As the year winds down and I am focusing on shorter reads, it was a coincidental blessing that one of my auto-buy authors had a new release! A total early Christmas surprise as I hadn’t noticed that A.C. Cross was about to publish something involving cosmic horror. He did everything right in this one and I hope you all will check it out!
Let’s take a quick look at the book and then I’ll share my thoughts 🐙
Bookish Quick Facts:
- Title: The Boddicker Letters
- Author: A.C. Cross
- Published: Self, December 2023
- Length: 166 pages
- Rate & Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for anyone interested in descents into madness & superbly unreliable narrators
Here’s the Synopsis:
Titus Boddicker is in love. So in love, in fact, that he sends his beloved Luisa a letter nearly every day. Unfortunately for Titus, these letters paint a picture of a descent into the darkest regions of reality. Will he be saved? Can he? Can anyone?
From Am*zon
My Thoughts
I think epistolary novels tend to get overlooked but sometimes it’s the perfect way to tell a story. What better way to showcase a character spiralling out of reality than through his letters to a loved one?
Titus gets called to a small town on the Maine coast to look into a suspicious missing person case. Even before he gets there things start going wrong. It is portent or coincidence? Who knows.
The letters start out innocuous enough as Titus describes his adventure and discoveries to his beloved back home. Eventually he starts to describe .. well… once someone accidentally prays to Cthulhu, it’s assumed that things are going to go downhill pretty quickly. Before long he starts to write some pretty odd things.
I think Cross does a great job showing a man slowly spiralling away from reality. The tense atmosphere is perfect and sucks the reader right into Titus’ head as he is trapped at his desk. It was hard to stop reading as things got weirder and more dangerous. The length is perfect as it tells the story without dragging it out
I found one favorite quote:
Without change, we are stagnant. Without knowledge, we are blind. Without hope, we are useless. Without love, well, we are simply nothing at all.
The Boddicker Letters, P.82
Let me just say, to avoid spoilers, that the ending blew my mind and I am highly curious to see what others think of it!
Definitely recommend this one for anyone who likes Lovecraftian myths, cosmic horror, and solidly good writing in general.
You can also check out our author interview from when A.C. joined the Sunday Brunch Series last year!
Thanks for checking out my book review of The Boddicker Letters by A.C. Cross. I read through Kindle Unlimited and as always, all opinions are my own 🐙
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