Dead Souls
Michael Laimo

For eighteen year old Johnny Petrie, the dilapidated farmhouse in Maine meant a way out. When the letter arrived saying he had inherited an estate from a man he'd never heard of before, Johnny knew he could finally escape the hell of living with his religious zealot mother and drunken father. He didn't realize that the hell he was moving into would be far, far worse.
The previous owner of the estate was Benjamin Conroy, a man obsessed with securing eternal life for himself and his family - even if he had to kill them to do it. Conroy's ultimate ritual, a perverse ceremony of blood and butchery, went hideously wrong, denying him the immortality he sought, leaving him and his family dead. But now that Johnny has arrived at the house, Conroy's spirit will have a second chance.

I had originally heard of this while watching the Chiller original movie Dead Souls. They had mentioned that their film was based on this novel. I really enjoyed the film and thought I'd read the book. I am very glad I saw the movie first, otherwise the movie would have been very disappointing because the book is so much better - and to be honest the movie changed so much that they are barely even the same story.

While the writing skills of the author are not up to the likes of King and Koontz, they are still formidable for a relatively unknown author. The story flows together well, especially the flashes between the current times and the past. The reason behind Conroy's killing of his family is much more fleshed out in this book than it was in the film. It's also odd, but the characters in the book are also more believable than the ones in the film were.

The plot is original and quite enthralling and the writer is not afraid to kill of various characters in chilling and gruesome ways. This is most definitely a horror novel and it is very well done. The creepy factor is high and even the feather of a raven or a crow will make you shudder in the end.

This book might not be easy to get a hold of. My library did not have it in stock, most people have never heard about it or the author, and it's out of print. However, there are plenty of Amazon sellers who are selling it for less than the list price (which is how I got a copy).

If you're a horror novel fan and can get your hands on a copy of this book, I highly recommend it.

My rating: Four out of five snails.