'Afraid' by Jack Kilborn

I have to be honest and admit that I am a ‘scaredy cat’. I never watch horror movies, I do not like darkness, it makes me borderline paranoid and therefore I always sleep with a light on. With that said, I absolutely love horror books! Talk about the case in contradictions. I can’t explain it, but then again, things I read about in horror books are inexplicable as well so I guess we go together :D. Unfortunately, because I have read tons of horror books, there are not very many of them that can truly scare me or shock me out of my socks. That is, until I read Afraid by Jack Kilborn. This guy definitely has what it takes to write a great horror novel: a deliciously twisted imagination.


Safe Haven, Wisconsin is a secluded place with one road in and out. The residents all know one another because there are so few of them. All and all, it is a peaceful town. One night and one helicopter crash changes the serenity of the town and its residents forever. A powerfully evil force is unleashed upon Safe Haven and it is bent on annihilating the whole town. But before that happens, the residents will face the fate much, much worse than death and they will be begging to be killed instead.



Jack Kilborn certainly knows how to deliver the thrills of your life. Things started happening from the first page of the book. I was sucker-punched and didn’t get the chance to draw a breath until the book was over. Just when I thought that there couldn’t possibly be any more ideas turned into a horrifying read, Afraid came along and I was proved wrong. Mr. Kilborn is a very talented writer who created a horror/thriller that will certainly give many sleepless nights to many a reader. The idea is very original, at least to me, and probably the scariest part is that all the time reading Afraid I couldn’t help thinking that this might very well happen one day. There are no ghosts, ghouls or bogey monsters here, only people. But these “people” and what they can do will get into your head and make you want to stop and wonder whether or not at some point we will have to witness evil in its purest and most terrifying form, and how much trust exactly should people put into science and what it can do. Jack Kilborn might have written one heck of a scary book but his nightmare may one day become a reality and then people should be very Afraid.

**********

Special Thanks to Miriam P. from Hachette Book Group for sending me a copy of this book.

If you want to know more about Afraid go to Jack Kilborn's official website.