Gaia’s Game: A Dark New Level of Horror
By Ken Stark
Reviewed by S. S. Bazinet

Description: IT’S BEEN A DAY LIKE NO OTHER FOR SHERIFF TOM COOPER.
A body has been found in an abandoned mansion, and it looks like that’s just the beginning.

Reports have been coming in from all across Keeter’s Bluff.
Violent attacks. Townspeople disappearing. Others found torn to pieces.
Bodies now litter the streets from one end of town to the other, and it’s not just happening on Keeter’s Bluff.

With the setting of the sun, Sheriff Cooper is faced with the shocking truth…
This is not the work of a madman.
This enemy is closer to home, and it might be impossible to defeat.

He and a handful of friends only have hours left to end the carnage. If they can’t find a way to stop this unthinkable new horror, this might be the last night for Keeter’s Bluff, and quite possibly, the world.
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My review: Much more than just another horror story!

Author Ken Stark’s brilliant book has lured me over to the dark side of fiction, the horror genre. I don’t usually like reading something with a lot of gore and gruesome kills, but I was completely mesmerized once I started Stark’s book.

There are definitely incidents that are brutal and ruthless in the book, but for the most part Stark only goes so far in how he describes a lethal attack. I think that’s what’s so captivating and why I find his writing to be so tantalizing. He builds the tension to a fever pitch, has you primed for a heinous kill, and then he engages your imagination. Once your imagination is primed and receptive for some kind of unthinkable horror, Stark adds elements of impending doom that leave you knowing all too well the fate of a victim.

This isn’t a cozy mystery. It’s a horror mystery. As the death count rises, we feel compelled to know what’s going on. Has the world gone completely mad? Like dedicated Sheriff Cooper, we eventually learn the truth, and it’s both surprising and horrifying.

Stark has an amazing ability to make his characters come alive in a paragraph or two. It doesn’t matter if a character has a minor or major role. They’re people we can relate to almost instantly. Every scene and new development keeps you focused and wondering what’s next.

GAIA’S GAME is also a commentary on humans and their behavior. After I finished the book, I was left pondering a number of important issues. What’s the relationship between humanity and their planet, Earth, and how sustainable is our present course of action? And what about an issue that’s very close to home. How do parents view their children? Are children taken seriously? Is society headed for disaster when there’s a lack of respect for our children’s foundation years? After all, those children are the adults of the future. Will they be equipped to think and do in a way that helps society as a whole?

Those are questions for a person like me, a person who always looks for a deeper meaning in every book I read. But don’t worry if you just want an entertaining, perfectly written horror story. GAIA’S GAME is the book for you!
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