Urban Gothic- Brian Keene

Keene has quickly become one of my new favorite writers. For horror, the trick is to keep it new, intersting, paced well, and for god'd sake make me care about the characters. That's why I never liked the Stephen King I have read. Most were worthless characters.
Keene puts basic innocence into bad situations and allows his characters to develop along the lines of survival. What would you do?

Urban Gothic starts with some surburban white kids that are lost in inner city Philadelphia. prejudicial misunderstandings amp the tension, and soon the surburban teens are running for an "abandoned" house in the neighborhood. Wrong house.
Keene explains through characters the presence of the house is a mystery. IT has always been a part of the neighborhood, is supposedly haunted, and the locals just stay away from it. Anyone who has even gone in there has never returned.

Whether intenional or not, not gives us a Sociology lesson. Societies that are "comfortable" with their surroundings never question the unexplained, or pay no attention to them. An older African-American couple remember when the the neighborhood was friendly and folks helped one another. Somewere along the way, the inhabitants lost their focus and crime, prostitution, and drugs took over. When I really think about this book, it is more than just another horror story- it's about taking back your neighborhood and doing what's right.

Lost inside the house, the teens are hunted by deformed cannibalistic mutants. Keene's descriptions of each character's perceptions keep the reader engrossed in the very graphic fates of the friends. This book is not for the squeemish!

Members of the neighborhood agree to find out what is happening, and the story goes from bad to worse.

This was another of Keene's works that was irresistable and difficult to put down. The pace was excellent, leaving each chapter with concern and an anxious spirit for the characters. Maybe I'm a sap, but given the teen's failings, after all of he brutality they witnessed, I wanted as many of them to survive as possible.
The ending was a gutwrenching ride of uncertainty.

This book gave me the same feelings I get when I watch "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". It has many similar elements. Both have such caracatures of evil that you almost laugh, roll your eyes, etc. until you see, hear, and touch the violence. It's disturbing, but each time a character escapes a particularly tight grip you cheer and breathe a sigh of relief.

Maybe it's not for everyone, but true horror fans will appreciate the extent of the chase, the mystery, and the *once again* very graphic scenery.