A car load of white teens gets stranded in the middle of the Philadelphia ghetto after attending a concert. A few exit the car in an attempt to fix it, and they are approached by some local teens. They are fearful for their lives, and after shouting some racial expletives, they all take off running down the street. They search the neighborhood for some safe place to retreat while they wait for someone to rescue them.
They break into an old, abandoned run-down house at the end of the street. But it's not abandoned. Shortly after entering the house, they are attacked by a "mutant" man. One of the youths is killed instantly and the remaining teens fight for their lives. They quickly learn that the "man" that attacked them wasn't the only occupant of this dark, deserted home. The house is full of inhuman "creatures"at various stages of deformity.
Meanwhile, the neighborhood teens have noticed where the "outsiders" have run to. They know the reputation of this house: no one who enters has ever come out alive. They go to the house of a veteran of the neighborhood and seek his assistance. They call the police and await their response. While they wait, Perry, the veteran resident, reminisces about the neighborhood, and recalls a time when the neighbors knew and talked to one another, a time when the police responded when there was an issue. He discusses the sad state the neighborhood is in now, and then decides to take a stand. The group decides to break into the home and rescue the trapped teens.
Keene does another stellar job with this newest book. He consistently succeeds at horrifying his readers. The perseverance that each of the trapped teens exhibits is commendable. The initial stereotypes they each have eventually fades away as they attempt to survive this house of extreme horror. I recommend this to any fan of horror fiction, but due to the level of gore, I sincerely warn those with a weak stomach to avoid it!
Thank you to Dorchester Publishing for providing a copy of Urban Gothic
for review.