EDGING
By Michael Schutz
Enthralling!
Story Synopsis
Intenze is the newest designer drug. Take it, and nightmares come alive. “Edging” is a better rush than the Tower of Terror. It’s a fraction of the price of a Six Flags admission. And it’s the most addictive high the tiny suburb of New London has ever known.
For Rick Carlson, the junkies roaming the streets don’t even scratch the surface of what worries him. He’s trying to win back his cheating wife. He’s trying to protect his residents at Belmont Assisted Living from their own drug-addled grandchildren. And he’s trying to save his twin boy and girl from their mother’s murderous paranoia.
But he can’t save them all.
The fears of all those who edge summon the Thirst—a living miasma that thrives on terror. It is bringing a storm. And Rick is running out of time.
Content Review
Can we all take a minute to appreciate the cover art on this one? It is gripping, creative, and creepy. I enjoy it. Cover art design is credited to L. Bachman, Bachman Designs. Well done.
Edging starts out strong, introducing some major players in the story and introducing us to Intenze, the new designer drug. From there, the story flows with a consistently good pace. The characters and subplots are uncomfortably realistic. These are real, relatable people who you get to know, empathize with, like, dislike, laugh with, and want to slap. The subplots are indicative of real life, real life struggles, real life issues, real life feelings.
Insert the drug Intenze.
Insert the Thirst.
What you get is an enthralling story with a building dread that leaves you emotionally spent.
I giggled out loud.
Gasped out loud.
Said “No!”
But yes. Schutz went there. My mind spun with the implications. I was almost afraid of what came next. It was like a bad trip. A bad trip? Yikes. I was only 1/3 of the way into the book.
Schutz combines realism with a touch of the surreal and some creepy foreshadowing to build a sense of dread that repeatedly had me physically tensed up. And I am not ashamed to say this book evoked a couple of nightmares. Okay, I am a little ashamed to say it. I was jumping at shadows, literally, for a few days.
Want to know why?
Of course you want to know why.
So read it and find out!
Print Length: 338 pages
Publication Date: March 30, 2017
Get it on Amazon: getbook.at/Edging
About the Author: Michael Schutz
Michael Schutz was born and raised in the frozen tundra of Wisconsin, where the macabre tales of Ray Bradbury and Stephen King kept him warm at night. He’s seen way too many horror movies to be healthy and wants to pull you into his warped world of blogging and podcasting with Darkness Dwells (http://www.wheredarknessdwells.com). He is the author of the novels EDGING and Blood Vengeance and the novella Uninoch. His short fiction has been featured most recently in Crossroads in the Dark II: Urban Legends, Dark Moon Digest, Sanitarium, and the anthologies Beasts: Revelations, Beyond the Nightlight, and Cranial Leakage: Tales from the Grinning Skull. He lives with his three naughty cat-children in northern California.
Bibliophilia Templum 