The Bird Eater

When Aaron Holbrook's life falls apart, he returns to his childhood home to try to put both it and his life back together. He is thwarted at every turn by a mysterious (to him) boy who terrorizes both Aaron and the local bird population. Aaron reconnects with old friends as he slowly loses his mind, and the piece culminates in the crashing ruin of all of their lives. Ahlborn (The Shuddering) makes some questionable choices with this work. The major revelations about the antagonist are all front-loaded into the prolog, which kills the mystery and suspense. The female lead makes a series of plot-required dumb decisions that strain credulity. Finally, the author embraces the postmodern trope of mentioning other horror works but fails to capitalize on it. This tendency also highlights the book's similarities with other works and downplays its originality. Nevertheless, there is some genuinely creepy moments and surprisingly good character work for the secondary players. Reader Peter Berkrot does a good job with voices and appropriately times his reading to build anticipation.