The Tear Collector

by Shawn Burgess

[zooloo1983]

Anyone who knows me, knows I love a good blinking scare. I bought this book when it came out because of a review I had read and that badass cover, chilling to look at. The book starts with the intro to something ghastly happening in the past. A horrific accident which sets the tone for the rest of the book.

Our main characters are the young Brooks and Detective Holt, with other chapters in the third person giving us the overview of the rest of the cast. The book starts chilling, a somewhat creepy beginning through some woods aptly named Grief Hollow and poor Brooks is in the thick of it. What starts off as what I thought would be a ghost story, with a Ring esq type woman, quickly descended into a Stranger Things and IT type of book. Adolescent boys and a ghoulish demonic beast which varies in shapes and sizes, just like what we experience in those two shows/films.

This book is not an easy read, it demands your full attention at all times. It is not a light read and where I found some nights my concentration lacking, I had to re-read what I had read because I got lost and needed to concentrate. The scenes with the boys were written in such a way, you could imagine them acting as they did. The immaturity of their speech, the breaking into someone’s basement, all classic things you see in horror films. I will admit that I did struggle with the flow of some of the book and I am not quite sure everything added up for me. The ending was quick but I did love, as with all good horror stories, the feeling of unease, to indicate all is not what it seems. I would love to have more spooky goings-on, I mean the scenes with Robby you knew something bad was going to happen and when they were executed, they were chilling. I am a sucker for those chills.

However, the misgivings of the boys are warranted, even when they were goofing around to try and lighten the mood, that overwhelming sense of malevolence never left the page. It was there manifesting, biding its time until we learn of its true face. I would have liked a bit more background on this but that is because I was intrigued by how it all started.

It was an enjoyable read, a chilling one at times, maybe don’t read this one at night, on your own even or when you are falling asleep and you are adamant someone just blew in your face to wake you up. You know that situation! Enough to make you put the book down and sleep with your light on.