Book Review | Grey Skies by William Becker

Roman is in a terrible situation. He finds the body of a nun outside of a church and has no idea what to do with her. His subsequent decisions lead him down a dark path, through a rabbit hole of memories and regrets. Who is Roman and what has he done?

We first meet Roman as he is burying a dead body, but it is not clear why he is doing it. When he goes home, he sees that there is something wrong with his house. Spiders crawl inside the rooms and there is a large hole in the ground. Roman steps through the hole, and into a nightmare. We follow him as he navigates through strange places, his memories mixing the present and the past.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book! The writing is vivid and detailed, and I was immediately transported inside the main character’s head as he went through a personal hell. It soon becomes clear that he is not a typical protagonist. The book leaves little clues to his transgressions and his suffering now due to his previous actions.  The book brings up familiar horror tropes that nonetheless still terrify. The action is relentless from beginning to end and peppered with flashbacks so while it did feel monotonous at times, I still enjoyed the ups and downs of the story.

However, I wish the ending had been stronger. We don’t get the moment when Roman realises why he went through what he did, instead, he suddenly seems to know.  I would have preferred to have a build-up of tension to the climax. On a shallow note, I think the book cover is too plain and does a disservice to the content. But for a debut, this is a terrific read and I look forward to reading more work from the author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

About the author: William Becker

Photo by Jochen Pach