John Durgin rocketed onto the horror scene with his first novel, The Cursed Among Us, a nostalgic tale of innocence lost and a small town haunted by a monstrous killer. His second book, published through D&T Publishing, Inside the Devil’s Nest, plays to a similar sense of nostalgia while giving a fun and fresh spin.

This is a story of parenthood, dark cults and hungry secrets in the lakes. Anthony and Holly Graham are parents that stumble across a secret at a forbidden campground where something horrific once occurred. A lingering evil begins to rise, claiming hapless victims and threatening Anthony’s family.

Durgin excels at tension. Inspired by masters of tension like Stephen King and Brian Keene, Durgin builds the characters first, with all their virtues and flaws, to make the reader care all the more about the terrors that befall them.

And what terrors they are. The lake is written to be almost a character unto itself. Caught in its pull, flashbacks and grim revelations begin plaguing Anthony’s dreams. It becomes dreadfully apparent something is haunting them and refuses to go away, forcing Anthony and Holly to fight for their children.

Durgin writes the scenes of horror superbly and skillfully, giving lurid descriptions of the creatures and the cult remnants with the effect they create upon the hapless victims they encounter. The characters are well drawn, fleshed out, and realistic, giving the reader a reason to care exactly what happens to them.

The tension ramps up at the end, with Durgin delivering an adrenaline-inducing finale. With two great books under Durgin’s belt, it’s going to be fantastic to see what he comes up with next.