Human Flesh (wendigo story time!) — Nick Clausen

TITLE: Human Flesh
AUTHOR: Nick Clausen
GENRE: Horror
AGE RANGE: YA/Adult (cross-over)

SYNOPSIS:
During the winter of 2017, a series of strange occurrences took place in a small town of northern Maine. A rational explanation for what happened has still not been presented. Now, for the first time, all the available written evidence is being released to the public from what is commonly know as the Freyston case.

And I pray the nightmares might end now that I finally admitted it to myself. The terrible truth I have never been able to face.
I didn’t escape the predator… I brought it home with me.

I love few things more than the moment when you pick up a kindle unlimited title totally on a whim, with no major expectations to note, and end up finding yourself a brand new author to love. Human Flesh was such an incredible, creepy, dreadful little story and I couldn’t get enough, but at the same time, its short length was perfect for the feelings it conveyed.

Told through voicemail message transcripts, text messages, emails, blog posts, and interrogation notes, the formatting here is so unique and really helps attach you to these characters in an instant. On top of that, there’s something so easy to relate to in the fear of uncertainty when you’re a kid around a family member you don’t know well — you’re meant to trust and care for them, but can you help it if they’re just acting a little weird? Bundle all of that together with a desolate, freezing wintry Maine setting and a small-knit community where everyone seems to know something you don’t, and you’ve got a recipe for an atmosphere that puts you on edge from the start.

As short as this is, there’s not much that can be said without spoiling things, but I will say that, as someone who has always been terrified of legends of the wendigo and the lore surrounding it, this is one of my favorite executions of that storyline. It’s well-researched and thoughtful, and has definitely piqued my interest in more of Clausen’s work. I can’t recommend Human Flesh highly enough and know this is the sort of short story I’ll be reaching for again in the future.

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