A review by connorjdaley
The Tickle Monster by David Washburn

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

I grabbed this in paperback in my quest to buy all indie novellas. 

The author does a very good job of painting the picture of a loving family in a small number of pages. A working father, a dutiful wife and learning daughter, and a son that wants to prove himself while making his father proud. Time period appropriate, while still allowing the daughter and son their playtime. They eat dinner as a family and both children are tucked in each night lovingly…with maybe a couple visits from the tickle monster. 

Teddy is soon to be a man, so his father is letting him know more and handle more responsibility. Carrying the water in from the well, attempting to swing the woodcutting axe on his own, and hearing all about his father’s traumatic childhood experience in the woods by their house. Of course a story like that would stick in a young boy’s mind, and of course it’s only a matter of time before something forces them back into those woods. Forces the past and the present to collide. 

SOME SPOILER-Y THINGS

The first instance involving the entity is creepy, ambiguous enough to let your mind wonder, and of course fast enough to leave you asking, “what just happened?” And with that being said, the second does much the same for the reader while being entirely different. A house in the woods, the dog trapped, a woman in all black. But when Teddy’s sister wakes him up, was any of it real? 

Much like the visits in the night that follow, as well as the echoes of what happened to his father’s best friend, Teddy’s descent into madness comes at a loss of sleep and a few bumps in the night. The descent might be quick, but the creepiness is awfully high. 

I really love horrors that take childhood fears/monsters and turn them into real, flesh and blood nightmares. My main gripe with this one (while small) is that it didn’t actually do that, not entirely. The Tickle Monster is a manifestation of fear and anxiety for Teddy, and I suppose I was more so expecting a creature feature. Still very worth a read! Personally 3.5/5*.