"Strong supernatural thriller"

Church Falls is a complacent town on Cape Cod that obtains much of its income from tourists. Nate Tuck has found a haven in Church Falls after shooting a fourteen-year-old gangster in Oakland and when the chief retires he is expected to be the next Sheriff. Nate doesn't know that once every generation an outsider instigates the townsfolk into turning against one another and the cycle is about to begin again.

Victoria Kennelly broke the last cycle of hate when she told the residents that they were wrong to try to expel students suffering with AIDS. A few days later, while trick or treating with her friend Petey, her family and home burst into flames and Petey disappeared, his body never found. Now Victoria feels compelled to return to her hometown because evil has reappeared. Violence, hate crimes and murder have begun again. Nate has a hard time believing these incidents are based on the supernatural but offers no counter explanation.

Fans of Stephen King, Bentley Little and Dean Koontz are going to treasure DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES, a supernatural thriller that is so scary readers will go to bed with so much lighting on that a lit up stadium at night will seem dim in comparison. Victoria and Nate are polar opposites with one grounded in reality and the other accepting that sometimes the only explanation is mired in the supernatural. Using both logic systems, they combine forces to fight the evil that is destroying the town from the inside out. Robert Ross deserves a Bram Stoker nomination for this chilling horror novel.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted June 10, 2003