The Fallen boys had a few things going for it that made me excited to read it. The trailer was fab. The cover art is compelling. The blurbs were a great tease.
Overall, it was a great story and fairly original which is tough these days. There is nothing new under the sun, but Dries language sheds a dark light on familiar situations.
The Fallen Boys
Aaron Dries
372 pages
2010 Leisure, 2017 Black T-Shirt Books
Horror / Extreme Horror
If you liked characters like Hayley Stark in Hard Candy and the Killer in Haute Tension, then you will find those extremes here. On the flip-side, there are regular-ish everyday-type guys and gals with enough edge to be likable and enough soft spots to be realistic. I guess the same could be said for the story itself.
Where I deduct a star (or only a half-star if I could) is for some overly long passages that only a parent could love… and even then one with a flair for sympathy. That is only a part of it, the rest is style. Italics were used quite heavily and in several spots took away from the rhythm for me. The memories being in italics made sense, but I prefer them as a light seasoning only in the plain body. The content easily smooths out these small bumps, since it is a damn good read.
It is not torture-porn, not at all. What it is, however, is a fairly articulate portrayal of the darkness of a damaged soul. Then, a few souls spiral downward together, and we get to watch.