Seed [Kindle Edition]

Ania Ahlborn (Author)

Book Description

With nothing but the clothes on his back—and something horrific snapping at his heels—Jack Winter fled his rural Georgia home when he was still just a boy. Watching the world he knew vanish in a trucker’s rearview mirror, he thought he was leaving an unspeakable nightmare behind forever. But years later, the bright new future he’s built suddenly turns pitch black, as something fiendishly familiar looms dead ahead.

When Jack, his wife Aimee, and their two small children survive a violent car crash, it seems like a miracle. But Jack knows what he saw on the road that night, and it wasn’t divine intervention. The profound evil from his past won’t let them die…at least not quickly. It’s back, and it’s hungry; ready to make Jack pay for running, to work its malignant magic on his angelic youngest daughter, and to whisper a chilling promise: I’ve always been here, and I’ll never leave.

Country comfort is no match for spine-tingling Southern gothic suspense in Ania Ahlborn’s tale of an ordinary man with a demon on his back. Seed plants its page-turning terror deep in your soul, and lets it grow wild.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

"Incorporating elements from such genre classics as The Exorcist, Poltergeist, and Bad Seed, but telling its own story, this horror novel contains moments of genuine terror that should stick with readers long after they’ve finished the book. The story seems simple enough: Jack and his family (wife Aimee, daughters Abby and Charlie) survive a car accident, but afterward, six-year-old Charlie seems to change, to take on a new and frightening personality. Aimee struggles to understand what’s going on with her little girl, but Jack already knows: the horror that came to him when he was a child has found him again. Ahlborn doesn’t pull any punches here, delivering a story that is atmospheric and brutal, with an ending that is absolutely correct and absolutely horrifying. Genre fans should be enthusiastically pointed in this novel’s direction."
 — David Pitt

Review

"Seed is great horror—a dark, fearless, unflinching blast of suburban spookiness that reminded me of early Stephen King. It's easily the best debut novel—in any genre—that I've read in years."
--Blake Crouch, bestselling horror and thriller author.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 613 KB
• Print Length: 246 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1612183662
• Publisher: 47North (July 17, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0073XV3K8
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,413 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 71 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Plant the Seed of disappointment October 17, 2011

By Jhyphen

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I wanted so badly for this book to be great! And based on the mass of positive reviews, I purchased and began reading with great excitement.

I found myself immediately at odds with the story. I hated one of the four main characters and was left largely ambivalent about the others. I thought that I would grow to care about them as the story progressed.

But as I wound my way through the story, I was left only frustrated. The characters didn't grow any more likable and ultimately, the author began killing off the only characters of worth: a dog and a cat.

The desperate story flails along, as one horror follows another, and the reader is left with a general sense of discontent when the ending comes to a crashing display of predictability.

In general, I don't mind a slightly predictable story, or even a story that has been rehashed a lot of times. Sadly, this story feels like the author penned herself into a corner, couldn't think of any clever way out of it, so she just wrote whatever came to her, which was neither clever, nor satisfying.

I'm not one to fault a book for not having a happy ending, and while I don't want to give spoilers, I feel it's necessary to say that all the horrors of the book came without any semblance of balance. No good came to any character in the book, no good came from any of the atrocities that occur. One reviewer stated that a book can't have demons without having God. I couldn't disagree more. This book doesn't need holy good to balance out the demon, but it needs SOMETHING. The book progresses with each and every fear realized, with only evil progressing successfully. If the book offered some semblance of a chance at the protagonists succeeding, it might seem worth reading.... The book doesn't need God, but it needs a balancing force, whether it be religion or voodoo or love or anything.

Ultimately, I was left feeling a little raw and a lot unsatisfied when I read through all of the horrible things that the author inflicted on all of the innocents she placed in the path of her demon.

I truly believe that the author has genuine talent, and I would look forward to another attempt... but hopefully a more satisfying one. Read more ›

131 of 147 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The root of evil May 30, 2011

By Gabino Iglesias

Format:Kindle Edition

"Seed," is an instant classic full of traditional elements brilliantly woven into something completely new by the author's clean, crisp prose, creepy imagination and too-real dialogues. In the story, Jack Winter is a husband and father of two struggling for money. After a glimpse of something strange crossing in front of his car one night leads to a car accident with his whole family in the vehicle, things in the Winter household take a turn for the worse.

Jack's six year old daughter, Charlie, is the smallest of the Winter's. After the accident, she suddenly develops an attitude problem and has problems sleeping. As things start to go south with Charlie, Ahlborn teasingly unveils Jack's past. The result is a gripping, spine-chilling story told against the background of the Deep South. While using a child to tell a horror story is not new (think "The Omen," "The Exorcist," "Poltergeist," etc.), little Charlie gains the reader's sympathy even through her darkest moments. Also, by having a second child in the picture, Charlie's ten year-old sister, Abby, we have more than one point of view of what's going on. A particularly gruesome scene with the family dog is the perfect example of how a six year old can be the scariest thing in the world.

With the Southern Gothic Georgia and Louisiana as the background to the story, "Seed" scares the reader based on verisimilitude: one gets the sense that stories like this happen in Louisiana every once in a while. Ahlborn developed very strong, believable characters we've all met at some point.

While the story is very solid, enthralling and moves at the perfect pace, the end of the story is what truly sets this novel apart from anything else out there and the reason why you should get "Seed" as soon as it hits the market on June 1.... The tremendous buildup might lead readers to expect a classic, Hollywood resolution. Instead, Ahlborn has crafted an ending that cuts through your expectations like a scalpel and leaves you thinking about it way after the last word. The visceral, violent ending is a testament to Ahlborn's talent and an invitation to expect more great books from her. Read more ›

67 of 78 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally!! Something scary!! July 5, 2011

By Krista Glavin

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Finally, this is what I've been looking for! I read so many books, most of them just seem to blend together anymore. Not this one, it really stood out. It's not all gore and guts (there is some), but it's the subtle creepiness that makes it so scary. This is the kind of book I'm always sifting through the trash to find. Blood and guts dont scare me, though they have their place in horror; but this is what a scary book should be. Can't wait for more from this author! Love, love, love it!!!

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Modern take on the Omen September 6, 2011

By Ginahmk VINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you like horror, any kind of horror, and don't mind a re-visited theme from the 1970's, then this will be a great read for you. The main character has been haunted by a demon since childhood. After leaving home and going to a new state, he settles down, leaving the monster back home....until a car accident somehow re-activates the evil. This time his little 6-year old daughter is possessed and the terror restarts. There is enough tension to keep the plot flowing and you can feel the percolating fear mixed with denial. The story flows to it's inevitable conclusion. There are loose ends, and some readers may not be comfortable with the graphic description of kids doing evil deeds.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Left Wanting July 30, 2012

By Dannette

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I read the wonderful review of the book in the Kindle Daily Deal, and bought the book right away. I tend to trust the reviews there, especially when done by established authors of the genre. However, I think the reviewer missed the mark with this book.

Note: There are some semi-spoilers below. Proceed at your own risk.

This novel left me feeling as if something was missing. I don't know. Maybe a lack of anything hopeful or positive? There was certainly no balance. No good/evil. No yin/yang. No depth. The parents acted without any rhyme or reason, i.e. walking out on the psychiatrist. I'm not sure why that part was even part of the book, as it didn't take the story one step further down the road. The father knew what was going on, why did he waste the money?

I also was confused by the devil's physical presence as a shadow. Why have a shadow when the "devil" (not just a demon, mind you, but the Big Guy Downstairs), lived in the father, then the daughter? Was this an in-and-out Lucifer? Why this family? Why the tattoo? Can The Devil really be photographed? Does the devil really need the whole conception thing in order to live on? If his current body dies unexpectedly, is he dead, too? So many questions without answers.

I didn't feel invested in any of the characters, probably because of the lack of development. Well, okay, I did care about the dog and cat, and I was disappointed in how they were, shall we say, handled. There were other options at this author's disposal that would have provided more filet mignon and less roadkill. More Academy Awards and less snuff film.

In the end, I felt as though there was a lot of gratuitous, horrific violence done by young children.... It appeared to be written more for shock value and Kindle ratings than for creating an interesting novel that will stand the test of time. This author can write, the talent is there, but Stephen King she's not. Read more ›

More About the Author

Born in Ciechanow Poland, Ania has always been drawn to the darker, mysterious, and sometimes morbid sides of life. Her earliest childhood memory is of crawling through a hole in the chain link fence that separated her family home from the large wooded cemetery next door. She'd spend hours among the headstones, breaking up bouquets of silk flowers so that everyone had their equal share.

Beyond writing, Ania enjoys gourmet cooking, baking, movies, drawing, and traveling. She currently resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico with her husband and two dogs, Beau the Scottie and Galaxy the Yorkie.



Learn more about Ania on her site, www.AniaAhlborn.com, where you can sign up for a direct-from-the-author newsletter on new releases, promos, and more.

Want to connect? Follow Ania on Twitter @aniaahlborn, or find her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/aniaahlbornauthor.