A review by kay_cee3000
It Rides a Pale Horse by Andy Marino

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I can not stop thinking about this one.  It's gruesome, sad, beautiful, horrifying... and extremely immersive.  I haven't felt "with" characters with such strong empathy in a long time. 

It's an abduction story involving 2 siblings who are artists. It's magical realism, occult, cosmic, bordering on apocalyptic, gruesome at times, horrific at others.  Also... a slow atmospheric burn. The main character was listening to Dimitri Shostakovich while sculpting, so I used that as my chosen background music while reading.  And there is a lot of technical talk about art and paintings,  which I googled the paintings and artists to get a visual of their creations... also helping to immerse. 

Not for everyone,  but if you spend some time with it, it's worth the extra attention. 5 stars