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Chris DiLeo
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Dead End Kindle Edition

by Chris DiLeo (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.6 3.6 out of 5 stars 20 ratings
See all formats and editions
Home can be a refuge . . .

Mike Munacy was eleven years old when he watched his father commit suicide, jumping off the towering hill behind his house to die in the grass at Mike's feet. Fourteen years later, Mike and his fiancée, Dani, move into his boyhood home. Something is wrong with Mike's mother, and moments after warning, "It came back. It never left," she collapses and will soon die. Things get even worse when Dani sleepwalks into the woods...

Home can be a trap . . .

Mike unearths books and personal documents that question all Mike knows about his parents and implicate his father in a horrific act. He turns to his neighbors--an unsympathetic old man, a stand-in father-figure, and a religious zealot--but these people harbor their own strange and deadly secrets. Mike suspects they know something about why Dani now whispers nonsensical things, lashes out aggressively, and ransacks the house.

Home can be a place of death...

After a child is found burned to death, Mike believes all the horror and misery must be connected. To save Dani and stop a curse his father helped unleash, Mike must learn the secrets of the past, expose a murderer, and confront monsters both human and supernatural.

Home can be a place of death...

After a child is found burned to death, Mike believes all the horror and misery must be connected. To save Dani and stop a curse his father helped unleash, Mike must learn the secrets of the past, expose a murderer, and confront monsters both human and supernatural.

...and death can be welcome...

With shades of The Exorcist and Pet Sematary, this is a story of secrets and beliefs, of the power of grief, of how we desperately seek meaning in harrowing events, and of the darker corners of hope, where happiness is only a shadow. Dead End will keep you "turning the pages...faster and faster" until its shocking conclusion.
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  1. Print length
    376 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    April 21, 2020
  5. File size
    3817 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Chris DiLeo is a remarkable writer, with a clear ability to evoke character, conjure dread -- and to do whatever it is that drives the reader to keep turning the pages, one by one, and faster and faster." --New York Times bestselling author Michael Marshall

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B087JLL3WB
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ JournalStone (April 21, 2020)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 21, 2020
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3817 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 376 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.6 3.6 out of 5 stars 20 ratings

About the author

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Chris DiLeo

Chris DiLeo

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About the Author:

DiLeo is the author of numerous books. He is a high school English teacher in New York’s Hudson Valley, and a member of the Horror Writers Association.

His work is best described as visceral, emotional, engaging, and thought-provoking.

DiLeo’s fondness for the unquiet coffin was fostered by an academic father whose love of the macabre brought local notoriety every Halloween when he transformed the DiLeo lawn into a haunted graveyard. In death, DiLeo's father left behind a coffin-shaped bookcase containing his favorite horror novels.

Ever since DiLeo inherited that coffin, he has been enthralled by (and afraid of) the chaos lurking beneath the commonplace, the horrors of men and the supernatural.

Follow DiLeo on Twitter: @authordileo

Instagram: authordileo

TikTok: authordileo

Website: authordileo.com

Facebook: Author DiLeo

Praise for DiLeo's work:

"Chris DiLeo is a remarkable writer, with a clear ability to evoke character, conjure dread — and to do whatever it is that drives the reader to keep turning the pages, one by one, and faster and faster."

Michael Marshall, NY Times bestselling author of The Intruders, and The Straw Men

"THE DEVIL VIRUS does what the best supernatural fiction must—ground the terror in the human heart. Chris DiLeo delivers a story of faith and fear with a skilled, steady hand. Follow him into the dark!"

Michael Koryta, NY Times bestselling author of If She Wakes and The Prophet

"THE DEVIL VIRUS is out now and deeply creepy! Check it out if you like your horror thoughtful and, um, horrific."

--Kelly Braffet, author of Save Yourself

“[W]orthwhile, imaginative, [and] creepy. [...] DiLeo has powerful writing chops and original ideas. I'd definitely read more from this author.”

Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann

"A welcome new entry into the world of supernatural fiction. DiLeo enters the dark without flinching and delivers the goods."

Scott Nicholson, bestselling author of The Red Church

Amazon reviewers are saying, “DiLeo’s horror skills are undeniable. He’s a master of suspense and understands the parameters and power of the monsters he’s created . . . [DiLeo’s] prose is first-rate and engaging . . . [It’s] like reading a horror movie . . . [With] deftly blend[ed] suspense, action . . . Dark, dramatic, and thoroughly chilling . . . [You’ll be] grabbed by the first page until the very last word . . . Disturbing and perturbing, and rampantly unsettling . . . [There will be] nightmares for a lot of us . . . DiLeo is definitely on the very dark and disturbing side of the scale.”

Customer reviews

3.6 out of 5 stars
3.6 out of 5
20 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Gabi
5.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing Read
Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2020
If you've read Chris DiLeo's work before, you know that he delivers unique, thought-provoking writing, all while his characters battle the demons that lurk within the pages. "Dead End" is no different, and may be his strongest written work yet.

"Dead End" follows Mike Munacy and his fiancee, Dani. The horror novel begins with the two love-struck characters moving into Mike's childhood home, where his mother still lives and the memories of Mike's dead father haunt unexpected corners of the house waiting to spring and cripple Mike--like "mousetraps." Mike witnessed his father's death when he was eleven years old, and was told by his mother that it was a heart attack. Now, fourteen years later and back in his boyhood home, Mike is discovering the truth: there is something that lurks in the woods behind Mike's house, a demon that consumed his father and is responsible for the town members' sickness and in some cases, body-splitting madness. In Dani's case, her strange behavior begins behind closed doors, and then appears to be caused by an infected bug bite. But her behavior is more than an infection; or maybe, that's exactly what it is: she's been infected by a demon, and Mike is the only one who can save her, if she stops trying to destroy him.

DiLeo's horror skills are undeniable. He's a master of suspense and understands the parameters and power of the monsters he's created in "Dead End." He's a master of diction, and sets forth echoes within his book that ties all the characters together in a gore-covered bow by the end of the novel. Above all else, Dileo understands the human condition behind abstractions like relationships, love, loyalty, and grief; all of these are abstractions are given solid ground through the characters and their actions in "Dead End." This novel is written for those who love suspense, great storytelling, and are looking for an escape. Once "Dead End" has you in its clutches, it'll be hard to find a reason to put this book down.
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RC Holmberg
4.0 out of 5 stars scary
Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2020
This book was received as an ARC gift via a reading club I belong to.

It was a really good book, but I do have some constructive criticism. I really like the writing style, and the characters, but the length was an issue, and this book maybe could be at least a two part series. I love to read, but this came perilously close to feeling as if it were a chore. And it's NOT a chore, it was a well thought out concept.

That said, it was literally like reading a horror movie, and if you have lots and lots and LOTS of time, I highly recommend it. It would be perfect for a weekend camping trip ;-)
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Tommy Naclerio
2.0 out of 5 stars Didn't Liked.
Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2020
Inside Dead End you can expect Dileo’s classic style of great imagery, twisted religious themes, the mystery of the supernatural, funny personal little details and BLOOD. There is a wide range of characters just bursting with juicy backstory and hilarious descriptions. Every chapter seems to have secrets and one liners. Mike’s life is tragic and he persists through it all, and the reader just reaps all the benefits.

However, all these points are shown best from the climax of the story and on. The first two-thirds of the book are a slow crawl of tension to the ending. The imagery during the beginning to middle of the book is almost too much and really bogs down the story into heavy confusion. Major issues in the book are not addressed by characters and they don’t seem to act real. It felt as if Dileo was just going through the movements with writing this time. The love of writing took over and the plot was pushed to the side.

The book’s ending doesn’t make up for 200+ pages of slow pacing and intense metaphor and descriptions. I cannot recommend this to others, as honestly it was a waste of time. It reminded me very much of the Devil Virus, which I didn’t enjoy either. Pick up Dileo’s Blood Mountain or Calamity, where his genius truly shows and his horror style is pushed to the limit.
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gtcatlady
3.0 out of 5 stars Creepy with insane characters!
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2020
In Dead End by Chris DiLeo, we follow Micheal Munacy who, at the tender age of eleven watched, as his father committed suicide by falling off a cliff. Afterwards, his mother tells him to lie to everyone about what he witnessed. Now, twenty-five years old and an accomplished English teacher, Mike has returned home with his bride to be Dani. Before they can even get the U-haul completely unloaded strange things start happening. Weird illnesses plague the family, old cult-like neighbors come calling, and the past might come back for a bloody bite. What do you do when your family secrets are too much to bare?

I was given an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy), e-book version of the novel by the author through Hidden Gems to read and to give an honest review.

I will have to give Dead End a rating of 3 out of 5 stars. Here’s why, oh my, were these characters insane. There wasn’t a sane character in this novel! I felt so sorry for Mike and Dani, I loved them the most. If I had gone through what Mike did, I’d be messed up too.Truly. What I liked the most was the creepy vibes, the insane characters, and even though I knew where the ending was going early on, it proved that an ending doesn’t necessarily have to be happy to be good. Also, a book written in a book is one of my favorite things to read. It reminded me of Misery by Stephen King in that way. There were a lot of King references as well.

What I disliked most was that the middle was quite slow and boring at times. Despite the chapters being rather short, it was a long novel. I feel it could have been shorter or have been made into a series rather than a stand alone. Plus, there is no warning when the main character Mike, is in his past or back in his present. It was confusing finding out where he was in his thoughts. These are the reasons I give the rating that I do.

If you are a Stephen King fan, love twisted unhappy endings, and books with exorcisms in them, then I recommend Dead End. I would not recommend this novel for anyone younger than 18, due to details of exorcisms, multiple sex scenes, and foul language throughout the novel.
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