Book Review | Smolder by Michael R. Goodwin

Eric is recently divorced and losing his dream home. Filled with anger and alcohol, he decides to take a late night walk in the woods. But there’s something waiting for him… and it’s hungry.

It was so dark, he could feel the weight of it on his skin.

Except it wasn’t the darkness on his skin. It was something else, and it burned.

Smolder takes place over one night in the woods and it’s a gloomy, unsettling horror. It tells the story about the breakdown of a marriage, the trauma of abuse and the inexplicable existence of an mysterious being. After a shocking prologue, the story moves on to Eric, who is drowning his sorrows in a bottle. His marriage is over after his wife, Monica, leaves him for another man. He’s also losing his dream house because he can’t afford it anymore. His thoughts are full of anger and it’s rough to read.

We soon find out that Monica isn’t having a great time either, because her new partner is abusive. My initial impression was that this storyline is too familiar with the scorned husband, cheating wife and villainous lover. However, we eventually see the other side of these characters from their point of views. Their backstory helps to illuminate the decisions they’ve made to get to where they are now. And their emotions are essentially linked to the ancient being stalking them in the woods.

I loved the description of the smolder, also known as the Nothing. It looms over the woods, viscerally devouring everything in its path. The human story plays out almost in the background to this unfathomable creature. The ending is surreal; almost fantastical where it veers into the cosmic and feels like a nightmare. This novella manages to pack a lot of punch in a short amount of time. It ends up surprising me in a good way!

For fans of cosmic horror with real-life terrors, Smolder will not disappoint.

CW: animal death, domestic violence

About the author: Michael R. Goodwin

Photo by Aleksandr Khomenko