The Chill by Scott Carson

Synopsis – Far upstate, in New York’s ancient forests, a drowned village lays beneath the dark, still waters of the Chilewaukee reservoir. Early in the 20th century, the town was destroyed for the greater good: bringing water to the millions living downstate. Or at least that’s what the politicians from Manhattan insisted at the time. The local families, settled there since America’s founding, were forced from their land, but they didn’t move far, and some didn’t move at all… The Chill

Author – Scott Carson

Genre – Horror | Thriller | Mystery

Links – Amazon | Goodreads

The Chill was unexpectedly a great read! Carson builds an awesome ghost story centred around an ageing dam in the Catskills and the small town that flooded during its creation. The author has taken elements of the actual history of the area and intertwined the area’s folklore and the supernatural. Captivating you with its chilling premonitions of what’s to come and how unknown forces are toiling away below the surface aim to get their revenge.

What’s more surprising is how well Carson keeps you entertained for over 400 pages. Yet the slow build-up and switching from character to character helped to make The Chill stand out. Filled with wonderfully complex characters contributing unique viewpoints. Scott Carson (the pseudonym for an already bestselling author) crafts a story that leads to some truly heartbreaking turn of events and builds towards something that left me feeling completely shocked.

Furthermore, Carson skilfully layered paranormal flourishes between the necessary scientific and historical details to turn an otherwise simple location (a dam) into an ominous wall of concrete, not only holding back millions of gallons of water but also years of anger, vengeance and regret.

“You can’t control what you can’t foresee”

– Scott Carson, The Chill

Sitting somewhere between The Ghost Hunters by Neil Spring and Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Overall, The Chill mixes history with mythology and adds a touch of New England Gothic to produce a hugely enjoyable page-turner that deserves a place on the bookcase of anyone who loves supernatural horror and disaster thrillers.