Morbid Testimony and Foreseeing Your Own Demise: A Book Review

*Full disclosure: an e-book of this novel was provided by Sinister Press.

Author: Steven Shiverdecker.

Editor: Erica Loveit.

Sinister Press has released a new e-book for the Kindle, titled Morbid Testimony. This is a sequel to Steven Shiverdecker's earlier novel, In a Dark Place. Released March 18th, Morbid Testimony follows a Clarice Starling (Silence of the Lambs) type character - named Taylor, who must come to terms with the bloody death of her law enforcement father. Her return to her hometown brings her ever closer to his killer, while a murderous clown reduces Taylor's circle of friends. The finale will leave gorehounds awestruck, as Shiverdecker unleashes hell, on small town USA.

As stated above, FBI Agent Taylor returns to her childhood home, to bury her father and once there she finds not only her father's remains but an evil presene. While there, a young girl named Sheryl has foretellings of doom, which allude to future happenings in the book. The strongest theme within Morbid Testimony is the supernatural factor, which makes one wonder if the killer is human or something else. The answer is left until the end, but all the way through this read, characters experience strange dreams and prophetic nightmares. A killing clown seems to be contacting his victims, through an other worldly portal, before he butchers their flesh and the eerie results are chilling!

As well, many of the final chapters of this read take place around Halloween and readers will know something is about to happen, in this celebration of the dead. Also, deadly encounters happen in graveyards, or within storm drains. Much of the climax revolves around the Crestview Mental Hospital and Shiverdecker is constantly creating an evil atmosphere, in which few law authorities survive.

A late misdirection in a character's identity (villain) during the final chapters, which will not be revealed here, also created some confusion, but also some interesting events. Characters are not who they seem to be and this makes the final reveal all the more sweet, but bitterly macabre. Horror fans will not be disappointed with the killer's identity, nor with this clown's final moments and Taylor seems up to the challenge of de-masking her father's murderer.

Much like Stephen King's It, Morbid Testimony uses a clown to scare and destroy others. However, Shiverdecker's larger-than-life joker is somewhat less supernatural and a little more humanly depraved. This character creates for the believable atmosphere, which is often dark and or tinged with blood reds. This is a thrilling read and expect Shiverdecker to round out this series with a third edition, to complete a trilogy, as bad things always come in threes (folklore).

Overall: 7.75 (a high caliber writing, only a few grammatical mistakes, or formatting issues, good tension throughout, interesting characters and converging plotlines).

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Posted in: book review,clown,e-book,erica loveit,fbi,follow-up,killing clown,kindle,sequel,sinister press,steven chiverdecker