Ancient Horror History Unearthed: It's Loose by Warner Lee REVIEWED

Ladies and gentlemen, I present you my first review as a married man. Me and my absolutely gorgeous best friend got married on Friday the 13th, celebrating our honeymoon in Punta Cana for the week afterwards. We got home a few days ago, got our bearings back, and here I am. Back on my nerd game.

I got to read quite a bit on vacation, mostly while flying, so there should be a little influx of reviews over the next few days, the first of which is this, It's Loose.

I was a bit apprehensive to start this one, as my previous experience with Warner Lee, Into the Pit, had all the potential in the world and no payoff. It was incredibly tame and had a very rushed ending.

I was pleasantly proven wrong. It's Loose is an awesome, classically told tale. Not much different from anything else you've read, just doing it a little better.

Warner Lee writes a tight ship, keeping his story reminiscent of The Thing and choose-a-small-town-horror-tale blazing along, this is a fat free book. No filler, just brass tacks. Violent brass tacks too.

In a very Sci-fi Original Movie tale, we have a small town population being terrorized by "The Evil", a demonic force that occasionally turns into a creature described as a bear with an iguana's head.  Said force takes advantage of the inner workings of each resident, forcing them to kill themselves and others in various cruel and messy ways by playing on their insecurities, unspoken hatreds, and various wrongdoings.

To make matters worse, our small town crew are trapped on the island they live on, due to a melting ice bridge. Only line of defense? The town's one man police force and a mysterious stranger from out of town.

I really had a good time with this one. I really enjoyed the frozen island setting as it was fairly believable for me...here in Rhode Island, we have a small island town a few dozen miles off the coast, Block Island. In the summer, it's a beautiful bustling tourist attraction. In the winter, it's a dead zone. No matter the season, the only way to reach the place is by ferry or aircraft. If weather doesn't permit, you're not going anywhere. A perfect setting for this kind of thing.

There's a great twist at the end, there's plenty of atmosphere throughout and gory, at times, vicious sequences that keep you turning the pages.

I give this one a solid recommendation. I will also give the third and final Warner Lee book, Night Sounds a higher spot in my to-be-read pile in hopes it's as good as this.

4.2/5.