Hey kids...Today we’re checking in with a mid-week blog tour highlighting extraordinary author Chris Roy’s latest addition, “Her Name is Mercie.”
Author: Chris Roy
A dark collection of grist and gore for the late-night thrill-seeker in us all, “Mercie’s” tales combine revenge, cop chases, car crashes, horror, and even a good old-fashioned ghost-story highlighting Roy’s Southern Mississippi roots with glimpses of marshlands and bayous at Roy’s story-telling finest.
But beware…read these stories late at night at your own peril…my lights were down low when I started but burning bright by midnight. Of course, a little good old-fashioned horror fiction never really hurt anyone….right?
To start, I really enjoyed the title story, “Her name is Mercie.”
Mercie is one chick I could get behind! She’s a stand-alone girl in a world gone crazy, having had both her parents and everything she knows taken away from her in one small moment! A fatal car crash, a girl gone mad, a stolen car and a bank robbery at gun point are just some of the highlights!
And you know you’re in for a good ride when Mercie, after seeing the coroner push the tables with her parent’s bodies back into the freezer, “grinds her teeth, looking at the Grim Reaper’s Lunchable cooler” then punches Chief Perez as hard as she can in response to him asking “are you ok?”
Personally, I really liked Roy’s stab at a bit of dark humor throughout, especially when our girl stops at none other than ”Sears” to buy the weapon of choice. And when her new-found Asian friend Kermit (yes, like the frog,) names their next ride ‘‘Miss Piggy’’… also very endearing.
“Libby’s Hands” was also a stand-out:
A good old-fashioned ghost story set on Halloween night with creepy goblins and ghouls roaming the streets set amidst Roy’s Mississippi background bayou stomping ground:
“She knew. Somehow she knew it was connected. She ran. Light from the back porch glistened on the wet grass, shoes soaked by the time she reached the pond. The tree was on the other side. A huge sycamore with low hanging branches, thick black tangled mass with the moon behind it. “Ah!” Dina slipped on the path next to the water, nearly splashing in. Dirt on her hands, grass on her knees, wrinkled her nose. Shoving to her feet she marched along the path, wary of the waterline and the tall grass she knew harbored snakes.”
In this tale, our girl Libby seems to be brought back from the 70’s as a super-natural force to be reckoned with in the present, trying any way she can to steal back the hands that were never given to her in the first place. We watch the horror and tension mount, as first a boy from the neighborhood trick or treat patrol gets his hand bound and mutilated, then Dina, Libby’s cousin and the storie’s protagonist suffers the same fate. Creepy to the hilt, it wont be leaving your gut any time soon! Libby will keep you up tossing and turning late, if you dare!
Also, a shout out also to “Marsh Madness.” Again, lots of hints of Chris’s Mississippi upbringing here. Makes you feel like you’ve taken a tumble right into the marsh along with the alligator and the very unfortunate pup. But the real question is, Is he trying to appease his greater need for the kill by killing off a helpless animal instead of humans? Not really sure, can only wonder… Or, maybe he takes out all in the end, grandma and the boy, just teasing them first…
Kat Jayne; Pexels.com
My ARC ran short here, so I’ll never know. But the thought will keep me guessing, for sure!
Universal Purchase Link: http://bookgoodies.com
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLv2jjpJJxQ&feature=youtu.be
Other books by Chris
Purchase Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Chris-Roy
Chris Roy was raised in South Mississippi, in the midst of ugly Gulf Coast beaches and spectacular muddy bayous. Chris lived comfortably with the criminal ventures of his youth until a fist fight in 1999 ended tragically. Since January, 2000, he’s been serving a life sentence in the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Nowadays he lives his life crime vicariously, through the edgy, fast-paced stories he pens, hoping to entertain readers. When he isn’t writing, he’s reading, drawing or looking for prospects to train in boxing.
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Ciarfella's Fiction Corner 