The Horror at Pleasant Brook (2023) by Kevin Lucia
Those of us of a certain age have fond memories of the heyday of the VHS movie rental market. There was nothing like going to the local video rental store on a Friday night and perusing the walls and shelves trying to decide what movies we would watch into the wee hours. For many of us, horror movies were at the top of that list and in the 80s and 90s there was no shortage of them to choose from. They typically starred unknown actors and we didn’t care. I’m pretty sure Kevin Lucia is a kindred spirit to me in this regard. The first clue to that conclusion is found in his novella, Joey Leonard’s Last Horror Movie Marathon , which I reviewed a few months ago. That tale revolved around the closing of a video store and the protagonist whose life is upended by watching a certain cosmically-haunted videotape. The second clue is the fact that Lucia’s first full-length novel, The Horror at Pleasan...