Afraid was a surprise. Not only by how much violence is in the book, but because I received this copy from the Early Reviewers program over at Library Things. I didn't even know I won this book, until I received it in the mail.

Safe Haven was a small town that lived up to its name. It was a place where everyone knew each other, so no one really locked their doors. Then everything changed when a helicopter, carrying a special genetically altered unit called Red-Ops, crashes into the town. Sadly for the community in Safe Haven, the Red-Ops survive and they’ve come into town for one thing and one thing only. To find Warren. And they’re willing to kill everyone just to complete their objective. By the end of the novel, not everyone will survive.

Afraid is a fast paced, action packed, adrenaline rush. And Jack Kilborn doesn’t waste any time in the action. The horror that the Red-Ops bring is incredibly gory and disturbing. There is a man who likes to eat people, another one who likes to burn people for fun, and the other two just like to hurt people, because it feels fun. Kilborn does a great job making these people scary and it wasn’t only what they did that made them scary, but the fact that you could see how messed up they were by their words and thoughts. Instead of making the horror subtle, it was very much in your face, which worked really well with this novel. It might not be for everyone, as the gore and violence might be a little too much for some people.

While show more the Red-Ops are scary people, what they did to the residents of Red-Ops just disgusted me. I think the only time I was scared was when one of the Red-Ops, Bernie, the one who likes fire, meets up with Duncan, a little boy. Bernie giggles and explains to a terrified Duncan the different kinds of burns someone can get. Duncan eventually escapes, only to face another horror resulting in getting shot with a pellet gun, and being caught in a burning house. Even though the other residents faced many atrocities in the book, one of the residents got their toes bitten off, what Duncan went through was rough and freaked me out.

There are no real chapters in Afraid, which I think helped the novel’s flow. This in turn, made me not want to miss a moment in this book. Kilborn did a good job with the pace and making sure that the horror stays with the reader throughout the entire novel. As for the characters, each one was distinctive and felt real...even the Red-Ops.

In one scene, three of the Safe Haven characters find a scientist on the road. They talk to him about who could have sent the Red-Ops, he mentions that it might be Canada and despite myself, I started to laugh. After that, we find out who really sent the Red-Ops and it isn’t Canada. I guess the laugh might have been from shock, since I haven’t read any books where Canada is the bad guy, so reading that exchange I couldn’t help myself.

Overall, I enjoyed my time reading Afraid. I will say that I don’t think that this is for everyone, as the violence and gore isn’t for the faint of heart, but if you are a fan of horror or you're looking for a quick read that has a lot of action, then do yourself a favour and go and pick up Afraid. show less