Review by Valarie Thorpe

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The most effective and well-written novels introduce us to new people…not characters, but rather folks that walk up, shake your hand and smile, or scare the shit out of you. Either way, Diana Barron does this ridiculously well in her first novel, Phantom Feast. This is a supernatural tale of first order as Barron blends psychological edges with more than a few bucketfuls of gore.

A small New York town is the setting, although that's not quite right as along the way we're transported into realms that don't really fit on a glove compartment map. You'd have a hard time plotting the coordinates on a regular map when you're talking about a haunted circus wagon, a psychopathic dwarf, and a town turning into primeval forest.

Although after saying the people are the heart of the novel, this cast may sound a bit off-the-edge when I say we meet dwarves, midgets, motorcycle gang members, a heavy…really heavy shapeshifter that makes a living as a phone sex goddess. Don't let the eccentricities fool you, they're all fully realized and live with you for a while after you've put the book down.

This one's really hard to synopsize and I wouldn't do it justice even if I gave it a go. Just know it made the final Bram Stoker ballot and that wasn't a surprise. The surprise would be if we didn't see Diana Barron's work there again.

Click here to visit Diana Barron's site.