Jake Farrow

About:
A group of five guys head off to a summer camping trip in the Canadian outdoors. John and Michael are brothers, and the other three are friends, Jason, Andrew and Edwin. Along for the trip is Andrew's best friend, a wolf named PJ. John stumbles upon the Chroma in the form of a blood stain on a tree and the entity latches on and inhabits him, feeding off the guilt he harbors over his family relations.
The Chroma then proceeds to harass this group of men out in the wilderness, rendering show more them helpless as it kills and maims on a whim. The entity appears as a bloody floating mass. As the group tries to figure out a way to escape alive, they find that the Chroma is intelligent, and they try to find its weaknesses. Edwin, whose true intentions are not really known to the guys, veers from the group and goes on a mad spree fueled by greed.

My thoughts:
I've never quite read anything like The Chroma. This book was bloody. You have to have a strong stomach for some of the scenes. This is the camping trip from hell.
The Chroma is harassing and trying to kill these guys out in the middle of nowhere. I didn't quite know what to expect from this book, but once I started reading I was sucked into the plot, mostly because I found it bizarre and intriguing.

Without giving too much away, these characters were interesting to read about, John and Michael were my favorite. These two brothers have a messed up history and issues they are trying to resolve.

I liked that Andrew has a pet wolf, it gave it a nice twist to the story. Andrew being the youngest in the bunch at just fifteen years old, and the camper being his parents, really gets unwillingly involved in the whole mess. I felt bad for him since he was really attached to his wolf and at times had to sit back and watch as he wondered whether his pet would choose to run off and be in the wild, or stay with him.
I also liked that the story begins with John having a conversation with the Chroma in the woods. It gave this mysterious entity a voice.

Overall I found the The Chroma to be a well written piece of science fiction with horror nicely woven into the plot. I was eager to find out how the story would end in this battle for survival. I recommend this one to fans of scary, 'in your face' types of thrillers with a dash of science fiction in the mix.

The idea of being stranded alone in the woods is definitely creepy and author Jake Farrow puts a nice spin on this thrilling story. I could envision The Chroma just outside the camper, waiting for these guys to come out and try to escape it. Next time I go hiking in the woods, I know The Chroma will come to mind. This is one of those stories that gets under your skin.

"The ominous Chroma literally unfolds from the tree as if it were an unseen blanket. The Chroma is, in fact similar in shape to a blanket, about ten feet tall and eight feet wide, thought with vaguely defined edges. It appears as a floating body of blood, constantly bubbling like water at its boiling point, and waving like a flag against the wind, but doing both in very slow motion."
p. 44, The Chroma show less

An adventurous summer camping trip in the Canadian wilderness turns into the trip from hell for five friends. Brothers John and Michael along with friends Edwin, Jason and Andrew have no idea that their campsite is the home of the Chroma, an entity that takes on a form of a tree with a red bloodshadow. The Chroma has an overpowering desire and drive to systematically overcome its human victims, turning them against each other in order to destroy them by any means available. Can they survive show more this life-or-death threat, or will the Chroma succeed in destroying them to satisfy its demonic need?

The Chroma is a bone chilling, blood curdling psychological horror thriller with a touch of sci-fi mixed in. The author weaves a horrifying tale with a lot of twists and turns and suspense that will keep the reader sitting on the edge of their seat. The characters are realistic yet complex, each has their own individual issues, and the author masterfully weaves their interesting stories as a subplot to the terror that befalls them when they meet up with the Chroma. As a fan of horror thrillers, this story was a little bit beyond my liking as it has some sci-fi influences, which is not one of my favorite genres to read. But with that being said, the author does provide a story that completely creeped me out, and that my friends is what a true horror thriller is supposed to do. I was really intrigued by the Chroma's use of psychological warfare in its attempt to destroy the boys, it made me think of how damaging the use of psychological intimidation is used between people, in a sense it is used to destroy a person's spirit. The boys' utilization of their instinctive survival skills to combat the Chroma left me holding my breath and wondering what would happen next. I couldn't help but wonder how the author came up with this story, he certainly has a wicked imagination!

The Chroma is a story that will grab you from the very beginning and won't let you out of its grasp until the final battle to survive is over. If you are a fan of terror and gore with a psychological twist, this novel is the one for you!

RATING: 3 STARS *** (My Rating) / 4 STARS **** (Amazon Rating)

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author's publicist in exchange for my honest review and hosting a virtual book event on my book review blog site.

Virtual Book Event: On Monday, June 4, 2012, author Jake Farrow participated in a virtual book event with an Author Guest Post on Jersey Girl Book Reviews.
http://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot.com/2012/06/author-guest-post-jake-farrow-...

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