Review | The Prisoners of Stewartville by Shannon Felton

In the town of Stewartville, the residents are either working in a prison, waiting for their family to be released, or just trying to survive from the inside. Casey lives with his brother and grandmother in a trailer park after their mother was sent to prison. When Casey and his friend, Denny, finds a strange tunnel in Denny’s house, something dark is unleashed. People are dying, his family is changing, and he might be in danger. Can Casey escape the darkness, or will the shadow of Stewartville prove to be too strong?

He peered back into the hole and then tried to wiggle another brick loose. It came out of the wall and the basement seemed to shrink with it, the bricks and wooden beams closing in on us, the shadows stretching, the black hole slowly sucking the room into it, millimeter by millimeter.

I really enjoyed this debut! The Prisoners of Stewartville is a wonderfully dark story where the horrors are not just from the hint of the supernatural, but from the bleakness of an unfulfilled life. Escape here relates to running away from the creeping, unknown danger and also leaving for a better life. It’s an option not available to many of the residents. Casey’s brother, Shane, has a scholarship to college but after their mother went to prison, he stayed to look after the family. Shane lost the chance to leave, and this missed opportunity and guilt hangs over Casey too. His struggle feels real and scenes of him scrounging for money to buy food tugged at my heartstrings. I was rooting for his survival!

The small town setting of Stewartville is vividly described. Its residents are all linked to the huge prison in its centre – whether as guards, prisoners or people just stuck in a cycle of poverty and abuse. I thought the description of life in this town is harrowing, and I really felt for the characters. The book doesn’t shy away from showing how drugs and substance abuse affect people’s lives. If there’s one thing that I wish had been expanded on is the plotline involving Casey’s mother. I wasn’t fully satisfied with how it turned out. I also wanted to know more about the supernatural aspect of the story. But I thought the ending is a shocker and beautifully done.

Overall, if you’re a fan of small town horrors The Prisoners of Stewartville would be a great pick!

CW: drug use, abuse

I received a copy from the publisher for review purposes.

About the author: Shannon Felton

Photo by Emiliano Bar