Review by Niki: Objects in the Rearview Mirror by F.E. Feeley

Title: Objects in the Rearview Mirror
Author: F.E. Feeley Jr.

Publisher:(click to purchase from publisher)

Rating: 5/5 Smooches

Blurb:

Their new home on Frederick Street in Clay Center, Kansas, was supposed to give writer Jonathan David and his husband, clinical psychologist Dr. Eddie Dorman, an opportunity to enjoy married life. Jonathan has just released his first major bestseller, and he hopes to finally escape his traumatic past and find the quiet existence he has always craved. Eddie has taken a job at the Kansas State University psychology department, and they intend to begin anew.

They have barely settled in when the nightmare begins. Noises, disembodied voices, and mysterious apparitions make Jonathan’s life hell. Part of the house has decided to bare its teeth, show its jagged edges, and bring back the worst of Jonathan’s past. At first, Eddie cannot perceive the spectral events and fears for his husband’s sanity. When he’s also affected by the haunting, he’s unsure of what to do but refuses to be beaten.

Together, they seek a way to fight the forces trying to tear them apart. The world is a frightening place, but confronting their fears plunges Jonathan and Eddie into absolute horror.

Review:

:  So let’s start with a startling fact. I am a chicken-hearted, lily-livered, scaredy-pants who finds Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost a little too horror flickish and still sleeps with the lights on over three years after accidently renting Will Smith’s movie Legend. *yeah, I got it confused with the reluctant superhero flick he did right around the same time and by the time I figured it out I was too far into the film to stop. I would have only imagined far worse things than either Bradbury, Asimov, or any Hollywood writer could dream up. No, seriously. Long story short, this novel, Objects in the Rearview Mirror was not one I’d have normally picked up on my own. Scary on any level is a very hard sell when you are dealing with me.

All right, I know I’m taking the long way around the barn, but when I say this novel is a must read, give it 5/5 smooches as a rating and urge you to make anything by Feeley an auto-buy, I want you to  understand the full scope of what I’m saying.

I read this book with all the lights in my house on. I jumped at shadows. And I desperately want more of what this author has to give.

Why?

Because Feeley writes boldly. His characters draw you in, his dialog feels authentic, the imperfections of his craft actually make this story stronger in the same way that some model and celebrities physical flaws increase their appeal. The man is a bonafide genius guru writer god. I started the book with zero expectations. It was something my Smoocher’s Voice Bosslady sent to me, so I was going to read and do my damnedest to give an honest, insightful review of.

The opening dragged for me. I was a little bored. I buckled down and kept reading, because by golly, I had a job *yeah, yeah, unpaid and all but still* to do… and then I got past the prologue and into the meat of the novel. The characters hooked me in. I liked them right away, and holy creeping surprise, in less than twenty pages I absolutely fecking LOVED them. Another twenty pages in and I was convinced that the prologue I’d originally found slow, boring and unnecessary was the most brilliant bit of foreshadowing in the history of ever. From there on out—yes, even with every light in the house on, and jumping at random noises—I was hooked right through the gills, desperate to know what happened next, utterly riveted.

I’m one of those vile creatures who will flip to the back of a book to make sure everything comes out all right. I get scared for the characters and want to be soothed by knowing they’ll make it through whatever their personal shipwreck is. I couldn’t stop reading long enough to skip to the end. I had to gasp, flinch, and shiver my way through the story word by word with the characters.

Are there flaws in this book?

Probably. I dare you to find them though. I’m betting if you do find any, it’ll be after reading the story multiple times. The writing is so strong, the characters so fully fleshed, the world so three dimensional and all six of your senses so fully engaged that you won’t have time to do anything but shush anyone who tries to interrupt your journey to Clay Center, Kansas and the house where the protagonists fight their way forward to a stunning, chill inducing and thoroughly satisfying conclusion.

Thank you, Mr. Feeley. You made a thing of beauty here, and the world is a better place for it.

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