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 Pleasant Brook, nails the feel and emulates the basic structure of so many of those movies from the slasher-era of classic VHS horror movies and in turn, the numerous horror novels that premiered in paperback at the same time from publishers like Zebra, Pinnacle, and Tor.

Pleasant Brook is a small middle-class town in the Adirondacks of upper New York. It is not a happy place and its citizenry harbor quite a few secrets. Depression and alcoholism are running themes shared by many of its residents. While the overall atmosphere and inspiration seem to be the graphic slasher films of the past, the setting for the novel is pointedly modern with its ongoing references to COVID-19 and its effects on social interaction and specifically school closures and remote learning. It’s not surprising to learn that Lucia is a teacher; he infuses some tangible frustration about how lockdowns affected both students and faculty.

For the first half of the novel we are kept in the dark about the nature of the murderous evil that has descended on Pleasant Brook. That said, we are regularly treated to a series of grisly murders that are being committed by a variety of characters, all wearing a hideous mask that appears to possess and consume them. By the midway point there are numerous mask-wearing, seemingly hive-mind killers running amok.

The cast of characters is large and well-defined and the town of Pleasant Brook is firmly established and believable. Stephen King has always been good at this sort of thing and Lucia is very adept as well. Short chapters keep the action constantly moving forward as we jump from character to character, some of whom seem to be introduced only to be fodder for our growing group of masked killers. Our main protagonists are Constable Grace Matthews and horror movie and book fanatic Scott Carter, a high schooler who has already lost his best friend and unrequited love interest to the evil. Scott’s encyclopedic knowledge of all-things-horror proves to be a handy skill, even if a bit convenient to the plot.

Lucia’s prose is crisp and clean and he’s great at creating an atmosphere of dread. There’s a bit of an episodic repetition to the murders that starts to feel formulaic, but this also adds to that familiar 80s horror movie trope, so it could be shrewdly intentional. However, once things hit full steam it’s a great rush to the climax with some surprises along the way. Lucia takes some chances, particularly in his characterizations and a willingness to explore gender and sexuality in a frank and open way that avoids polemic grandstanding. It’s just presented as a matter of fact. The same is true with some of the commentary on faith found in the novel. There’s not an agenda per se, simply observations that are made regarding the nature of faith and its power

Overall, I think any fan of 80s horror, be it in the form of movies or books, will find a lot to like here, Kevin Lucia is a name to keep an eye on. He’s certainly firmly on my radar. Now, someone needs to take a stab at producing a movie version of this book (pun intended).

I was provided with an ARC of The Horror at Pleasant Brook from Crystal Lake Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Review by Steve Carroll