Book tip

Kill Creek

Scott Thomas

The arbiters of "what's cool" in the publishing business have apparently determined that "supernatural" elements in horror fiction are out. Huh?! That's the rumor, anyway. I guess "horror" is in our minds or what we make of life. Very existential. I'm certainly glad Scott Thomas didn't get the message. His haunted house novel "Kill Creek" cranks up the supernatural in clever and never gratuitous fashion. And what a hook: Four famous horror novelists, as a publicity stunt, spend Halloween night together in a rural Kansas farmhouse reported to be infested with spirits. It's not easy to come up with anythin fresh in the ol' haunted house genre — but, by God, Thomas has done it, and beautifully. Supernatural on!