With a Blighted Touch

By: J. Todd Kingrea

Narrated by: Nathaniel Gray

Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

In Scarburn County, Tennessee there is a small mountain community called Black Rock, known for its unusual and prevalent blight that affects all vegetation....

When an unexpected death forces Christopher “Kit” McNeil to return to his small hometown in the Tennessee mountains after 18 years, he must confront his past and a secret he’s kept since he was 12.

A talented guitarist with a history of bad choices and even worse luck, Kit soon reunites with an old friend and learns about recent disappearances and mysterious deaths in the area. They begin to wonder if it’s connected to what they witnessed in the woods when they were kids...and if a creepy local family is involved. Stranger still, almost half of their high school graduating class has died.

When more shredded bodies begin appearing, Kit becomes a suspect. But what he discovers is even more frightening—evil has set its sights on him and his friends and it won’t stop until it gets what it needs.

Can Kit and his friends band together in time to stop this ancient evil? Or will a new reign of terror that the Cherokee once called Uyaga be unleashed to roam the Earth once more?

©2023 J. Todd Kingrea & BHC Press (P)2023 J. Todd Kingrea & BHC Press

With a Blighted Touch

Chris heads home back to his cursed Tennessee hometown after the death of his mother. Town is still cursed, only it's so much more insidious than that. Could Chris's own bad luck in life have anything to do with what is plaguing this town? Missing people, weird blight, old mysteries, creepy kids, hillbilly asshats, this book has a little bit of everything.
This book was so very good! I really bonded to the characters and felt for Chris. I also loved the mystery of the cursed town and it affecting everyone who lived there. Kind of a Derry, Maine situation. I spent most of this book trying to figure out what it reminded me of and it didn't hit me until hours after I finished it but it gave me a very strong "Summer of Night" by Dan Simmons vibe. Not the plot, though there are some really vague similarities, but more just the vibe I got from both of them is the same. Highly recommend this one!

Extremely Good !!!

This is a really good spooky creepy horror story that sucks you in with mystery, intrigue, and plot twist and turns
the narrator is EXCELLENT !!! clear and easy to follow
I HIGHLY recommend !!!

it's a good one.

I almost missed seeing this. This is a great horror book for the genuine horror fan. I'm not going to describe anything but it's got the feeling of It but in a good unique way.

Good supernatural mystery

Just a bit late with this one, but I bought an audiobook copy to help me catch up. The narration from Nathaniel Gray was very good and added to my enjoyment.

The town of Black Rock was always referred to as cursed, but what if it actually was, genuinely? This is a horror novel that features a dark, ancient entity plaguing the town with disappearances, surprising deaths, and bad luck. Kit thought he had gotten out, taken his guitar and moved on with his life. But a surprise visit home, due to the loss of his mother, has drawn him right back into the craziness—and he’s front and center for the show.

For me, Kit wasn’t the most interesting or endearing main character I’ve ever read. However, I did like the fact that he’s forty, a bit heavy, and kind of at rock bottom. It was at least of interest to read a story that doesn’t feature the typical main. And Kit was not without qualities. His willingness to sacrifice is quite a good one, too.

The ancient Uyaga’s use of children was very disturbing, and the description of how they looked made me think along the lines of NOS4A2, which I quite liked, but the stories are very different.

Personally a 4/5*, a nice horror entry, but with quite a quick climax.