While a genuinely creepy story, “Dormant” gets wrecked by its own annoying characters. Seriously, I’d had it with them, I was ready for everything and anything bad to take them out.

Definitely too bad, because I was really scared a few times whilst reading.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Raven Tale for a copy!

“Dormant” by D.R. Forge is a must read if you crave some eco horror, body horror, a pinch of cosmic horror mixed in. I read it in a few hours and found it well-written and well-paced with an interesting, creepy, disturbing, makes your skin crawl and itch when you think about various elements of this story, too long— vibes.

All of which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The writing is good, the descriptions are insidious, sneaky, visceral, compelling, and leave an aftertaste of unnerving! The plot is interesting and fleshes out the main storyline as well some relationship subplots that add characterization and depth.

Recommended for horror readers who enjoy Debra Castaneda’s work but think a bit more grotesque.

I will definitely read more from this author.

4.45/5 stars

When you buy a massive fixer upper then you find out it’s haunted you know it’s going to be a good horror story. This is based on being house poor, especially since Owen’s job didn’t pan out, in a creepy Florida swamp. Real stressful living where you can’t just get out of the house and where the haunting horrors persist this is a rollercoaster of emotional, ecological, financial, and marital nightmare for this couple.

Combining haunted house with eco horror, this story explores a fixer-upper house near a swamp in Florida and the failing relationship between a couple as the husband struggles to come to terms with his past and the wife questions what she wants for her future.
While the actual horror takes a while to get going, what really drew my attention was the exploration of the characters and their relationships with each other. While they are two newlyweds and should care only for each other, they keep secrets from each other that force a wedge between them that just keeps growing. It was fascinating to see how they were sabotaging their own relationships and growing more distant until there was no way for them to bridge the distance. While the wife engages in not-so-innocent texting with her former coworker, while questioning her sexuality, the husband hides the fact that he lost his job and soon finds himself lying more and more to his wife about what he does all day as video tapes begin to .
The later half of the book then finally dives deep into the supernatural aspects of the story, revealing the monster hiding in their walls. I really enjoyed watching the descent into trauma, unreality, hallucinations and horror. The body horror was delicious too!
All in all, this was a well done eco horror/haunted house combination with interesting (but not likeable) main characters and a great use of a dual-POV-narrative to make you question what one POV just told you.

TW: (past) addiction, body horror, cheating, (past) child neglect, (past) parental death, gore, murder

Rated 2/5 stars.

Dormant by D.R. Forge is an exploration of cosmic, ecological horror as it manifests in a surburban Floridian neighborhood. It was a fast paced lead with an excellent final 30%. Marcy and Owen move into their newly acquired, but utterly ramshackle, home after the latter experience's a devastating loss. They soon find hidden VHS tapes and quickly watch them, only to discover they are quite morbid and slightly addicting. What follows is a mindbending adventure into the confines of reality and a breakdown of the psyche. The characters are.. unlikeable, to say the least, and make quite a lot of decisions that seem ridiculous and irreplicable. Also, I genuinely haaaaaated Owen. Awful husband who expected his wife to do housework equally with him, but neglected to mention he turned down a job because he "didn't want to work." I---ANYways.

Honestly, I found myself skimming the middle 50% of the book because it seemed to lag, and I found that the parts that needed more description were lacking, and those that needed less description were overwhelming. It seemed like a good plot that wasn't executed quite the best. Even the climax seemed to sneak up pretty exponentially and once it happened, it was over. I think that this story would be better if it was reduced by 80 pages to match its intention to be fast-paced. The descriptions of visceral horror were pretty good though, gotta say.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

A pair of newlyweds with a bit of a tumultuous relationship move into a former vacation rental home that has been sitting vacant and effectively abandoned for about a decade, and find a lockbox full of VHS tapes stashed in the chimney. The husband, Owen, is currently out of work and is immediately set on watching the tapes and weaving together whatever story is on them. The wife, Marcy, is…not psyched, and wants to bring them to the police station. What unfolds is a found-footage mystery mixed with a touch of eco-horror.

The arc and pacing of the story had me right up until about the halfway point, when it abruptly started feeling like a hard left turn directly into some weird underground. While I do think the story can work, it felt rushed and incomplete. Certain things didn’t make sense; for example, there was so much tension between Owen and Marcy, but just about no love at all, so I didn’t find myself rooting for them. After most of their interactions it’s unclear what is keeping one with the other. Their characters could have used more development to give them some more depth and make them relatable and sympathetic; they weren’t either. Additionally, it’s not clear why Marcy instantly jumps to involving the police after they find the VHS tapes. The tapes themselves are a bit of an issue—having been stashed in a metal box in a chimney which has been very clearly used over the many decades since the stashing, one would think they’d have melted or been in otherwise unwatchable shape.

As other descriptions of *Dormant* have stated, the book screams VanderMeer’s *Annihilation*, especially after passing the midway point. All in all, I found it to a be good-not-great, fast two-sitting read.

Thank you to both #NetGalley and Raven Tale for providing me a copy of D.R. Forge's debut #short novel, Dormant, in exchange for an honest review.

#Dormant is an eerie tale about a newlywed couple who relocates from the northeast to a fixer-upper in Florida, and the nightmares they encounter when all they desired was a fresh start. What begins as some seemingly innocuous night noises, creeps through their starter home, threatening to unravel both the couples' marriage and their lives.

While the story is mostly well-written and offers some stellar imagery of the entities lurking within, there are a few items that could benefit from edits. For one, the age-range of the couple. Pedantic, but some of the remarks and backstory do not realistically jive with individuals that young. Next, for such a short novel, the beginning chapters are a bit too slow. Finally, creating a stronger connection between the characters and their relationship could elevate the tension.

Otherwise, I can definitely see this plot transforming into a longer, creepier, spectacular #horror novel.

Another reviewer described this as Sinister meets ecological horror and I feel like that fits perfectly. The found footage creepiness, the eerie Florida swamp atmosphere, and the crescendo of horror elements made this a real nail-biter of a read.

A thrilling debut with a unique storyline, a chilling atmosphere and a open-ended finale.

Just when you think you know where the plot is heading....wham. There's a twist that'll give you whiplash. Very well written, and completely captivating.

I loved that the characters were believable, their lives and reactions to events happening seemed plausible for what a normal human would do in a similar situation. And thank you for finally having a young couple buying their first house but isn't this disgustingly perfect, oh-so-happy (to the point of delusion) stepford wives level fake. These actually feel like characters that are real, not fictional characters that you scream at for being so ridiculously dense.

I recommend this read if you like a little supernatural in your horror reads. Very entertaining.

This feels very half-baked, which is an issue that seems to be running rampant among these Reddit-to-book authors. So many questions are left unanswered, plotpoints left open and concepts left unexplored. It’s also not my personal favourite type of horror but I absolutely could’ve looked past that if I loved the execution.

A wonderful debut novel featuring a beautifully written ecological horror, simmering beneath the surface of a haunted house. This inevitable and creeping force is pulled apart by the seams by the tensions from a strained marital relationship. The story slowly builds to a nebulous cascade of distrust, ghostly apparitions, conflicts, survival and carnage. The ending will have you disbelieving reality, as the characters are whisked into an existential descent brimming with earth, dirt and grief.

I loved the enigmatic writing around the ecological mysteries and violent horrors. This is where the author seems to really shine in their element. There’s an eloquent blend of tender Earthly visions, pulsing with horrific blood-curdling madness. Where I thought the story fell a little flat was the relationship dynamics feeling dry, off-beat dialogue and the slowness of the mundane. While I appreciated the hints along the way, some of the content didn’t seem fitting or it just needed a push along to that awesome ending. Nonetheless, impressive debut! And that gorgeous cover! Can’t wait to see more from this author.

Though the initial file I received was corrupted and unreadable, the author reached out to me, let me know the publisher was working with NetGalley to fix the problem, and that the PDF file should be fine. Thus, I was finally able to read the book and can now give a proper review.
A young couple, Owen Parker, an out of work ecologist, and Marcy, a nurse now working at a retirement home, have recently bought a fixer-upper house in Florida. Though they hoped for a nice, fresh start, tensions are starting to build as the move, the repairs, the recent death of Owen's aunt, Owen's lack of a job and the fact that he's a recovering alcoholic, are straining their marriage. On top of all that, Marcy wakes up one night to the distinct sensation that something abnormal is going on with the house. When Owen then discovers a metal lock box hidden within the chimney full of old VHS tapes, things only get weirder.
For a debut novel, the writing was pretty solid. Somewhere I think I saw a comparison to The Ring, but the only thing the book and that book/film have in common is a video tape. NetGalley's description mentioning the film Sinister and Jeff VanderMeer's Annihilation are exactly what came to my mind, even though I forgot it was mentioned here first, as the book definitely has some elements of both. But the story within is pretty original, with some unique takes of its own.

I received this book through NetGalley.

I was drawn in quickly, especially with the noises and occurrences that Marcy and Owen experience once they move into their new house. With the discovery of the tapes I LITERALLY couldn’t put this down. There is enough scare factor in this story that I got scared when my son walked in from school.

Overall the story flows together at a quick pace and keeps you intrigued until the very end. This is something I’ll gladly read again when I’m in need of a scare.

This is eco and body horror like you have never seen before, and I am so here for it!
I'm a big fan of the "moving into a house and everything going wrong" trope in horror, and this was no exception. I liked that this wasn't the typical creepy old house and instead was much more modern, including the horror aspect. I think it would have been nice to have more interaction with their neighbors, but it didn't make or break the story by any means. I really felt that the couple was written in a fantastic way. Their personalities and even arguments felt natural and made me want to root for them even more.
I really liked the basis of the horror aspect, though I wish there was a deeper dive into the building of it. It's left pretty open for interpretation which might be some people's thing just not mine. I will say that the shock factor is a 10 out of 10 and my jaw remained on the floor from about 50% of the way through till the very end. I just kept telling myself I couldn't believe what I was reading!

The most terrifying story I have ever read…a couple buys a fixer-upper on a Florida swamp and it has no air-conditioning. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

2 stars

Marcy and Owen Parker are newlyweds and, like all young couples, are looking for a house they can afford. But they are dreaming the impossible dream the end.

No, seriously, these nutjobs DO buy a fixer upper on a Florida swamp with no air-conditioning (and Owen conveniently neglects to tell Marcy he kind of crapped out on the whole “job” thing he was pursuing, so, you know, this is all going to end in a bloodbath of SOME kind, and not just because this is a horror book.) And not only are there a million and one things on the renovation list, it’s also, yay!, haunted.

Seriously, this is pretty much all Owen’s fault because they moved to this hellhole to care for his grandmother who then died right before they closed and THEN he becomes obsessed with the could-have-been-interesting-but-surprisingly-rather-dull history of the house, which we see just a tiny bit of in VHS tapes. Marcy tries to save Owen’s stupid ass from himself, but there’s some boring backstory which goes nowhere, plus, you know, they just got married…she’s not THAT attached.

I try to take chances on books from small publishers, (this one is from Raven Tale, I do believe) and sometimes you get lucky, (I just read a self-published book called THEO OF GOLDEN that was lovely) but this just wasn’t very good. There was no real insight as to what was happening or why, or, further, why anyone should care.

This is quite the creepy story, combining eco horror with cosmic horror and a dash of folk horror to round it out.

A couple buys their first home in a quiet retirement area in Florida. Close to a swamp and teeming with flora, it's a fixer upper but it's what they can afford. Owen is an indie documentary film maker and Marcy is a nurse.

Although they have a good relationship, it's marred by past events which will be revealed over time. One day Owen finds a lockbox filled with old VHS tapes which had been encased in bricks for some reason. Soon, he becomes obsessed with them despite Marcy's insistence that they take them to the police.

What he'll find on these tapes is something which starts out a bit creepy but soon turns into true terror. And he will never be the same again as whatever lies dormant on their property is ready to come out. And it's extremely hungry.

This author does a great job of building the horrors while we see the slow unraveling of this couple. The hot humid Florida swamplands provides a fantastic backdrop for the narrative. The creepy things keep getting more intense as the book progresses and you get the feeling that things are not going to end well for either Owen or Marcy.

This is a banging short novel which you'll definitely want to read. I highly recommend it.

I was hooked from the beginning!!
It was amazing and engaging.
I was instantly sucked in by the atmosphere and writing style.
The characters were all very well developed .
The writing is exceptional and I was hooked after the first sentence.