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The title for The Beast of Bradley Downs by Stephanie O’Hanlon caught my eye, but it was the cover that finished me off. I love horror and this looked like a good one.

Check out this awesomely creepy cover for yourself. Simple, but it says so much.

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The Beast of Bradley Downs by Stephanie O’Hanlon

Publisher: Damnation Books, LLC (May 1, 2015)

Cover Art: Dawne Dominique

MY REVIEW

The Beast of Bradley Downs by Stephanie O’Hanlon is a fantastically good debut horror novel loaded with action from the getgo.

Karoline Hale lives in the small town of Bradley Downs. The legend of mysterious deaths and the burning of the town were rationalized by its citizens, because no way could they conceive the truth. She had pale skin and her lipstick was a red slash across her face. She loves horror movies, but she doesn’t want to be in one.

Mitch is her best friend, but he would like to be more. The question is, does she? Sometimes the one you love is right in front of you, but you don’t see it.

She is on the run…from IT. Is that IT in the shadows? Is that IT making that noise? Is that ITs crunching footsteps behind her? Is that IT exhaling ITs hot breathe on her neck?

Stephanie O’Hanlon uses all the horror trickes, including my, er…favorite, the monster under the bed, reaching out to grab my foot…I mean YOUR foot. 🙂

The suspense kept me on the edge of my seat. I kept waiting, waiting, knowing it was coming, just didn’t know when. Uh oh, she’s way too happy and it’s Halloween.

My biggest problem was buying the fact that the townspeople blew off the danger to everyone after numerous gruesome deaths. But, as I thought about real life, don’t we refuse to see the unexplainable? Besides, it is fiction and sometimes we need to let some things slide to make the story better. I let it play through my mind like a movie.

A lot of the story is predictable, but beware, every once in a while Stephanie will throw a surprise at you. The suspense of the threat of attack was felt throughout The Beast of Bradley Downs. I had a feeling that something I didn’t want to happen would, and darn it Stephanie, you did it! I feel that made the book even better, though I didn’t like it. LOL I had a feeling I knew the ending…yeah, right. Stephanie did it again. The ending knocked me for a loop and it was most definitely not what I thought it would be. I love that. How often does that happen to you? I will be looking for more of her work.

I received The Beast of Bradley Downs from Stephanie O’Hanlon in return for an honest review.

4 Stars

SYNOPSIS

Can Beauty outrun the Beast?

Karoline Hale is on the run. After witnessing her boyfriend get killed she abandons everything she once knew for a new life consisting of bus tickets and hotel rooms, a duffel bag full of old clothes, and a shotgun.

She isn’t running from any ordinary killer. She is running from the Beast of Bradley Downs—a creature that kills without judgment and is hunting Karoline. She can only run for so long before she needs to gather her strength and face the Beast that howls under the wind, prowls the night, and cannot be killed by modern means.

ABOUT STEPHANIE O’HANLON

Stephanie O’Hanlon graduated from the Toronto Film School in 2008 with aspirations of starting a career in film, but found herself drawn to writing.

Combining her love for writing and history, her preferred genre is historical romance, as seen in her EP title Affaire de Coeur, though she has also enjoyed the paranormal romance genre, as seen with her EP re-release Out of my Grave. Check out her New Adult horror title The Beast of Bradley Downs, now available from Damnation Books!

Now a full time writer, she lives in Ontario, Canada with her dogs, Judas & Dante, and beloved cats, Nevermore & Willow.

Keep an eye out for the first installment in her The Raven Series, A Swan Song for the Raven, to be released by Eternal Press.

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