I really enjoyed this book, with this audiobook bring my second read through. I love the relatable main character and the bizarre personalities of the community’s residents. This was a fully satisfying read/ listen as the narrative fully personified Jerry Campbell.

Todd Keisling is a wonderful storyteller and in my eyes brings top shelf horror every time. Thank you for the opportunity.

The Sundowners Dance by Todd Keisling
3.5/5

What I Liked:
Great atmosphere, especially if you're into small-town horror vibes.
Solid build-up of tension with some genuinely spooky moments.
Keisling’s writing style is easy to get into and kept me interested.

What Didn't Work for Me:
Pacing felt uneven—strong start, slower middle, then rushed ending.
Some characters didn't feel fully developed, making their fates less impactful.

💬 Final Thoughts:
Overall, The Sundowners Dance is an enjoyable, atmospheric read. It's not perfect, but if you dig folk horror or small-town creepiness, it's worth checking out.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This story and audiobook was so good! Such a unique story that I couldn’t get enough of. I immediately bought the book as soon as it came out and look forward to seeing what else this author has in store for us.

Thank you HighBridge Audio, Todd Keisling and Netgalley for the audio Arc of The Sundowner's Dance
Narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner

This is the first book of Todd's and I was invested right from the beginning to the very last second.. After reading the premise I was very intrigued. We had e a grief stricken gentlemen who gets recommended a retirement home called Fairfield Acres, Jerry, who just wants to be left alone finds the independent homes in this community quaint. Until footfalls are heard on his roof and an interesting drink that's doing the rounds with the pensioners.

I loved the pacing and the subjects we get introduced in this great cosmic horror. Grief, failing memories, mortality, cultish behaviour and rejuvenation.. Think someone compared this book a mix of Colour of Space ( A great cosmic horror by Lovecraft and was made into a film ) and Cocoon ( a mid 80's Sci Fi film ) and its a great analogy. I loved Jerry our MC who soon clicks on that something isn't right in Fairfield Acres and does everything in his power to get to the bottom of things. We have a great build up and the finale was brilliant. The ending was very emotive for me.

Malcolm Hillgartner had a great voice for this audiobook. Loved his cadence and the general pacing of his voice which suited this cosmic horror perfectly.

4 stars

I requested the title mainly because I enjoyed a previous Keisling book. This one was solid, but not so much my style. It leans pretty far into sci-fi and body horror, neither of which I typically seek out. The audiobook was well done. I would recommend this book to students who have more interest in this type of book. I really enjoyed the emotional aspects, and the characters are well-drawn. Thanks!

Thank you to NetGalley and Highbridge Audio as well as the author and the narrator for this ARC.
#TheSundowner’sDance #ToddKeisling #HighbridgeAudio #MalcolmHillgartner #Audiobook #Horror #Fiction #BookReview

Title: The Sundowner’s Dance
Author: Todd Keisling
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Malcolm Hillgartner
Publisher: Highbridge Audio
Publication Date: April 22, 2025
Themes: Aging, retirement, grief, cosmic horror, small community horror
Trigger Warnings: Grief, aging, retirement, death of spouse, age-related diseases, memory loss

I loved this audiobook. I loved the story. I loved the characters. I loved the narrator. Loved it all. This is a story of grief and aging. When a grief-stricken Jerry Campbell loses his wife, he decides that solitude and a smaller house is what he needs. He moves into a retirement community in the Poconos. It seems like a nice place, and then he moves in. His neighbors are odd. Between nightly, noisy parties, strange noises on his roof every night, and their signature drink that seems to make Jerry hallucinate. At least he hopes he is. It seems less and less likely that the increasingly strange happenings are a product of a grief-addled mind.

There’s no shortage of horror novels about grief and aging. Now there's one by Todd Keisling though and it’s read by Malcolm Hillgartner. This magic combination gave me a very entertaining and disturbing audio book. The scares are interwoven with an emotional story and sympathetic characters. I’m not usually one to enjoy horror on a cosmic level and there are plenty of scares like that here, but there are also subtle scares that give the small town horror feelings as well as cult horror. Not to mention the question or our own mortality and that of people and animals we care about. There are a lot of themes woven throughout this book, like a colorful, woven tapestry.

The narration provided by Mr. Hillgartner is perfect. He has a unique ability to create a convincing voice for each character, so that they can be easily told apart. The tension being slowly introduced by a skilled writer was brought to an extra level by a skilled vocal performer.

All in all, I loved this. I recommend this and every other book written by Mr. Keisling.

3.5 stars - A very humbling, slow-paced cosmic horror that grapples with grief, loss and the frailty of human life. We journey through the eyes of a retired and widowed man, Jerry, who moves to an oddly quirky retirement village. The eccentric rituals of the town slowly begin to unnerve the newcomer, as odd behaviours, strange noises in the night and words of warnings are uttered to him. For the most part, the book grapples with the concept of loss and transitioning into the final stages of life, as we witness Jerry’s meandering ruminations. It seems to capture the slow and confusing descent into what appears to be cognitive decline, and we can only empathise with such a perspective that gains little spotlight. For that, I think it’s quite sweet and realistic, despite not being able to imagine this for myself for a long while. This could potentially be quite healing for others who may relate. As such, it was a bit slow for me in the middle. The start and end held much suspense and creep factor, which I really enjoy from the likes of this author, having loved his writing style previously. I think I struggled most with the fact that the reveal was given very early on, so I could easily piece together the entire plot, so there was little left for discovery. I enjoyed the characters, the cosmic existential reflections towards the end, as well as the narrator in the audiobook copy I received.

Growing old is terrible. Growing old is scary.

This book isn't terrible but it is scary.
Highly recommended though.

Remember—ACK! ACK! Aliens are no one's savior.

The Sundowners Dance had everything I like in a horror book. It made me laugh out loud a few times; I was grossed out a lot and I cried at the end.

I really resonated with the chronic pain the characters were experiencing and the struggle with depression and anxiety. There was also a focus on introversion and how society expects introverted people to put on a facade of being someone who enjoys other people, whether at work or socially.

Loved the two main characters, Jerry and Katherine. Arthur was a villain straight off of Manson’s Spahn Ranch or a Stephen King book.

Great narration!

Davis once said "Old age ain't no place for sissies."

Jerry Campbell is recently widowed and just wants to be left alone. Being in the house where he lived with his life for so long proves to be too difficult and Jerry finds himself checking out Fairview Acres. A nice, quiet, community of retired folk in the Poconos. It all sounds perfect to Jerry and he decides to move in. He soon learns that not all is what it's cracked up to be. His neighbors have parties nearly every night, and there are strange noises from his rooftop every night as well. One night, one of Jerry's new neighbors Catherine comes to visit and tells him he needs to leave. Jerry is confused, but is later told that Catherine is "sundowning", (an awful form of dementia), and that he need not pay attention to the things she said. Things like "The worms. They dance at nightfall." Jerry is curious, though and he finds he cannot leave well enough alone. He begins to investigate and you're going to have to read this to discover what he finds out!

Evil in a small town is one of my favorite tropes. Shake that up with some cosmic, cult action and you have the recipe for the perfect book for me. I have loved Todd Keisling's work since I read Devil's Creek and until now, it's been my favorite book of his. This one, though, pushed all my personal buttons as if it knew they were there and where they all where.

All the scares here weren't of a culty or cosmic nature. Many of them were scares that people face every day. Sundowning, Alzheimer's, Dementia-if these things aren't freaking scary, I don't know what is. Add to that the daily indignities the sick and elderly face, forgetting things like your own children's names, losing the ability to physically take care of yourself or to recognize your surroundings. Lastly, what if you saw someone do something sneaky or nefarious? Who is going to believe you? That might be the most terrifying part of it all.

Grief also plays a big role here. Jerry, being an introvert and having had no children, has no support system whatsoever. No one to check in, make sure he's eating or not getting depressed-he has no one. That's one more scary thing to pile on right? Finding oneself alone at the end of life and discovering that you're the one who made it that way.

A note about the narrator Malcolm Hillgartner-his performance was top notch! At first I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy something with an elderly narrator, (I have no idea if the man himself is elderly), but his performance here was nothing short of incredible. Well done, sir!

I loved the constantly building sense of dread, confusion and paranoia. I enjoyed the constant questioning of the main character as to whether or not these things were really happening or were they all in his head? The atmosphere seemed to become denser and more dark with every page to the point where it almost felt suffocating. Then the denouement blew everything apart!

To sum up, we have grief based horror, cult horror, cosmic horror, and elderly horror all mashed-up into a beautiful ball of excellence titled: The Sundowner's Dance.

My highest recommendation.

*Audio ARC from publisher

READ IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN OR LIKE- Cosmic horror- Mental health representation- Creature feature aspect- Fear of growing old/dementia/dying- HOAs- Retirement community setting- The Twilight Zone- Cults (personally I think these and HOAs are interchangeable especially in horror)

REVIEWThe Sundowner's Dance is one of those books that I knew within a few minutes of listening to the audiobook that I was going to love the story. An older man loses his wife and expresses interest in a retirement community and conveniently his home is able to sell for above asking price. What possible could go wrong? I haven't felt so connected to a main character in a long time. You really empathize with Jerry. Oh and there are super creepy worms. Don't ask just read.

In The Sundowner’s Dance by Todd Keisling, Jerry Campbell moves into Fairview Acres, a retirement community, hoping for a change of scenery after the death of his wife, Abigail. He just wants to be left alone but soon finds out about the constant night parties and the strange noises he hears on his roof. To make things worse, Katherine Dunnally, a neighbor shows up at his door and says, "You need to leave. The worms...they dance at nightfall.” Other neighbors in the community, talk of Katherine’s dementia called Sundowner's Syndrome. I thought the themes of grief, dementia and growing old might be too depressing until the story veers off course with a surprising, unexpected and disturbing twist. I will never think of retirement communities the same way. ALC was provided by HighBridge Audio via NetGalley. I received an audiobook listening copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

4.5/5
Soo good. Better than I was expecting tbh. The Mc had my heart....I have a soft spot for older MCs. I love when an author delivers well developed characters.. On top of that the writing was great, the pacing was perfect. Would def recommend.

I loved this so, so much. I listened to it entirely on audio, which is a rarity for me, but oh goodness it was so good! I do enjoy an elderly protagonist and this book has the perfect one. It followed all the tropes I adore in horror fiction and yet managed to surprise me again and again! I cried a lot while reading it. Definitely reminded me of many people whom I have lost. The commentary on grief in this book is simply superb.

HOA Horror...

This book starts out quiet. Jerry Campbell just lost his wife. He’s retired, heartbroken, and looking to disappear into a peaceful place where no one bothers him. So he moves to Fairview Acres, a retirement community in the Poconos, thinking he’ll fade out quietly. He could not have been more wrong.

His neighbors are strange. There are too many parties. Too many smiles. Too much noise at night that no one wants to talk about. And then there’s Arthur Peterson, the head of the HOA, who keeps showing up to make sure Jerry is getting involved. Whether he wants to or not. Things stay off in a small way until Katherine Dunnally shows up at Jerry’s door and says this one sentence that flips the whole story on its head — you need to leave the worms they dance at nightfall. From there it gets wild. What starts out like a quiet slow-burn horror quickly turns into something bigger and weirder. We’re talking creature-feature chaos. Alien cult energy. Some real body snatcher horror. Potions. Magic. And the looming question of whether all this is supernatural or just part of the horror of growing old and being forgotten. Keisling blends all of that with real emotional weight. Jerry’s grief is heavy and believable. Katherine’s confusion feels real. And the horror is never just for show; it’s tied into aging, memory, and isolation in a way that hits harder than expected. The audiobook narration took a little getting used to. The voice felt a bit stiff at first but ended up fitting the tone pretty well once the strange stuff started unfolding.

This one caught me off guard. What started like a slow, familiar setup went completely sideways and I loved it. Weird, creepy, sad, and kind of beautiful underneath it all.

<b> 3.5 stars</b>

This book started off really strong, Gerry and Katharine are easy to like and root for and an unsettling vibe is quickly established. Unfortunatly I liked this book less an and less as it went along. I still enjoyed reading this book.

Free copy recieved from NetGalley.

Thank you to Todd Keisling and Shortwave Publishing for providing an early copy to review.

The story follows Jerry Campbell a retiree and widower who relocates to Fairview Acres. We learn quickly Fairview Acres isn’t quite what you expect from a typical retirement community. The residents seem to transcend at night with parties, weird sounds coming from the roof and rare occurrences on Jerry’s front lawn. But what’s causing all this to take place? This is where it all unfolds, as we meet the likes of Katherine Dunnally, Arthur Peterson and other members of the community.

Todd does an excellent job mixing grief horror, cosmic horror and a splash of occult horror in this exceptional novel.

I absolutely loved it! The character development of Jerry Campbell is top notch as well as the community building of Fairview Acres. Todd’s prose and pacing make for a fast paced read you won’t be able to put down.

I highly recommend this novel! “By the moon’s eye”

4.25

The Sundowner's Dance
Todd Keisling

A horror story that falls somewhere between Cocoon and Body Snatchers.
I had a fun time with this one.
Highly Recommended.

Somehow both gross as hell, and heartbreaking. It’s early, but this is definitely going to be one of my favorite books of the year.

Thanks to HighBridge Audio, Shortwave Books, and NetGalley for an early audiobook copy.

I went into this complete blind and really enjoyed it! I had no idea it was a cosmic/sci fi horror. It was entertaining and the audiobook was really good. I liked that the characters were all older. The description of everything was easy to imagine and grossed me out at some points.