Mike Duke

Mike Duke weaves a tale of visceral horror, made worse by wholly believable characters who the reader can both empathize and identify with. While bordering on the stereotypical, the initial scene and character set ups comfortably draw the reader in and are well written. If you did not know you had chosen a horror story, you could be reading the beginning of any well written story in any adult genre by any story telling master.

But you do know.

So you know there is something there.

And once you show more have been lulled into enjoyment, it gets you. It gets you as surely as it gets them.

Because it’s there waiting in the dark.

And the worst part is, these monsters are real.

No, not just that. The monsters really exist and the story could really happen.

Mike Duke creates characters and setting and plot so believable that his addition of creatures that actually exist will terrify you long after you run screaming from the story.



For an added bonus, please further traumatize yourself by reading the author’s Afterward. I am actually quoted and paraphrased in a couple of places, but other than that, Mike Duke allows us into the twisted things behind his creation of this frightening piece. show less

This novella was not at all what I expected when I first picked it up. I expected just an extreme horror blood and torture fest. Which I sometimes enjoy. But this little story has a psychological twistiness that I didn't see coming and really found fascinating. The very beginning was tough to read, but as I got along further into the story, I realized that these beginning scenes were not just there to be gratuitous. It was setting up the rest of the tale in a way that made it more show more visceral.

The characters are completely mesmerizing, I am obsessed with finding out the backstory on Jake. Thankfully there is another novella dedicated to that exact thing so I will definitely be reading that soon. show less

Life wasn't going well for police officer Mark Adams, his marriage was on the rocks and he was fed up with the limitations of his job. He was tired of busting criminals just to see them return to the streets to wreak havoc. Officer Adams respects the law and has high moral standards but there are some people who deal with the law that have lower standards.

Chad Bigleby is a lawyer who would be considered a shade of grey when it comes to morals. He is married and has a couple of mistresses, he show more has a son out of wedlock and he would do anything for him. This includes blackmailing someone so he can get a big pay day. What Chad doesn't know is he is about to be held accountable for all his sins because something evil has arrived in town and its going to put Chad and Mark on the path to a dark destiny that will change their worlds.

Low by Mike Duke is half philosophical horror and half police drama. Off the bat I have to give this book credit for being original, I loved how it makes you think. People that normally don't read horror novels look at them and think they're for dumb people with sick minds. This opinion probably comes from the fact that there are so many bad horror movies out there. Horror literature on the other hand is totally different from horror movies and Low shows what kind of messages can come through in a good horror novel.

This book is all about morality and the consequences that come when you make the wrong choices. In Low we see some bad people being punished for their sins but we also meet characters who are shades of grey and what they go through when they cross the line. The bad guys in this book have their good side as well but they still have to suffer for their choices.

If you're more into crime stories than horror you get that from Low. Even if I didn't read Mike Duke's biography before reading this book I would have figured out that he worked as a police officer. There is a lot of detail in the story on police procedure and the kind of things police officers see on a day to day basis. For me that's where the book dragged a little, I felt some of the police scenes could have been cut out but at the same time it added a little depth to the story.

My favorite parts of Low was watching how the characters dealt with temptation, we see what Mark Adams does when faced with the opportunity to cheat on his wife. Even more interesting to me though was seeing how chad's wife Sam acted when she realizes what her husband is really like. Though she isn't a huge part of the book I loved Sam's character. At first she is presented as someone who can't handle the world she lives in but when faced with a crisis we see her as a strong person. She also has my favorite scene in the book when she gives her views on what Zombies represent in horror movies. The best part of Low for me wasn't the story or the characters, it was the messages that it was trying to get across. show less

It was the aspect of amnesia in the blurb that attracted me to this story. However, I found the first 50-60% of the book almost boring, like reading a coroner's report early on, and nearly gave up on the story. However, it did get very interesting towards the end of the story.