This Is How You Write a Monster Story!

i really enjoyed this book, and flew through it really quickly,

it's a story that starts with a brother and sister who don't get along traveling to a cabin in the heart of Appalachia for a family thanksgiving dinner, they stop off at a store before closing when two men come in one badly injured. claiming to have been attacked by a monster, begging them to lock the doors.

it's really surprising that this is a debut novel
this picks up really quickly. threw out the book you slowly learn what has happened between the brother and sister to cause the problems within there relationship, the way its slowly drip fed to the reader is done really well and the mystery helps to keep the pace strong but the best part of this book is the creature it is so well written well, has great folklore and leaves enough to make your imagination go wild. i really did enjoy this one it felt very Reminiscent the of the movies "feast" (2005) and "splinter" (2008) and think it would make a perfect autumn read, i can't wait to see what this author has next

What an absolute thrill it was to read - we are being FED on the Appalachian horror front this year and boy am I eating it up.

This book read like a very well written Horror film, and had me hooked from the start - as a reader we are thrown into the thick of it early on and it was really refreshing to read.. a lot of reads come with a lot of filler at the start but it didn’t feel like we needed it here, the character developments and their back stories were peppercorned throughout and I really enjoyed learning as I go.

I felt claustrophobic, I felt the pressure and the high tension (and the shop’s LED lighting? Gross) - I just feel tense thinking about it, really well written to be feeling it even now.

It was gruesome and gory, it was emotive and at times devasting … I couldn’t praise it any higher if I tried. Sensational!

Thank you 3am Books and Katherine Daniel for an ARC of this book - I am forever grateful.

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When the Night Comes Knocking was the best horror story I’ve read in a long time. If I could give it more than five stars, I absolutely would! I devoured it in just a few days.

I loved the brother-and-sister relationship and the journey they took together over the course of one terrifying night. I really liked all the main characters and became completely invested in their individual stories. The creature was genuinely creepy, and I found myself feeling increasingly unnerved while reading at night, imagining what it would be like to be isolated and imprisoned by something so terrifying.

This was an absolutely amazing book, and I’ll be eagerly watching out for the author’s next one. I honestly can’t recommend this enough!

“When The Night Comes Knocking” - “Monsters are only real if you let them be.”

★★★★★

This was one of those novels that hooked me with it’s boney talons and didn’t let me go.
What starts as a tense drive quickly turns into a proper Appalachian nightmare and a night filled with horror, secrets and bloodshed.
Darkness isn’t just around you, it’s in you, it follows you, haunts you and in this case, it will hunt you.
I can wholeheartedly say, this was an amazing debut novel and Katherine Daniel has put herself on my radar.

For lovers of Stephen King’s The Mist and readers who enjoy small time suspense, eerie atmospheres & all things cryptids. If the torn apart deer in the middle of the road isn’t enough of an omen for estranged siblings Jane & Thomas then a lock-in at a nearby convenience store where the bodies start piling up surely will be. This phenomenal debut for Katherine Daniel has absolutely captured my heart! The setting is perfect for the atmospheric suspense, the characters are fully fleshed out, complex and lovable to a fault. I will carry them with me and the beast in my nightmares (yikes!) 👹

When The Night Comes Knocking teaches us that there’s strength in vulnerability and that feeling guilt, shame or remorse for your past does not make you a monster because some things are never your fault and monsters are only real if you let them be. Thank you to Katherine Daniel, 3AM Books & NetGalley for allowing me to read this delightful tale early in exchange for an honest review, I could even see this becoming part of a duology or series (maybe I’m just desperate for more!! 👀)