Lust, Love, and Greed contaminate the rural town of Blackwater that results in deadly turmoil.
Robert Thompson spots a woman across a bar, and his misfortune begins. He tries to get close to her, but the unthinkable happens, and he goes on the lam. He hides out where no one will look for him, an evil house. A spirit distorts his psyche, and Robert uncovers a dark secret about Blackwater.
Yet a more immediate danger lurks in a correction facility, where Claudia Ragsworth, a covetous Warden, recruits Robert to get revenge against an adversary. Still, with every choice, the consequences become more horrifying.
Meanwhile, a strangeâyet curiously familiarâman approaches Elliott Blackthorne and Zia Petko, which have intertwined their souls with old black magic, for a reason unknown.
Blackwater is full of toxic secretsâhorrors waiting beneath bated breath.
If you enjoy Stephen King and Joe Hill, you will love the horror and suspense of Noxious.
Lust, Love, and Greed contaminate the rural town of Blackwater that results in deadly turmoil.
Robert Thompson spots a woman across a bar, and his misfortune begins. He tries to get close to her, but the unthinkable happens, and he goes on the lam. He hides out where no one will look for him, an evil house. A spirit distorts his psyche, and Robert uncovers a dark secret about Blackwater.
Yet a more immediate danger lurks in a correction facility, where Claudia Ragsworth, a covetous Warden, recruits Robert to get revenge against an adversary. Still, with every choice, the consequences become more horrifying.
Meanwhile, a strangeâyet curiously familiarâman approaches Elliott Blackthorne and Zia Petko, which have intertwined their souls with old black magic, for a reason unknown.
Blackwater is full of toxic secretsâhorrors waiting beneath bated breath.
If you enjoy Stephen King and Joe Hill, you will love the horror and suspense of Noxious.
For the first time that day, an apparition grabbed Walter Hutchens. Unfortunately, it would not be the last.
Walter wheeled around, discovering a translucent glimmer of an older woman in a dingy ebony dress with lengthy sleeves buttoned up to her throat. Despite her feeble body and gaunt cheeks, she had the gaze of a predator.
He rubbed his eyes in disbelief. âYou arenât real, only a lie.â
The older woman shifted her wiry silvery hair out of her eyes, but the hatred stayed. âLies are a peculiar thing. You can try to conceal them, but the more you do, the more the truth becomes clearer.â
With all his might, Walter yanked his arm from her grasp and plummeted to the ground. She dissipated as an unsettling mist fell to the earth.
After hurrying to his feet, he massaged his neck, staring at the Blackthorne house. This place ainât for the weak-minded, he reminded himself.
A howling March wind echoed through the surrounding woodlands as voices of the past filled the air. Walter trudged up the stairs to the mouth of the beast.
Uncertainty transfixed him at the vivid red door as his body shuddered with horror before pushing it open. His nose wrinkled as a wretched stench leaked out, almost gagging him. In the doorway, he replayed the appalling and intolerable horrors from the Blackthorne murders, which he hoped to forget soon. Undaunted, he went ahead through the archway into the unknown, prepared to appease Joseph Blackthorneâs last wishes.
Blood sloshed under his feet as an industrial-size mop struggled to absorb the remnants of Joseph and his wife, Francis.
Walter laid two unzipped body bags on the floor. First, he dragged Francisâs body across the floor as her hair left a trail of blood. Once at the body bag, he put her feet in, crossed her arms on her chest, and zipped it up. Next, Walterâwith a morose expressionâgripped Joseph by the ankles and dragged him over to the next body bag. He tucked him in and crossed his arms on his chest. His eyes pooled as a tear dropped on Josephâs cheek.
Josephâs hands were rigid and cold. âIâm goinâ to miss ya old friend,â Walter said in a sepulchral tone.
The cadaver grasped Walterâs hand as he tried wrestling it away. A voice echoed in front of him and then behind him. But instantaneously, the unintelligible sound came from every direction, getting closer, louder, and frantic. âHelp me, Walter. I am trapped. Weâre all trapped.â A chilling presence passed through his body, leaving his fingertips and toes numb as the cadaver released its grip.
Walterâs heart pounded against his rib cage while struggling to breathe. His body at once shook. He went to zip up the body bag but realized the zipper was already at the top.
Walter fell backward on his ass. âWas it zipped up the whole time?â he asked himself. âDid anything even grab me?â
He drew his knees to his chest and rocked. Nothing grabbed me, he thought repeatedly.
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Meanwhile, a stone throws away, Robert Thompsonâa childhood friend of Walterâpulled up to the house. He leaned over the steering wheel and gazed up at its roofâs crooked lines against the drab sky. The place unnerved and freaked him out. As much as he wanted to leave forever, a darkness in the pit of his stomach told him one thing. He would be back.
Unwilling to move, it took an act of a moral force to lift his foot on the bottom stair leading to the front door. To continue up the stairs, it took a higher power, God.
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A knock on the door jamb startled Walter. He wheeled around, âRobert, you scared the bejesus out of me.â He scurried to Robert, patting his face. âIs that you?â
Robert removed Walterâs hands from his face. âYeah, buddy. I am here. You do not look so good. How are you holding up?â
âAll right, I guess. I am worryinâ about Elliott and his psyche. Blackwater rips apart people with sound minds.â
âWhere is Elliott?â
Walter pulled out a rag, wiping the sweat from his brow. âElliott is stayinâ with some friends until I can make things normal again, or at least the new normal.â
âWalter, whereâs another mop so that I can pitch in?â
âSorry, I only have one, but you can grab that bucket of soap water and a sponge to clean the blood off the wall.â
Robert picked up the bucket and walked over to the wall. He set the pail down while reading the wall in his head. Bobbie did it. Instead of asking any questions, he dipped the sponge in the soapy water and scrubbed away.
Walter dumped the blood-stained water in the kitchen sink and refilled the mop bucket with clean water. He rinsed the mop before returning to cleaning the floor.
Robert pulled out a chair and sat down. âIâm done. Someone needs to paint because the blood discolored the wall,â he said while shuffling through a pile of drawings on the table.
âIâll have to get some paint. Did ya buy the lumber?â Walter asked.
âYeah, I got twenty sheets of plywood in my truck.â
âThat should be enough for now.â
âWalter, did you see any of these drawings?â
âNah.â
âYou need to see this drawing.â
Walter leaned the mop against the wall and walked over to Elliott. âWhat do ya want to show me?â
Robert held up a piece of paper. âIs this the Blackthorne house?â
âI reckon. Why?â
âThere are bodies under the house with an âXâ for each eye. Are they dead?â
Annoyance took control of Walterâs voice. âHell, I donât know. A kidâs imagination can run wild.â A fake smile masked his frustration.
Robert tossed the drawing on the table. âI just find this one strange.â
âWhenever Elliott gets back, Iâll ask him. Now, can you stop all this poppycock so that I can get back to work?â
Robert stared at the next sketch in awe. It showed the water well with a blueish beam reaching to the heavens. âSure.â
âWhenever you are ready, I can use some fresh air, and we can stage the wood by the windows. This house can twist your psyche until getting what it wants.â
âNo arguments from me. This place freaks me out.â His eyes bounced around the room as he scratched his head. On the way to the door, a voice entered his head, saying, âYou are welcome back anytime.â He turned towards Walter, befuddled. âDid you say something?â
âNo, why?â
âNever mind, Iâll meet you at my truck,â Robert said before leaving abruptly.
Walter watched Robert darting out the front door understanding it was a privilege leaving this house. People assumed Blackwater was the netherworld, but it was no closer to the nethermost of Hell than the pearly gates of Heaven.
Although his mind was unstable, Walter suddenly understood the darkness of Blackwater. He would never fall victim to the perpetual horror of this house. It could never betray him again.
Because this home was not for a family but a stockpile for the dead, a charnel house. And Walter would feed it plenty.
There is so much going on in this book and I found myself quickly turning the pages as the events build, unfold and eventually intertwine in what is a clever fusing of several stories that centre around the strange dark small town known as Blackwater. Bruce Knapp has delivered a tale that is dark, sometimes gruesome and wholly satisfying and the setting is delivered well and through the multiple characters. Throughout, the story evolves along with those characters as everything plays out.
Grim shadows loomed over Blackwater, trying to conceal the hatred, but the evil continued to grow like a fungus, a black poisonous mould...
We see those who are looking for faith, some with lust on their mind, religious types, businessmen, lawmen and even those on the fringes of the occult and witchcraft. Hell, there is even something monstrous lurking in the local 'Suwanee' river, this tale really is one of variety that even feels like an anthology piece that is all wrapped up in less than a 200 pages and with short but sharp chapters which keeps those pages turning and the flow consistent.
Main character 'Robert Thompson' seems to have a dark cloud following him and his choices soon lead to a shocking and gruesome turn of events. It was at this moment I really became invested in the story. Robert is a changed man from this point and his journey is filled with sometimes graphic brutality to himself and others. Of course that cloud hanging over him has a name ('Nyx') and plays an influencing role in the form of possession.
Eventually we see the 'Noxious' part of the story which kicks in later on but has been cleverly built from the early stages. Of course Robert's journey culminates during this satisfying finish for a book with so much variety in the horror genre. The town and setting of Blackwater feels like a character in its own right, it's always there, hanging over everything with a certain darkness. This makes for a great atmospheric feel to the reading experience.
Those who like multiple character led stories with elements of the occult, witchcraft, paranormal that's a little graphic in places will enjoy 'Noxious'. Everyone else may just end up in the 'Otherworld' on Leap Day.