Dennis's Reviews > Boys in the Valley

BOYS IN THE VALLEY is a solid coming of age horror novel set in the early 1900s at St. Vincent's Orphanage for Boys in Pennsylvania. Philip Fracassi's newest horror novel was very highly praised by reviewers and bookstagrammers alike, so I definitely wanted to read this during Halloween szn. BOYS IN THE VALLEY is the perfect blend of "The Exorcist meets Lord of the Flies, by way of Midnight Mass" as the blurb suggests.

The story is centered around Peter Barlow, a young boy orphaned after a gruesome murder/suicide of his parents, and is taken to St. Vincent's Orphanage. There, Peter takes to the new home and sees the benefits of growing up within the Priesthood, but when strange and devious actions are being done to the boys within the orphanage, Peter must take a stance before it's too late. Especially when bodies begin to pile up.

This book is dark and very intense, but I think it's one you need to go into knowing very little about. The synopsis is vague and so will my review. If you like traditional horror, BOYS IN THE VALLEY follows that script much more than the modern horror stories I've been seeing lately. It's a perfect concoction of drama, horror, and psychological suspense. The story moves slower than I would've liked, but once you hit the halfway mark, there's no turning back. I'll definitely read more stories by this author, especially close to Halloween.