New Book Review - A Debt to be Paid

Book - A Debt to be Paid
Writer - Patrick Lacey 
Published By - Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

First things first, I got this book from NetGalley, so thank you netgalley and Samhain Publishing, Ltd. for this opportunity.
What would you do when faced with a horror that no one else can see? How far will you go to save your loved ones? And what if the hallucinations that defined your past turns out to be no hallucinations at all? These are some of the questions that the characters must ask themselves in this book. We get a fast paced ride as the main character tries to escape from an unimaginable horror while confronting some disturbing truth from the past.

Meg had her mother kidnap her when she was a little girl. Her mother Gillian was suffering from schizophrenia and running from some shadowy figures that only she could see after receiving a strange letter and signing on a dotted line. Twenty years later, Gillian has been admitted to Hawthorne Psychiatric Facility. Meg receives a similar letter and is hunted by an unseen force. Is Meg also mentally ill, or are these creatures real? And if so, was her mother right all those years ago? Is there no place to hide?

'A Debt to be Paid' is a short yet enjoyable thrilling read with a breakneck pace that gives almost no respite and keeps the reader wondering on the nature of the antagonists. Although the horror element is not focused on that much, the sense of desperation and helplessness of the main characters keeps the show running. Readers are kept wondering what is gonna happen next and how might Meg and her family escape from the danger. The romance aspect was a bit forced and underdeveloped to be honest but the overall short length makes the gesture understandable.

As for characters, this novel does feature only a few of them. Meg is fleshed quite nicely and we get to appreciate her troubled past, her attempt to escape it and her desperation as it does catch up again. Gillian, her mother is also portrayed quite nicely. Brian, the main male lead is one character that seems a bit too generic and should have been given a bit more attention, in my opinion.

This was a fun read but did suffer due to its short length at times. Meg's thrilling struggle to escape from her past and shadowy horrors was a read that can be finished in one sitting. Hopefully future works by this author will be improvements regarding the negatives.

This gets 3.5 out of 5 stars.