PopHorror Let's Get Scared
How I Stumbled Upon an Amazing Author
Author Gage Greenwood (our interview) has exploded onto the indie horror scene over the past couple of years. I first heard of him through the Books of Horror group on Facebook after the release of his amazing book, Winter’s Myths (2022 – our review). Unlike anything I’d read in the past, the book and his writing style became an obsession for me. I quickly flew through the follow up, Winter’s Legacy. Since I also found out that Gage is a phenomenal human that engages his readers more than any author I know, I followed him everywhere I could on social media.
When he started posting about his next book, Bunker Dogs, I was ecstatic!
The Synopsis
Don’t just fear what you’re hiding from, fear what you’re hiding with.
Cassie’s night of babysitting goes to hell when bombs explode in the distance, planes fly overhead at low altitudes, and alerts on her phone tell her to seek shelter. Luckily, the boy she babysits tells her his father has a bunker in the yard.
When they make their way to this underground shelter, they soon discover they aren’t alone. Something is living in the bunker, lurking in the walls, and it’s hungry.
What started as a normal night of babysitting quickly descends into a psychological and claustrophobic nightmare.
Ninja Clown’s Thoughts on Bunker Dogs
Three books in a row. Three books I’ve read by Gage Greenwood, and three books that I personally cannot find a flaw with. In Bunker Dogs, Gage goes deeper into the horror genre, while still keeping his trademark style. Gage writes with wit, warmth and humility. You can tell he takes his craft seriously, but he doesn’t take himself too seriously. What the reader gets from this winning (and rare) combination is a book that always connects with you on multiple levels.
The best horror for me has characters that I care about, because I get genuinely concerned for their wellbeing as they are trying to survive in this hellish place. I empathized with Bunker Dog’s Cassie from the first page. She is an amazing and flawed character. James, the little boy she babysits, is a sweet character, and the mom in me wanted to hug him so badly.
My emotions were all over the place while reading this book. There are some passages that are terrifying and gory, some that are laugh out loud funny, and a few that made me so unbelievably sad. The tension is constant from the time Cassie arrived at James’ house, right up until the last two words of the last page. Speaking of which, there has got to be a follow up book to Bunker Dogs, or I feel like there will be a mutiny. Don’t get me wrong, the ending is perfect. I just need more Cassie in my life!
Highly recommend, especially for horror fans that love creature features, feeling claustrophobic, and fast paced reads that you cannot put down! Are you ready?
Feature image photo credit: Erica Kennedy @alyse.kennedy.horror
