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Twenty years ago, quiet, mild-mannered Jacob Harrison returned to his home, where he’d killed his entire family with an ax before heading in to work. When he arrives at his house, he discovers that his baby daughter is still alive, so he lovingly cleans her up, feeds her a bottle, and shoves her into the oven as a macabre feast for the police. Then he hangs himself—yet, he’s not dead. Instead, he’s possessed by a creature who will later stalk four innocent boys.
After his father disappears, Johnny and his mom move into an old house in the small Canadian town of Dunnville. People are shocked that they chose the Harrison house—the scene of a heinous multiple murder—as their home. But this doesn’t stop three boys from befriending Johnny and agreeing to go and play at his house. It would be the biggest mistake of their lives. Evil dwells there, and after they unknowingly unleash it on the town, it will haunt them in a most horrifying way for the rest of their lives.
Though his characters aren’t as endearing, author Gord Rollo writes in the tradition of Stephen King, with lots of creepy (and often gross) scenes involving a rotted corpse that’s possessed by something evil. I admit that some of the descriptions turned my stomach, but that’s a good thing if you like oozing, decayed creatures, along with a good, old-fashioned ghost story (as for me, I’m fine with it, as long as I’m not eating). And that’s exactly what you get in Crimson.
Rollo paints a dark, bleak depiction of a town and four young boys who are terrorized by evil. He brought the story to life in my mind, leaving me with a lingering impression of the town, the characters, and the horror. In fact, even now, several days after I finished reading Crimson, I can still picture the horror-inducing scenes vividly.
Mr. Rollo won’t replace Stephen King as the king of horror, mainly because his characters are good, but not great. However, with this creepy, fast-paced plot, Rollo sure does give Mr. King a run for his money. I’m certain I’ll be reading him again in the future.
