Hetty

Had an old timer horror story feel which I enjoyed immensely. A classic for sure, with gore and sinister creatures living outside an old school house. A real page turner!

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

This book was horrifying. It’s probably the scariest thing I’ve read all year. I couldn’t wait to find out what happens next. I literally read this book and one night with the light on.

I really enjoyed this book. It was hard to put down. It was an interesting take on a ghost story. I highly recommend it. I truly believe it should be made into a Netflix original. I'd love to see it play out in live action.

The premise of Hetty was what intrigued me, but the writing and the characters made me stay. This book was full of life ….and death in the best way.
We follow Dane, a struggling writer as he moves to Moreland after he receives an inheritance. He meets Winona, a single mom with a four year old son who is also new to Moreland. She is also struggling financially and they become close.
The story grows at an interesting pace as a reader you already know something about Hetty and the schoolhouse but not much is revealed in the beginning. You anticipate learning more about this ghost legend and her schoolhouse. The anxious anticipation makes reading the story somewhat of a nail biter and the action scenes in the end are worthy of a horror movie.
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it as a quick and fun read for horror fans.

Oh, this one is eerie!

In Hetty, Eddie Generous brings us old school chills with the tale of missing children and a very scary school teacher!

As is usual with the author, the characters practically live and breathe. I was so worried about them – and a certain fierce good boy.

The story builds at a good pace, weaving together dark history and a more modern tale that manages to be just as horrifying and heartbreaking.

An excellent read – perfect when you want something chilling!

*ARC via the Publisher

“Hetty” by Eddie Generous is delightfully morbid for its cruel and merciless descent upon two innocent characters who are tortured by an unnatural force of evil that thrives off killing and terrorizing its victims. Fans of horror will be thrilled by this spooky and downright horrifying tale full of dark and unsettling events.

Years ago, a tragic incident left a bunch of schoolchildren and their teacher, Hetty, dead. Ever since, children from the area have been reported missing, never to be found. Locals say Hetty’s not truly dead and her spiteful spirit still roams the property in search of children to steal. Others call it a coincidence. With a stream of violent deaths followed by another missing child, it becomes clear something is amiss with the old schoolhouse that used to belong to Hetty. And as every horror story goes, there is always someone brave enough (or stupid enough) to face their fears, dig deeper into the unknown, and risk everything to find out what truly happened to those missing children. Except in this story, the characters have no choice but to fight against an entity they know nothing about to save a child and rid the world of an unspeakable evil.

This novel was truly and utterly grotesque … a perfect noir horror that's filled to the brim with gore, haunting lullabies, and violent attacks that will chill readers to their very core. Hetty is every child’s and adult’s fear personified. She is the monster people imagine when alone in the pitch-dark—a force of evil no one wants to face. Unfortunately, the characters in this novel don’t have a choice. They must find a way to defeat Hetty or let her continue her ruthless hunt of terror and murder.

Fans of horror should definitely be on the lookout for this novel on its expected publication date of September 18th, 2021. Not only is it filled to the brim with gore, violence, and the unsettling “oh no” moments that are fun to be spooked by, Generous also creates a cast of characters readers will love (and in some circumstances, love to hate). A book in this genre succeeds when it can frighten readers and part of that stems from having characters that are relatable and well-liked. Dane and Winona are definitely a screwed-up duo with lots of issues but they’ll make readers laugh, get angry, and at times be very worried about their sanity.

Thank you to Netgalley and Omnium Gatherum for providing me with a free e-arc and the chance to share my honest opinion in this review.

A Bad Frog In A Tainted Pond

There are many kinds of teachers. Some love children and feel joy as they nurture their intellects. Some teach merely as a way to make a living. A few stand at the head of their classrooms and relish the power of being the big frog in the midst of their tiny pond full of helpless polliwogs. Hetty was the kind who'd inspect the shiny apple a student brought as her tribute and then beat them if it had a bruise.

Even though corporal punishment was an accepted part of school at the time, I suspect that her students' fear and excessive bruises caused the town to arrange for her replacement. But, tragically, they were still unaware of what kind of person they were dealing with. Too many are.

I liked Dane and his attitude about life. He'd been damaged but found a mentor who completely altered the direction his life was taking, allowing him to establish a career he never dreamed he'd attain. I admired how his heart wanted to pay it forward and how helping Winona and Casey when he encountered them made him feel good about himself. Playing the part-time hero didn't bring him confidence or peace from past pain, though.

Winona had also been betrayed by someone she loved and trusted. I understood her, both her pain and her poor decisions. Having wariness about accepting help from someone decent is a symptom of being emotionally battered, as is being willing to allow a new abuser into your life, unfortunately. The way things developed as she tried to rebuild a home for herself and Casey is too normal.

Eddie Generous showed a deep understanding of people in the way he created his characters with sweetness and the unsavory in their natures. The possibility of Dane, Winona, and Casey finally having good in their lives while being unaware of the evil drawing nearer made what happened next even more terrifying.

Being betrayed and lack of awareness of impending danger are themes throughout the book, from the students and parents a hundred years ago to the present day. Whether Hetty was also betrayed depends on how you look at it.

I cared about what happened to the central characters, whipping through the pages as the suspense grew. My concern for them testifies to how skillfully the book was written. Generous packed a lot into Hetty, and it's a great, scary read.

The author and publisher made a free ARC available to me via NetGalley, for which I sincerely thank them. A free book doesn't buy my recommendation, however. Instead, I give it freely to this book. It earned all five stars!

Hetty Stanley was a cruel, spinster school teacher, who over a century ago killed her entire class. Of course a heinous act this huge would and did create folklore of her haunting the lake she killed the children in. Ever few years a child would disappear from near the lake, keeping her story and the fear alive.
Dane Butler, a struggling writer, inherits a home near the old schoolhouse where Hetty reined in terror. Winona and her four year old son move into the converted schoolhouse to try and start a new life. The two adults form a friendship and Dane forms a bond with the young boy over old '80's video games.
Then as expected, the worst happens. Casey disappears and the hunt for the child and answers begin.
Sounds formulaic, following the path of many a mystery or ghost story. But this one has just that extra little something, that something you find in a good scary horror novel like they used to write. Eddie Generous, whom I have never heard of or read anything from, reminded me of early Bentley Little or Robert Marasco.
Finally a book under the genre of horror that delivers what it promised!
I stayed up late reading, rushing to the end even as I wanted it to last longer.
Definitely recommend to anyone who loved and misses the style of horror that creeps up on you, sinks it teeth in and shakes you around.
Thanks to @Netgalley and Omnium Gatherum for this arc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.