Forsaken - A Novel of Art, Evil, and Insanity [Kindle Edition]

Andrew Van Wey (Author)

Book Description

"Finally! A True Horror Novel!"

YOU'RE LIVING THE DREAM...

A beautiful house, a loving wife.  Two kids, a dog, and a professorship teaching art restoration at the local university.  Your name is Dan Rineheart.  You've got it all.

...BUT ALL DREAMS MUST END.

On the cusp of autumn a mysterious painting arrives.  No name.  No date.  No signature or frame.  Only a note that reads: Here in art, denial.  It's a disturbing work of grotesque perfection; two children with cruel eyes, a window onto an endless field, and a dying tree on top of a hill.  A work of art... that changes with each viewing.

SO BEGINS THE NIGHTMARE...

...Where wretched children crawl from a canvas prison to stalk the quiet halls of this happy home.

...Where painted clocks tick-tock away in the dark hours before dawn, and a missing dog whimpers from between the walls.

...Where all answers lead to a dark artist and an impossible creation, a cursed canvas with a twisted past...

...AND A HORROR THAT WILL DEVOUR ALL.

Curl up, if you dare, with a dark novel readers are calling: "Beautifully written" -- "A Must Read!" -- "Stunning" -- "The Scariest book EVER!"  

FORSAKEN is an intelligent blend of ghost story, suburban supernatural thriller, haunted house, and mystery.  Perfectly written for fans of early Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Peter Straub, it's a terrifying tale of secrets and lies, of nightmares made flesh; where the scariest stories are the ones that coldly whisper into your ear until madness and death are a welcome gift.

Lock your door.
Turn on the lights.
Do NOT read FORSAKEN late at night

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Intricate, disturbing, unexpected, and scary!  I can honestly say that I haven't read something like this in a long time. I would highly recommend this book for all lovers of the paranormal and horror genres.

-Autumn @ Open Book Society-

"I cannot recommend Andrew Van Wey's Forsaken highly enough.  Not only is it one of the best electronic reads I've come across yet, but it's the kind of highly polished, well-written story that I only wish I could have on my shelf as a hardcover first edition.  Yes, it's really that good!"

-Sally @ Bibrary Book Lust-

"The story itself is amazing. I was completely drawn in almost immediately.  There is believability to these characters that I really liked; they could easily be that family that lives down the street.  So many super creepy parts that I did not want to read this book before I went to bed"

-Jenn @ Completely Booksessed

About the Author

Andrew Van Wey was born in Palo Alto, California, spent part of his childhood in New England, and currently lives as an expatriate abroad where he doubts his sanity on a daily basis. When he's not writing he can probably be found hiking, playing video games, or sleeping with the lights on. He considers gelato and pizza to be a perfectly acceptable meal and shorts to be business-casual if paired with a scarf.

Product Details

• File Size: 1473 KB
• Print Length: 455 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 098401571X
• Publisher: Greywood Bay (October 31, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005LT35MA
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #40,529 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly good! September 15, 2011

By serpentine13

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm so glad that I downloaded this book! Forsaken is a supernatural horror/mystery revolving around Daniel Rinehart, an art professor at a prestigious university who is the receiver of an anonymous painting - a painting so malevolent that it causes his life to unravel before his eyes. Increasingly creepy, the book grips you early on, and doesn't let go until the end. I mean, I don't know about the rest of you potential readers, but the idea of a haunted painting scares the crap out of me, and this ebook didn't disappoint! The author states that he models his writing off of early Clive Barker and Stephen King tales, and I find that to be a pretty accurate description of his style. It looks like a lot of care went into making this ebook, from the creepy cover to the chapter illustrations that change as the book progresses. If you're a fan of horror books in general, I would highly recommend grabbing this gem. It's a page-turner, and I guarantee you'll have a couple of nightmares by the time you finish!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, Creeping Horror October 29, 2011

By DoskoiPanda

Format:Kindle Edition

Daniel Rineheart is a professor teaching art restoration at a small college in California. He has a family -a son, a daughter, a wife and the obligatory family dog- and a nice, respectable home. He also has had an affair with an unstable student, a problem with migraines and a tragic childhood, in which he and his brother were abandoned, then his brother locked him in a trunk during a game of hide and seek, which terrified him. A painting arrives anonymously for him at the college, a disturbing painting featuring a pair of frightening, weird children in a grim room, with a window and a tree beyond. Daniel embarks on a quest to uncover the painting's secrets, as his own begin to make themselves known. Forsaken is equal parts ghost story, treasure hunt, family drama and psychological crime, as it lures the reader into solving the narrative of the picture.

I really enjoyed reading Forsaken*. Andrew Van Wey makes use of language to differentiate character voices effectively; being able to identify a character's mental state by subtle changes in their word choices, rather than just being told that they were sad, angry, etc. I liked the references to roots growing into things, invasive root systems and the parallel of the dying rosebushes. I generally appreciate the kind of horror that creeps in over the shock value type, and while Forsaken has its moments of gore, it's the creepiness that sprawls throughout that I remember best. (The parts with Jessica were the creepiest, in my opinion - almost as insidious as the haunters in Henry James' Turn of the Screw. There were several other excellent instances of peripheral creepiness as well.) I also liked the detail of the chapter heading tree illustrated as losing its foliage, exposing it's core.

On the downside, the writing style is a bit verbose and could probably use a little pruning to improve pacing; though the writing never actually drags, I felt that it wanders a bit from the story in places. I was occasionally in information overload when it came to descriptions, particularly when it came to the first viewing of the painting. I would have also liked more on the relationship between the painting and the Rinehearts, as that felt described, but not really explored, though it also isn't a gap in the story.

Overall: 4/4.5 stars
Review copy supplied by the author as part of LibraryThing's Member Giveaway Program.
*except for any mention of "Boo-Bear". *shudder*

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Scared out of my wits! September 24, 2011

By Jennifer hearts the STL Cardinals

Format:Kindle Edition

See that last paragraph about Forsaken being a dark novel...gets beneath the skin...sticking with the reader far after the pages are closed and the story's concluded? Ummm... yeah, that would be about right. It took me much longer to read this novel than it should have but not because I couldn't get into it. Oh no, it was more like I had to step away and digest. I actually had to stop reading it at night before I went to bed after a few nights of scary nightmares and I am not kidding, either! There were times while reading where my heart was racing and I had goosebumps all up my arms. It has been a while since I have read something that made me feel like this, actually scared out of my wits, and turning all the lights on to walk through a room. I absolutely LOVED this story and it had all the components that make up a true horror novel ie: little children, shadows, spooky sounds, suspense, missing people, and much more. I loved the characters and I loved that I had no idea where the story was going and how the author would wrap it all up in the end. And that cover! I loved the cover before I even read the book. I won't go into anything about the plot, because that can be found at the beginning of this post but I will say that the author did a great job all around, with character development and I love his writing style.

I wanted so bad to give this novel 5 stars on Goodreads but there were some grammatical errors and that is the one and only thing negative I have to say about this read. With Halloween coming up, this is the perfect story for a fall night. Thank you Andrew for giving me the opportunity to read Forsaken and share this terrifyingly wonderful read with my readers!

More About the Author

Andrew Van Wey was born in Palo Alto, California, spent part of his childhood in New England, and currently lives as an expatriate abroad where he doubts his sanity on a daily basis.

As a child of the late 80's and early 90's, Andrew fondly remembers a time when cell phones were the size of bricks, a good scare could be found in a stack of Stephen King books, vampires didn't glimmer nor go to high school, and a sleepover was best spent scaring friends with low budget horror on VHS.

Years later Andrew still takes that same joy in being a purveyor of frights and writes well into the night. He takes his cues from a foundation built from films like Jacob's Ladder, Angelheart, The Exorcist, and such fiction as The Shining, Ghost Story, and The Damnation Game. Readers have called his stories: "Beautifully written," -- "Stunning," -- "Scariest Book Ever Read!"

When he's not writing he can probably be found hiking, playing video games, or sleeping with the lights on. He considers gelato and pizza to be a perfectly acceptable meal and shorts to be business-casual if paired with a scarf.