THE SUMMER I DIED by Ryan C. Thomas

Recently I read a novella that was labeled as “extreme horror” on the cover, and I went into it bracing myself to read something uncomfortable and unbearable. That book was a bit of a letdown but its graphic content also didn’t really affect me much. I went into The Summer I Died aware of the great reviews and that it also had graphic content. But holy shit, I didn’t expect what I experienced here. It caught me with my guard down, maybe because it wasn’t billed as “extreme horror” like the other book, which was a children’s Sunday cartoon compared to The Summer I Died.

The book takes a second to spend time with the two protagonists and build their characters and their relationships and this probably lulled me into a sense of comfort. But when the story takes a turn for the worse and the two friends investigate the screaming of a woman in the woods, I was horrified by its brutal violence and left reeling by its suspenseful tension. At first, I thought I would be tempted to call it torture porn but it’s so damn well-done that it’s hard to deny the artistry here. The countless close calls, the rolling of the dice, the unseen actions in another room left to the imagination, and the missed escape opportunities built the suspense to such a fever pitch that there were times I had to take a breath after reading a passage. 

I’m still thinking about this book and it will probably be on my mind long after. That’s all a reader can ask for.

GRADE: A