The Farm [Paperback]

Scott Nicholson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2006

The latest Appalachian Gothic thriller from award-winning author Scott Nicholson,The Farm explores the legend of a 200-year-old circuit riding preacher who pays a visit to the tiny mountain community of Solom. At the heart of the story is the relationship between a mother and daughter who are new to the town and are just discovering its strange history and dark secrets.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A smoothly engineered supernatural entertainment in the more rambunctious American style of Stephen King." -- New York Times Book Review

"One of the new breed of horror writers who have taken up the mantle of King and Koontz." -- Baryon Online

"Scott Nicholson is my favorite new horror author. Nicholson, like Stephen King, has a true talent for terror." -- Bentley Little, author of The Burning

From the Author

This novel is based on the rural mountain community where I moved two years ago. When I first arrived, I noticed a lot of farmers owned goats, but the livestock seemed to disappear practically overnight. Combined with some research on obscure Appalachian Baptist religions, I came up with a few interesting characters and planted some strange seeds. And up sprouted the novel. I hope you get as much pleasure out of reading it as I did writing it.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Pinnacle (July 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786017120
• ISBN-13: 978-0786017126
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #535,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reap a Harvest of Terror!, July 8, 2006

By 

Frederick Nocito (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Farm (Paperback)

In this novel, Katy Logan and her daghter Jett move to the mountain town of Solom, NC, after Katy marries Gordon Smith, who owns some farmland in the mountains. Katy agress to move because she believes it will be good for Jett, since it will get her away from the drugs and crime that are all too prevalent in big city life. What Katy does not realize, however, is that what is lurking in Solom may be far more dangerous than those things. Mysterious things begin to happen once they move to Solom. Jett has the feeling she is being 'watched' by Gordon's herd of goats, and she begins having hallicinations(or are they?) about a mysterious long dead preacher who is rumored to roam the mountains every several years, riding his horse Old Saint, and looking for his next victim, who he would carry off to the great beyond. Also, Jett hallicinates (or does she?) about a scythe wielding scarecrow that may be stalking her when she wanders into the dark shadows of the barn.

This novel was well paced, and made me feel as if I was in Solom. This novel was very suspenseful, creepy, and atmospheric. This author's descriptions made me feel like I was wandering down an old country lane, or across a pasture late at night, and being stalked by a creepy scarecrow with a scythe. If you like novels that really creep you out, then I highly recommend that you get this book.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scott Nicholson Keeps Improving, July 15, 2006

By 

Craig Davis "compulsive reader" (Hollywood, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Farm (Paperback)

As a fan of horror in general, and LITERATE horror in particular, Scott Nicholson keeps improving in my opinion. His newest, The Farm, exudes a sense of creepiness and "there's something not quite right here" overall. While the small town horror angle has been played up for years, and is somewhat tired, this book makes the reader feel right at home in the small town of Solom. Many comparisons have been made between Nicholson and King/Koontz, but i feel he is more akin to Bentley Little in the sense of unease reading one of his books instills in you(a BIG compliment in my opinion).

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Goat Rodeo, December 2, 2007

By 

Gary Griffiths (Los Altos Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Farm (Paperback)

At their core, the authors of classic horror novels - I'm thinking the early works of Stephen King, Peter Straub, or Thomas Tryon - understand the subtlety of terror - that truly scary stories build slowly from anomalies in natural, everyday events, gradually pulling the reader irresistibly into what they know will be eventually scaring the pants off them. Regrettably, this subtlety is lost on Scott Nicholson in this flat and disconnected yawner of "horror" fiction.

Recently divorced Katy Logan and her "Goth-lite" twelve-year daughter, "Jett", leave their life in Charlotte behind and head for the hills of western North Carolina with new husband/step-dad Gordon Smith, a professor of religious history. One never grasps Katy's attraction to this pompous buffoon, but before the first page has turned we're experiencing our first haunting, and then serving up a smörgåsbord of ghouls - carnivorous goats, scarecrows that simply won't stay staked, a headless housewife, and a centuries-dead circuit preacher. While Nicholson borrows liberally from the literature - Tryon's "Harvest Home" and King's frightening short story, "The Man in the Black Suit" come to mind - this conglomeration of demons conjures up about as terror - and makes about as much sense - as an episode of "Scooby Doo". To make matters worse, Nicholson, whose bio puts him in Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains, writes of these rugged mountain people with thinly veiled contempt, going beyond simple stereotype to patronize and condescend. But in a bizarre and certainly unintended way, "The Farm" was a perversely entertaining novel. Nicholson's fumbling inaccuracies with topics across a wide range - twelve-year olds, geography, economics, firearms, and even the relatively pastoral Charlotte, a drug infested Las Vegas-like Sin City in Nicholson's world - makes for a comical backdrop. The author may not be able to tell a Kalashnikov from a cabbage, and his deliciously indignant and out-of-context political ramblings blunt hopes for any possible redeeming horror value by the time it caravans to a ham-fisted climax in keeping with 400 pages of silliness the precede it.

So, no, despite strong reviews from Amazon readers, I didn't find much to recommend in "The Farm", scary only in the abysmally clumsy plot and insipid dialogue. I'll admit that good horror is hard to find these days - Joe Hill didn't really do it for me either - but you may want to consider Susan Hill's "The Woman in Black" as an example of classic horror the way it was meant to be read.