Twin Lakes: Autumn Fires by Michelle Garza and Melissa Lason REVIEWED

2018 has come and gone, but the books from it remain in my to be read pile. Just a few more to go, and I can get into reading all the great things 2019 will offer...as well as the whole reason I started this blog: unsung classics from the "heyday".

But there's plenty of good stuff being churned out by new authors, that shouldn't go ignored, thus my dedication to covering new material. If we are ever going to see a closeness to the horror fiction glory days, we've gotta take notice of the new, great stuff coming out presently.

Michelle Garza and Melissa Lason, AKA The Sisters of Slaughter, have been strong contenders for being the queens of the forefront of today's horror market since they busted onto the scene with their Stoker-nominated walk through hell of a debut, Mayan Blue, a few years back.

That novel was, on it's surface, a very traditional 'college kids get torn apart by demons' yarn that was elevated tenfold by the sisters incredible attention to detail, namely of the hellscape they built in that story, taking that fairly pedestrian exercise and cultivating greatness by developing such a robust universe for it to take place in.

I loved that book and have paid close attention to each work they've released since.

This, their latest, Twin Lakes: Autumn Fires, takes that same great attention to detail and places it with characters as opposed to backdrop. Where Mayan Blue had every square foot of its setting richly described to the point where one could feel as though they were within the caves with the protagonists, TL:AF pays that attention to fleshing out it's ensemble of characters.

Not a single character in this thing is without some quirk, or supernatural ability or heavy baggage to be explored deeply by the writers. It's this attention that rises their writing to above average stature.

Twin Lakes is a delicious little slice of fantasy horror, with heavy emphasis on the fantasy, that takes a wacky, everything-but-the-kitchen sink approach. And I mean everything.

You've got demonic serial killers, immortal guardians of supernatural proportion protecting a town, werewolves, killer vines, gobs of gore and so much more. It can be a bit much at times, a bit frenzied and angular in it's narrative, but it's always a great time. A great time where this reader popped the question "what the hell did I just read!?", quite a bit.

Indeed I did have to double back and make sure I was following the ensemble cast correctly..."wait, who is the werewolf again?"..."who was it that just got their throat crushed?"..."who is the clairvoyant one again?"... but it all pays off and ties together in the same way something like Twin Peaks does.

TW:AF circles around Liz, a young woman backpacking the country, who is sexually assaulted. Upon fighting off that attack, she stumbles upon even worse, a violent and unrelated murder scene. This ties her up in a supernatural battleground in a small town that has it's fair share of secrets.

I enjoyed this one, but I could have used a breather here and there where things made just a little bit more sense from time to time. I continue to look forward to anything the sisters put out, as I feel they've still got their masterpiece in them, waiting to captivate the horror world.

3/5.