• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
FanFiAddict

FanFiAddict

A gaggle of nerds talking about Fantasy, Science Fiction, and everything in-between. They also occasionally write reviews about said books. 2x Stabby Award-Nominated and home to the Stabby Award-Winning TBRCon.

  • Home
  • About
    • Reviewers
    • Review Policy
    • Stance on AI
    • Contact
    • Friends of FFA
  • Blog
    • Reviews
      • Children’s / Middle Grade Books
      • Comics/Graphic Novels
      • Fantasy
        • Alt History
        • Coming of Age
        • Epic Fantasy
        • Fairy Tales
        • Grimdark
        • Heroic Fantasy
        • LitRPG
        • Paranormal Fantasy
        • Romantic Fantasy
        • Steampunk
        • Superheroes
        • Sword and Sorcery
        • Urban Fantasy
      • Historical Fiction
      • Science Fiction
        • Aliens
        • Artificial Intelligence
        • Alt History
        • Cyberpunk
        • Dystopian
        • Hard SciFi
        • Mechs/Robots
        • Military SF
        • Space Opera
        • Steampunk
        • Time Travel
      • Thriller
    • Guest Posts
    • Lists
    • Neurodivergence in Fiction
    • Why You Should Read…
    • Interviews
      • Book Tube
      • Authorly Writing Advice
  • Fear For All
    • Demons
    • Ghosts
    • Gothic
    • Lovecraftian
    • Monsters
    • Occult
    • Psychological
    • Slasher
    • Vampires
    • Werewolves
    • Witches
    • Zombies
  • SFF Addicts
    • SFF Addicts Clips
    • SFF Addicts (Episode Archive)
  • TBRCon
    • TBRCon2025
    • TBRCon2024
    • TBRCon2023
    • TBRCon2022
  • FFA Book Club
  • FFA TBR Toppers
    • Advertise Your Book on FFA!
  • Writer Resources
    • Artists
    • Cartographers
    • Editing/Formatting/Proofing

Review: A Spectre is Haunting Greentree by Carson Winter

July 1, 2024 by Ed Crocker Leave a Comment

Rating: 8/10

Outstanding in its field

Synopsis

REAP WHAT YOU SOW

In the wake of a series of panic attacks, isolated and introverted Carina takes a friend up on an offer: go to Greentree, Oregon, escape her abusive ex, and start a new life.

But upon arrival, the town is stranger than Carina could have ever imagined.

For one, they still have a video store. For two, everyone is rich.

For three, what’s up with all these scarecrows?

As Greentree’s secrets begin to unravel, as the autumn sun bends below the corn, as scythes sharpen in the night—a violent revolution stirs.

You can order direct from Tenerous Press here

Review

Scarecrows are absolutely terrifying, and if you find that statement ridiculous then you are not standing in the right fields. In A Spectre is Haunting Greentree, Carson Winter takes this horror icon and squeezes all the terror he can get out of it till the straw pops out, but still finds time to weave in a darkly furious anti-capitalist message and a thread of overcoming your fears.

Carina has arrived at Greentree, an isolated Oregon rural town, to try and rebuild her life away from her abusive ex. Her fear of noises in the night is not helped by staying in a farmhouse near to fields of scarecrows. Meanwhile, Greentree itself is a bizarrely wealthy place, with an unusually busy video store. And then the killing starts…

The immediate thing that jumped out at me here like a dark figure in a cornfield was Winter’s knack for creating a sense of dread and genuine terror at an unexplained noise. The terror that comes from supposedly inanimate objects coming to life is always the sense they might be near rather than the actual reveal, and there are some genuinely terrifying “something in the night scenes” here. I am rarely scared by horror these days – desensitized brain, or is horror fiction rarely meant to be scary, we’ll settle that debate in the field later – but I was genuinely creeped out by this tale.

But besides the shivers, Carson also dovetails Carina’s character arc nicely with the idea of building tension. Her instinct as someone who’s fled her abusive ex to a new town is to be scared of every noise; sensing intruders everywhere. We are never sure whether there is something round the corner of if it is her paranoia; it is that classic melding of psychological trauma and real supernatural terror that makes the opening scenes so electric. Her fears also make for a rousing journey as she slowly learns how to live again as others most definitely learn to start dying all around her.

However this is a book ultimately more interested in the message rather than the character as the perils of capitalism – particularly a strange, animalistic, blood-fuelled kind – is a strong theme here. A deal has been struck in Greentree and boy is it about to go wrong. Little more can be said without entering the perilous cornfields of spoilers, but the idea of the working class finally twigging that they can reap the profits themselves rather than simply reap the lands is a strong one here, and the wild nature that lurks below capitalism – there is a reason that modern economists speak of “animal spirits” when they discuss the stock market – is explored in intriguing ways, not least through a bold and effective choice of POV.

And ultimately, when the revolution comes, it is as terrifying and bloody as you’d hope for, though in all honesty the great joy of this book was in the build-up. Winter writes unease and building dread beautifully, and I guarantee you you’ll be as wary of these scarecrows as the birds that leave them well alone.

Filed Under: Fear For All, Monsters, Reviews Tagged With: #TenebrousPress, Book Review, fearforall, Horror

About Ed Crocker

Ed Crocker was born in Manchester, UK and has managed to stay there ever since. By day he edits books—his clients include Sunday Times Bestselling authors, award-winning indie authors, and acclaimed small presses. By night, or sometimes also by day (freelancer rules), he reviews books and interviews authors, watches horror films, plays video games and writes fantasy and horror novels. My god, what a nerd.

His epic fantasy trilogy The Everlands – vampires, werewolves and sorcerers but no humans - is being published in North America by St Martin's Press. The first book, Lightfall, is out Jan 14, 2025.

You can find him on most socials (not Twitter) at @edcrockerbooks and at ed-crocker.com, where you can sign up for his newsletter GET CROCKED for your sins.

Other Reviews You Might Like

Review: The Girl in the Walls by Meg Eden Kuyatt

Review: The Vengeance (The Vampires of Dumas #1) by Emma Newman

Review: Overgrowth by Mira Grant

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Sponsored By

Use Discount Code FANFI For 5% Off!

FFA Newsletter!

Sign up for updates and get FREE stories from Michael R. Fletcher and Richard Ford!

What Would You Like To See?(Required)
Please select the type of content you want to receive from FanFi Addict. You can even mix and match if you want!

FFA Author Hub

Read A.J. Calvin
Read Andy Peloquin
Read C.J. Daily
Read C.M. Caplan
Read D.A. Smith
Read DB Rook
Read Francisca Liliana
Read Frasier Armitage
Read Josh Hanson
Read Krystle Matar
Read M.J. Kuhn

Recent Reviews

Recent Comments

  1. Mark Matthews on COVER REVEAL: To Those Willing to Drown by Mark MatthewsJanuary 7, 2025
  2. Basra Myeba on Worth reading Jack Reacher books by Lee Child?January 5, 2025
  3. Ali on Review: Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory by Yaroslav BarsukovJanuary 5, 2025
  4. Carter on So you want to start reading Warhammer 40,000? Here’s where to start!January 4, 2025
  5. M. Zaugg on Bender’s Best LitRPG reads of 2024January 3, 2025

Archive

Copyright © 2025 · Powered by ModFarm Sites · Log In