Welcome to Halcyon (Dead Mawl, #1)

by S.G. Tasz

[zooloo1983]

When Ms Tasz approached me to read her book, I knew I had to as soon as I saw the cover of the book, it gave me the Point Horror/Goosebump feels. I just could not say no and being only 72 pages it is a quick read. You can grab the whole series on Kindle Unlimited at the moment!

Every time I hear about a book being set in a shopping mall after dark, a slight panic comes over me as it reminds me of Dawn of the dead, talking the 1978 version as one scene just stuck with me my whole life and now I am scared of zombies! Plus the 2004 film did not help, albeit these were faster zombies – I have no hope! Anyway, I digress, once the author promised me there were no zombies in her book I took a breath and could not wait to get started!

With it being the very last day that Suttermill department store is open in the infamous Edensgate Shopping center, Cari Hembert is expecting a very uneventful day. However, when her boss Holly starts to act a bit..peculiar and Cari has a six-hour nap in the shop you know things are not adding up. With Cari and her friend Rex being locked in the mall at two minutes past midnight, you know that it will NOT be uneventful….then the noises start.

This is a debut by Tasz and it was just simply awesome! So much happens in 72 pages and I want so much more. We do not know what the “creeps” or the “assimilated” are yet or where they came from. What we do know it is hell on earth. Hailed as a bit like Buffy, Supernatural, Ash vs the dead, well I would have to agree. It has badass characters, some gruesome beasties and a blinking shopping mall plus just enough tension that is so palpable makes it so intense! Even though there are no zombies, I was still on edge just in case!

From the opening chapter, I had to know what was the hell was going on, what had attacked Charlie the janitor and why!? What did he do? But something was off too, why does a cleaner have knives? And bam, off I went merrily on my adventure. As I have said it is only 72 page but so much is packed in without any of it feeling rushed. You have the intrigue to what the hell is going on, but the not knowing drives you further and further. I am looking forward to catching up with the team very soon!

But don’t think that after the last chapter the story ends on a cliffhanger, because well even though it does, there is a further cliffhanger after that! Once I had finished reading Welcome to Halcyon I jumped onto Amazon to get the next book!