What goes together better than drinking and archaeology? Jeffrey Ford decided to take this concept and run with it. He tossed in a disturbing horned child in an abandoned outhouse for good measure.The Twilight Pariah was a good little story. Ford captured my interest early on, had some intriguing characters and the story had some definite creep factor. For some reason, though, I found the story unmemorable. I really can’t put my finger on it, but once I was done, I was done. I’ll call it a timin...

One summer between college semesters, Maggie announces that she wants to become an archeologist and she solicits Henry and Russell to help her explore and excavate an outhouse from the 1800s on the property of an abandoned house on the outside of town. They discover deep in the dirt the skeleton of a baby with horns. This awakens something sinister in the town and the trio must find out what it is and how to stop it.I was browsing the new fiction section at the library and I found this novella.

So if this was a song on an album by your favorite band it'd be the one you forget about until you listen to the album in its entirety, then remember you like it and wonder why you don't listen to it more often, yet never changing your habits of choosing it over the other tracks. A decent read with an interesting take on a ghost story, but lacking that something extra that could have really made it stand out. Certainly worth checking out, and I wouldn't mind picking up more of Ford's work to see...

3 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2017/09/14/...An innocent summer project undertaken by a trio of college students quickly turns into a nightmare in The Twilight Pariah, a novella which drew me in with the promise of history and horror. But while the premise itself held plenty of potential, the end result did not pack quite the punch I expected, due to the slightly underwhelming execution of the story.Maggie, Russell, and Henry are childhood friends who have all return...

There wasn't necessarily anything 'wrong' with this book but I just found the whole thing to be so boring. None of the characters were interesting and the whole plot was so bare bones that it just flew by and never really gave me a chance to feel scared or care about anything in particular. I literally finished it yesterday and I've already half-forgotten what happened, it was just wholly unremarkable.

I had really high expectations for "The Twilight Pariah" despite seeing some well-trusted bloggers who eluded it didn't quite meet their's. I should have trusted them because I had a really difficult time finishing this novella and it took me forever to read something that shouldn't have taken so long.Maggie, Russel and Henry are on summer break from college. Maggie has switched her majors (again) and now wants to be an archaeologist so she convinces her friends to start a dig on an abandoned to...

Okay, um... I'm confused. Look, this book wasn't bad. Actually, it was pretty good and thoroughly entertaining. But it was good for the wrong reasons. Let me explain.The cover, the blurb, the shelving... all those things promised for this to be a creepy and tense experience. So that is what I was expecting and looking forward to. Some scares, some blood, and lots and lots of suspense and atmosphere.What I got instead, though, was... humor? And I'm not even sure whether this was supposed to be a

I am a total wuss. Complete and total. So I expected to have the pants scared off me for picking up a horror novella, and it didn’t really happen. There were a few creepy moments, but mostly I found myself wondering why it felt like an episode of Scooby Doo. (Considering Scooby Doo on Zombie Island gave me nightmares as a kid, that doesn’t necessarily mean it can’t be scary, but… I don’t know.)The actual haunting part seemed solid and interesting. It was the characters and the way they went abou...

Isn't the cover absolutely ominously stunning? I have to admit that part of the reasons for me to want to read this book was the cover and of course the fascinating blurb. Who doesn't love a devil child, and brutally murders? Well, not everyone perhaps, but I love horror books like this. I especially liked the historical part of this story, when Maggie, Russell, and Henry learn more about the horned child skeleton that they found when they started to dig around the house in the woods. What I fel...

Three college friends do an archaeological dig on an old outhouse and find a demon baby.Based on that summation, this book should have been a lot better than it was. There was nothing creepy or scary (at least to me) in this book. People got killed - I didn't really care, just read along waiting for the part that would affect me. An elderly lady has been held in torment for over a hundred years - unh hunh. I wanted to be turning pages at a quick clip (and it was a quick read) but I also wanted t...

This is a creepy little book but one I, for the most part enjoyed. The three friends decide to dig up an out house in a long abandoned house. At night. Just asking for trouble there. They find a mysterious bottle and the skeleton of a deformed, possibly demonic child (it had horns in its skull). This triggers a series of horrific events with loved ones being brutally killed. My issue was the length of the book. It's quite short and I think that it could have benefited so much with more descripti...

3.5 StarsI loved the premise involving an archaeological dig unearthing the remains of a possible demon child. Yet, while this novella was well written, I never quite got hooked by the story, which ultimately affected my overall enjoyment.

Everyone knows that you don't disturb buried skeletons. Everyone except Henry, Maggie and Russell, that is. With the summer off from college, three high school pals get together as Maggie has convinced the other two to help her with her amateur archaeology project. They're going to dig up an old outhouse pit and see what they can find. Not only do they find a buried skeleton, the skeleton is very small and it has horns. Anyone sane of mind would leave that thing alone, fill the hole back up and

Easy and simple haunting/possession story. The second half was a bit better, the first as too much humor and started way too slow for a novel this short. The writing was okay and the story too, it was an entertaining horror story but unfortunately it didn't bring anything new, it's all a many many time déjà-vu story. It's also a bit young, I might recommend it too young teenagers who want to start reading horror since it's an easy read. A very average book, without major flaws, but without wonde...

Review copy provided by the publisher—Tor.com—in exchange for an honest review.The Twilight Pariah by Jeffrey Ford has an interesting premise and ideas but unfortunately they were quite poorly executed.In their last college vacation, Maggie, Russell, and Henry wanted to get drunk and play archaeologist in a mansion located in the woods outside of town. During their excavation, the found a disturbing skeleton of a horned child which lead to their lives becoming a living hell wherever they go. Sou...

The Twilight Pariah by Jeffrey Ford was a book I came close to abandoning to the DNF pile. There was a lot of pot use here, and aside from being disgusting, it always make me wonder if it's going to be one of those questionable tales where the horror might have been real, or might just have been stoner hallucinations. Screw that. Be stoned and paranoid on your own time. I want the horror to be real, brutal, and unflinching.As for the story, I liked the archaeological approach to exploring an aba...

I feel as though Ford has somehow tapped into a source of myth and crafted a kind of urban legend in book form. I suspect the story is somehow going to sneak off the page and inhabit those late-night gabfests where the stories come out to play. The novella has moments of creepiness interspersed with moments of great humor and leaves at last with a sense of deep humanity.

I can always count on Jeffrey Ford to entertain me, engage my imagination, and make me laugh. I like to think we'd be friends if we ever met in person. I was first introduced to him when I picked up THE SHADOW YEAR at the library a number of years ago. That book is up there on my list of favorites for so many reasons. THE TWILIGHT PARIAH is a novella, which made it easy to read in fits and starts over a span of a couple of days. Every element that makes a book a good fit for me was present - hum...

The Twilight Pariah by Jeffrey Ford is an old time Gothic horror novel that hearkens back to the early tales of Bradbury and Lovecraft. It has the pace of a pounding heart and the dark intensity of a past best left alone, disturbed.It is the last college vacation for Maggie, Russell, and Henry. But rather than party and relax, Maggie has a different plan. She wants to dig up an old house in the woods outside of town as preparation for her college thesis. They visit the old abandoned home and dec...

“You can’t kill the dead. You’ve got to outsmart them.”Tor.com released a “Tor.com Publishing's Fall of Fear Sampler” sampler which included A Long Day in Lychford by Paul Cornell, Switchback by Melissa F. Olson, The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson, and this title. This one enticed me the most. I’m also a terrible sucker for a great cover, and this one is a winner. It gives you the impression the story you’re about to embark on is atmospheric and eerie, and something perfect for an...