance that's both uncomfortable and compelling. William F Gray’s skillful hand orchestrates a symphony of tension and revelation, building to a crescendo that will leave you reeling.

This book is more than just a thriller – it's a dissection of the human condition, a probing examination of the lies we tell ourselves and the secrets we keep from others. It's a reminder that the past has teeth, and that the truth can be both liberating and devastating.

Read this book if you dare, but be warned: it will leave you changed, like the characters themselves, forever scarred by the weight of the secrets they uncover.

I am at war with myself over what to think about this one. At it's core, this creature feature digs into fallable humans and their various multigenerational missteps. It's solid content with an interesting theme.

I found the various characters and hopping back and forth in time to be a bit jarring and hard to follow. I was mixing characters up most of the way through the book.

Still, I appreciated the quick pace and thought the monster was violent, odd, and that it fit well into its environment. Things were action packed for about 70% of the book. Stuff starts and then never really stops happening until the book comes to its messy resolution.

But, I'm left with questions. There's just so much packed into the book that I wish it was a little longer so things could really be flushed out. What was on those other tapes? Inquiring monsters want to know!

Overall, I did enjoy my read and I was invested in the narrative. I hope you'll give it a chance.

This is a creature horror but also tackles grief, depression, and trauma. Using a creature horror to speak about these themes is something I've not seen before. I don't think that the author's intention of using the creature as a metaphor is noticeable in the finished product. The themes are brought out in the characters - their history and their present situations - not so much what the creature was doing in the woods. But this also presents one problem with the story. Yes, the characters are mostly well constructed, but does every character in the book need to have some sort of deep and dark trauma? It becomes too much when there's no contrast.

But the creature horror is very well done. It reminded me a lot of The Ritual, written by Adam Nevill. I'd go out on a limb and say this is heavily influenced by that book. Both have old friends in the woods on a camping trip, and both have a fearsome creature hunting them. The characters also reminded me of the characters in that book, their interactions and group structure. There is enough in this book to be unique, but the influence is fairly clear.

There is a lot to like in this story if you want a few gripping chapters of mayhem. I can't say that I enjoyed the conclusion, and I didn't really care for the interludes that show a police investigation into a gruesome crime scene, but I enjoyed this quick horror novel.

Thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for providing a copy of this book for an honest review. All comments are my own

Video link will be added soon.

Give me a book about cryptids and I am all in. his book was easily the most interesting book about creatures I have come across. The story began with all kinds of secrets, ones that cost people more than their lives. The title of this book lets the reader know some heavy stuff will be revealed but no one, not even the reader, will be able to look at the fathers’ the same. This book was horror but also filled with very human emotions and the feelings of inadequacy people feel when hiding and learning about secrets. The end was a really good way to close the story. 5 star read for sure.

Yes please! I absolutely LOVED this book. It’s hard for me to get scared but there was a few parts where I literally stopped breathing. I can’t rave enough about this book. In the Author’s Note the monster is a metaphor for something else. My mind is blown! Brilliant!!!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for allowing me to ARC read this book! I loved this book so much and to read that the monster was an actual metaphor for something that needs to be more mainstreamed means the world to me and I have so much appreciation and gratitude to the author for it! I can not wait to read more by the author. I was not paid for this review and is my honest review! Definitely my favorite book of the year now!

Five friends venture into the wilderness in their father's memory. But there is something in the woods waiting for them besides memories. Something dangerous. Will the men survive? Chilling fast-paced read.

Harry Denmon was done going to the the Woods every year with his Dad and their friends. He didn't care for the tradition of the 'Annual Hunting Trip'.
But years later his father Don dies and leaves Harry a shoebox, in it are five Cassette Tapes and a carefully folded piece of paper in which Don explains that his last wish for Harry is to keep the Tradition at all costs.
And that as soon as the 5 men are together (and have set up camp at their typical hunting spot) they each need to listen to their Tapes.

So Harry invites the other four men up into the Appalachian Mountains, all of them are the Sons of his late father's hunting buddies. Bob Winter, Dave Keller, Lou Richards & Dennis Short will be Part of this game.
They will meet there for the Trip, but with one exception… Instead of going to their typical hunting site on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, they will meet there on the Day AFTER Thanksgiving.
New Generation… new twist on a Tradition. What could go wrong, right?

The Book started slow enough and with a flashback into the Year 1993.
And then after a fat Bang… it all goes down. (In a good way, mind you)

To our 'amusement', the five men are given a hard time by the Author and definitely not enough munition to face this shitty Situation in which they find themselves very quickly.

I liked the fact, that we could see a change in their Characters in the Course of this Book. Gray did very well to capture these changes!
My very personal favourite out of these guys was Bob, don't ask me why exactly but I was rooting for him all the time!
Though, at one Scene I was even sorry for the one of the bigger Arseholes out of these 5 blokes, the way the Author wrote that Scene had something inside me feel sorry for him.

The story itself, hmm… it was not wholly what I was thinking to find BUT in the End it worked out for me very well.
You get good old-school Horror and even a 'Flashback' to 1987.
You get Fear and Panic, you get lots of Blood, you get Monstrosities in the Dark. What else could one wish for?

Now quickly onto something else regarding the Book. I liked³ the Interior Art, how sections and scene changes in the Chapters were separated with Cassette Tapes. Loved it!!

A 5 Full 🌟 Rating!

𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝑯𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚 𝒊𝒕, 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆!

Thank you to William F. Gray, Wicked House Publishing, and NetGalley for this eARC and my first 5⭐️ read of 2024.

I would describe 'Our Father's Burden' as a study of grief and guilt, much of the latter being specific to men. However, unlike in so much fiction these days, the characters are not villianised simply for their gender but are presented as complex and flawed individuals, with struggles that are explored throughout the story.

Simply put, I loved it, And that ending! So satisfying.

This is kind of hard to rate and review. I enjoyed the beginning, the horror factor and how fast paced this book was, but it almost became too fast paced. The book lacked a lot of the details on what was going on and why it was happening. I felt very lost and confused. Then at times the book felt pretty slow.

I still have so many questions on what happened. This kind of read like a short story since there was a lack of information provided and not much backstory.

Thanks NetGalley and publisher for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Wow is all I can say. This book is very fast paced and chilling at times. It includes old mountain folklore as well as a creature feature! It grabbed my attention from the very beginning and left me wanting more after each chapter! A very good spooky book for all readers!

I've quickly discovered that I love stories that involve any sort of folklore. This has one of my favorites in the baddie world of folklore, and is exceptionally well done. The cast of characters is varied enough, well fleshed out, and the story moves quick, keeping your attention in several places at once as things progress. Exceptionally done, five stars.

Five Childhood friends join together for one last camping trip at the behest of their father's final wishes. On this trip, they are all forced to face the tragedy and grief of their deceased fathers. Five cassette tapes, one for each, with clear instructions to only be listened to once they reach the mountain of their yearly Thanksgiving camping trip. There they are faced with the heavy burden left to them by their fathers and the horror they face each year to keep them all safe.

Themes:
Addiction
Alcoholism
Adultery
Suicide
Guilt
Police Cover Up
Greif

A Creature Feature with a lot of heavy themes. Our cast of characters are each grieving the death of their fathers in a short period of time from dementia to suicide. Each member carries their own heavy burden toppled with grief. For a horror story, a lot is going on and the monster they're forced to face is both internal and external.

This story reminds me why I don't like camping anymore. You never know what is going on out in the woods and using an ancient cryptid played on that fear. Despite this particular cryptid being a tried and true fan favorite of the Appalachia mountains, the author took some creative liberties to give it a new unique, and fresh feel. It was wholly terrifying and no one was safe from this monster.

Personally, I enjoyed the experience the same way one enjoys a scary movie. It didn't just focus on the creature but each of the cast and their own internal/external struggles. I could see this story becoming either a B-grade or higher horror movie.

3.5 out of 5 fear factor.

I read this book in one sitting! It just grabbed me straight off the bat. The lore sucked me right in and then mixed in with peoples grief and how they deal with their own lives. It surely has put me off going camping without doing some research first!