Review: Dead Spots by Rhiannon Frater

I received this book for free from The Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

In the dead spots, dreams become reality, terror knows your name, and nightmares can kill you.

The stillbirth of Mackenzie's son destroyed her marriage. Grieving, Mac reluctantly heads for her childhood home to seek refuge with her mother, who constantly reminds her of life's dangers.

Driving across Texas, Mac swerves to avoid hitting a deer...and winds up in a dead spot, a frightening place that lies between the worlds of the living and the dead. If they can control their imaginations, people can literally bring their dreams to life—but most are beseiged by fears and nightmares which pursue them relentlessly.

Mackenzie's mother and husband haunt her, driving her to the brink of madness. Then she hears a child call for help and her maternal instincts kick into overdrive. Grant, Mac's ally in the dead spots, insists Johnny is a phantom, but the boy seems so real, so alive....

As the true horrors of the dead spots are slowly revealed, Mackenzie realizes that time is running out. But exits from the dead spots are nearly impossible to find, and defended by things almost beyond imagination.

It’s not often that I get super excited and fan girl over a book, but this is one of them. I read a very early copy of this since I was lucky enough to be a beta reader. I feel like I need to disclose that. Having said that, this is a book that I need to own a physical copy of because it was absolutely amazing!! I need to read it again. (As soon as I can make myself carve out time for it, which will be soon.) The terror was so real, the emotions and feelings were pulling me every which way, and I felt so drawn into it and needed to know what was coming. This book really just hit me hard with the feels and the creep factor. It even has a super horrifying clown. It is after all set in a world between life and death where nightmares dominate and it’s almost impossible to get out.

Mackenzie was a fantastic character. She is very broken. Having given birth to a stillborn child and losing herself in grief, her life isn’t a bright and happy one. Her marriage is destroyed and she feels like her life has fallen apart. When she ends up in the dead spot, she doesn’t believe it’s real. She thinks she is dreaming. There is terror around every corner. She does find an ally who has been trapped in the dead spot for a long time. It isn’t just that simple though. She stays reluctant, not wanting to believe in this disturbing place, even after numerous gruesome and horrible things happen. Fear is a hard thing and she isn’t able to just overcome everything that has happened or keep the nightmares and horrible thoughts that consume her at bay. The dead spots feed off of fear and that is how the evil lurking gets you. It was very painful at times to go through what Mackenzie was going through. My heart ached for her. I feared for her. I wanted so badly for her to be able to push down some of her emotion so she could survive and find escape back to the real world.

Grant has been in the dead spot for a long time. I did have a hard time trusting him, but I really felt that he wanted to help Mackenzie. He’s been through a lot also. He has also seen numerous horrors in the dead spot. He has seen many destroyed by it. A fate worse than death. He was interesting and pretty complex. He was a bit creepy at times to me as well, but not like the evil beings were.

There is plenty of heart racing, spine tingling moments in this book for those of you who love that sort of thing. For those who don’t, yes, it’s creepy, but there is an amazing story to it. Underlying all the scary stuff, there is a very deep and emotional story as well. There is so much more to this than a horror story. It’s very psychological as well. In fact, the end was the most amazing, head scratching, I’m confused ending ever. Not in a bad way though. It leaves you thinking. I promise it’s not a cliffhanger or anything, it’s just one of those ending that kind of throws you, but it’s perfect for the story. I feel like I haven’t gone into this much, but it’s really something you have to read. I don’t want to give anything away. All I can say is this is one of my favorite books. I adore Rhiannon Frater’s writing and creativity and love many of her books, but this one just blew me away. I hope that many of you get this and read it’s awesomeness. I can’t express my love for this enough!

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Amy

I'm no good at this, but I'm a mom of one little girl who really thinks she is a princess. I love reading all sorts of books (horror being a favorite genre of mine), love meeting new people, drinking lots of coffee, and eating chocolate. If you want to know anything else about me, just ask.

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