Crimson by Gord Rollo

". . .a tale told by a madman to chilling effect."

Jacob Harrison goes on a rampage, cleaving a bloody swath through the small town of Dunville. He ends it by hanging himself from the rafters in the attic. When the police return to cut the body down, Jacob is gone.

Twenty-two years later, Johnny Page and his mother move into Old Man Harrison’s farm house. Johnny inherited the house and acres of good farmland from his father who disappeared several years ago. Johnny makes friends with three other boys, David Winter, Pete Meyers and Tom Davis. They play together one Saturday, but things do not end the way the boys plan.

After finding a circular bomb shelter, they come face to face with evil… a rotting corpse that has come to claim one of them to carry on what Jacob Harrison started.

At first glance, Crimson borrows from the usual elements of horror: madness, murder, dismemberment, possession and Jack the Ripper. Gord Rollo slowly drew me in and carried me across the threshold of madness into a world where nothing is as it seems. The story jumps from decade to decade, building up a body count. Crimson is actually three novellas linked by the three boys and a monster who escaped the confines of Hell possessing Satan’s power. Right up to the end it continues to surprise, shock and inspire awe, leaving no one unscathed or unscarred.

There are a few clinkers, but you’ll have to look hard to find them. Rollo has made good use of the tried and true and has dreamed up a few twists that work to his advantage. Crimson is a tale told to chilling effect by a madman.

Reviewer: J. M. Cornwell