Explore Dark Roads Traveled: Four Thrilling Novellas by Tony Tremblay

After three terrific novels Tony Tremblay shows his literary versatility with a collection of four outstanding novellas

Introduction

Tony Tremblay, known for his gripping novels, showcases his literary prowess once again with his latest release, Dark Roads Traveled: Four Thrilling Novellas. Following the acclaim of his previous works, Tremblay dives into the realm of novellas, offering readers an enticing blend of horror, suspense, and psychological depth.

This collection features four standout stories, each set against the eerie backdrop of Goffstown, New Hampshire, Tremblay’s own hometown and a frequent character in his narratives. From supernatural disturbances to philosophical musings, each novella explores themes of memory, sacrifice, and the human condition, all while keeping readers on the edge of their seats. Join us as we explore the chilling landscapes of Tremblay’s imagination and the unforgettable tales that await within this captivating collection.

Explore Dark Roads Travelled: Four Thrilling Novellas by Tony Tremblay

I first reviewed Tony Tremblay back in 2018, giving his blood-soaked debut The Moore House, which later reached the Final Ballot of the Bram Stoker Award in the First Novel Category, a sweet high-five stars. This outstanding haunted house tale, backed up with exorcisms, sleazy priests, sexy nuns, demons and other colourful characters is irresistible. It deserves to be read by a much wider audience than it probably was and is the perfect introduction to Tony Tremblay’s impressive body of work. 

Do Not Weep For Me follows The Moore House with serious swagger, featuring many of the same characters and, equally important, is also set in Goffstown where the baffling becomes normal. Unbelievably, Do Not Weep For Me out-performs the original for violence, blood drenching over-the-top action and crazy demon inspired kill scenes, and some stunning decapitations for good measure. It is best described as the literary version of Sam Raimi’s cinematic classic Drag Me To Hell.

I recommend reading these impressive two novels back-to-back as they are perfect preparation for what follows, in Tremblay’s third book The Damage Done, where we once again head back to Goffstown, which is surely the town with the highest mortality rate in the USA. 

Tony Tremblay lives in Goffstown and clearly has a huge amount of fun setting his fiction in and around actual locations. In his latest, Dark Roads Traveled, a collection of four standalone novellas, he is an author with a grudge, as his hometown is partially destroyed in one story and totally wiped out in another!

Neither is he afraid to kill-off his main characters, with a couple meeting bad ends along the way. Long term fans of the author will be delighted to hear that the enigmatic pawnshop owner Gabriel Smith makes a fleeting appearance in one story and there are walk on parts for many other characters, such as the unfortunate police chief, Captain Pendleton, who is relatively new to Goffstown and undoubtedly wishes he moved elsewhere due to the high level of supernatural related crimes.

This top notch collection opens with Orange Eyes, which takes its time revealing the true direction of where the story is heading (forget trying to guess). Manasses Cole is a taxi-driver whose eyes turned orange sometime before the tale began, with him being unable to remember how it happened. Whilst out on a job he picks up a woman called Kambo, who reveals her sister Akua also disappeared before eventually turning up equally disorientated, only now with orange eyes.

Kambo believes that through their shared history and trauma they might be able to help each other figure out what happened. I had a lot of fun with this story which got wilder as it moves along dealing with memory less, impossible choices, sacrifice and the apocalypse. All four novellas have fascinating and very personal end notes, Orange Eyes was originally written for a James A Moore anthology which never materialised due to the ill health and  sad passing of Moore. 

The Cabin on the Mountain is a meaningful change of pace, with the end of the world being switched for a cabin which acts as a gateway to a hill outside of Goffstown where at its peak there is a strange cave. This is Tony Tremblay in philosophical mood. The story opens with elderly couple Tom and Lori going for a walk up the hill before circling back to them at the end of the tale.

The majority of The Cabin on the Mountain concerns Walter, who lives in the cabin at the base of the hill and chats with those who wish to climb it. Those who approach the mountain have their own very personal reasons for doing so in a moving story which is by nature cyclic, taking in dementia, memory, family and the desire to move on. Like the previous novella, this tale started life as a short story.

The third and fourth novellas were my personal favourites with Ghost being the closest to a traditional ghost story in the collection. It also has some surprisingly good twists and if you are looking to buy a house in Goffstown this terrific little novella might put you off. Eloise Parker is new to the area and after an unsettling near miss car crash begins to experience odd occurrences in her new home which she soon realises was the location of a murder suicide.

Startled, she befriends her neighbours Roger and Ted who fill her in on the local gossip concerning other strange deaths. In literary history, Ghost has to be the only story in existence where a supernatural entity does the washing up and then dries the dishes! This narrative has great escalation, heading into a terrific ending. This story was written specifically for the collection after Tremblay pulled an alternative novella at the last minute, let’s hope the ditched tale reappears at a later date once he is happy with the alterations. 

The Tempest is a wild way to close the collection with the author absolutely correct in saving this brutal apocalyptic blockbuster until last. Events open with a massively destructive storm, before setting with main character Matthew, who notices panic around local Goffstown shops and looting at the storm approaches. After chatting with a neighbour Ruth, she explains she has heard end of the world style descriptions on the radio, tornados with huge deadly hail stones, massive wildfires and deadly lightning are also edging nearer.

Even worse, there is a sound in the storm which brings death and when the story opens is projected to hit Goffstown in 87 minutes. With a basement, wax, and equipment to muffle the terrifying sound the story concerns Matthew’s battle for survival, with the majority of the novella taking place after the apocalypse sweeps through the town. I loved Tremblay’s take on the immediacy of an apocalypse and its impact on his small town and a small pocket of survivors. This story started out as an under 750 word flash fiction piece before being expanded to 22,000 words and has connections to a weird western The Sad Saga of Mattie Dyer he wrote in a much earlier collection.

Tony Tremblay’s body of work continues to grow, breathe, expand and is ripe for discovery by horror fans who might enjoy Paul Tremblay, Roland Malfi, John FD Taff, Adam Nevill or Philip Fracassi. I always enjoy a return visit to Goffstown, where it is Halloween every day, the reappearance of regular characters and the original manner in which he attaches the supernatural to his stories.

The first two novellas in Dark Roads Traveled were great reads, but Ghost and The Tempest were genuine crackers. Indeed, the endnotes indicate Tremblay often expands short stories into novellas. I would suggest there is enough mileage to expand The Tempest into a full novel, in which there were bestial creatures mentioned in passing, I would love to read more about. 

Tony Jones 

Dark Roads Traveled: Four Thrilling Novellas by Tony Tremblay

J.R. Tolkien once wrote that the road goes ever on and on. Tony Tremblay examines the darker side of Tolkien’s quote with four novellas ranging from the soul-sucking isolation of identity loss to the horrifying specter of mass annihilation.Orange Eyes: A taxi driver with amnesia attempts to determine who he is and why he has orange eyes. His answers come when a woman calls for a cab and relates to him a story about her sister—a woman with amnesia and orange eyes. The three of them engage in a psychedelic journey of horror to discover the answers they seek.

The Cabin on The Mountain: There is a log cabin in the mountains of Goffstown, New Hampshire, where lost souls travel—and are never seen again. The cabin has a caretaker who oversees the property, but he cannot interfere with those who seek refuge. That all changes when a young boy, a husband seeking his wife, and a wife seeking her husband descend on the cabin.

Ghosts: A middle-aged woman purchases a home, unaware that it is the site of multiple murders. After several life-threatening instances, she turns to her neighbors, the local gas station owner, and the police chief for help. She soon learns that ghosts are quite different than what she has been led to believe.

The Tempest: The end of the world begins locally with a sound that kills an older man and a young woman. As they navigate their environment in the hopes of survival, additional catastrophes batter them to the point of hopelessness. When it appears their lives are over, salvation comes in the form of a hole in the ground. Or does it?

Further Reading

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For those passionate about horror literature, checking out this section is a must!