Rating: 
Summary: Stern strikes again w/ interesting directions....
Review: This book is a follow up of sorts to Stern's previous book, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT: A DOSSIER. Similarly, it expands on the mythology behind The Blair Witch Project film (soon to be *films*). That's where it stops, though: this book reads more like a regular novel than a collection of assorted facts and interviews.ex-father who took Rustin Parr's confession the night before he was executed. Things go wrong from the start: Cazale's house near Miami has burned to the ground, killing his wife and placing him in the hospital. 30% of his body has been consumed by third-degree burns, requiring a succession of skin grafts that basically make him off-limits to Stern. Stern is forced to begin investigating by himself. With some minor assistance from one Detective Yanama and one Father Callahan (of the church Cazale has attended of late), Stern begins to accumulate some interesting facts. Apparently, the Cazales have been shut-ins the past few weeks, they recently took a weekend trip to Burkittsville, and Yanama thinks that Cazale's house was consumed by arson...committed by Dominick himself. And then, a late package reaches Stern: Cazale's journal, documenting a fair deal of the goings-on in Burkittsville in 1940 and 1941... Ultimately, it's a very interesting book. It puts several twists on the "Blair Witch mythos" established so far. Sadly, many of these come off as no more than twists, and certain points -particularly those regarding the revealed contents of Parr's confession- are vague. This is most likely intentional, leaving room for elaboration in the upcoming Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 film and its book tie-in on the same name. That considered, this book fails to prove anything more than interesting in its own right: a casual reader not interested in the Blair Witch phenomenon will most likely feel gipped. However, the reader that is interested will enjoy it immensely, and begin salivating in anticipation of "what happens next" upon finishing the book.
Rating: 
Summary: What a book!
Review: This book was one of the best Blair Witch related books I have ever read. It is so interesting up until even the last page. This book is probably the best thing since sliced bread. Wow! What a book! D.A. Stern is a wonderful author and storyteller. Can't wait until the sequel!
Rating:
Summary: Well-crafted genre piece
Review: This novel, which I assume must be tied into the sequel to "The Blair Witch Project," is a well-crafted piece of horror genre. Given the wretched state of horror fiction in general right now, that's high praise, indeed. "The Secret Confessions" is chopped and channeled, stripped down to the basics of spare prose, straightforward narrative and the final twist in the tale down the back stretch, where everything falls into place with little effort. Rustin Parr is the recluse hung by the State of Maryland in 1941 for the murders of seven children in the basement of his house in a forest near Burkittsville. Parr's final confession is given to a young Roman Catholic priest who has some sins of his own that he carries with him from Burkittsville. Sixty years later, an acquaintance of the priest, who has long since renounced his holy orders, struggles to find out why the old man burned his house down, killing his beloved wife in the process and leaving him comatose with third-degree burns. You won't need to be a Blair Witch fan to enjoy this novel, which can be read in one sitting. Stern gives you everything you need to understand what happened in Burkittsville and why the evil there found its way to the home of an elderly couple in Florida. Horror fiction rises or falls on a few key points. One involves whether the supernatural action arises from simple human frailty, a dark force entering through a chink in the armor of an otherwise decent, normal person. Good horror hews close to reality -- at all points, we must be able to empathize with the human targets of evil, which requires them to act and react in ways that we ourselves would react if faced with the same situation. D.A. Stern accomplishes both of these goals here. He also doesn't condescend to the reader with a neatly-wrapped ending. You'll be able to figure out what happened in Rustin Parr's basement, but only if you pay attention, catch the clues Stern provides and put them together on your own. For a book no doubt designed simply to keep public interest alive in a popular horror movie, D.A. Stern has gone above and beyond the call of duty. "The Secret Confessions," with its echoes of Nathaniel Hawthorne, is one of the best piece of horror fiction you will run across this year.
Rating:
Summary: Well-crafted genre piece
Review: This novel, which I assume must be tied into the sequel to "The Blair Witch Project," is a well-crafted piece of horror genre. Given the wretched state of horror fiction in general right now, that's high praise, indeed. "The Secret Confessions" is chopped and channeled, stripped down to the basics of spare prose, straightforward narrative and the final twist in the tale down the back stretch, where everything falls into place with little effort. Rustin Parr is the recluse hung by the State of Maryland in 1941 for the murders of seven children in the basement of his house in a forest near Burkittsville. Parr's final confession is given to a young Roman Catholic priest who has some sins of his own that he carries with him from Burkittsville. Sixty years later, an acquaintance of the priest, who has long since renounced his holy orders, struggles to find out why the old man burned his house down, killing his beloved wife in the process and leaving him comatose with third-degree burns. You won't need to be a Blair Witch fan to enjoy this novel, which can be read in one sitting. Stern gives you everything you need to understand what happened in Burkittsville and why the evil there found its way to the home of an elderly couple in Florida. Horror fiction rises or falls on a few key points. One involves whether the supernatural action arises from simple human frailty, a dark force entering through a chink in the armor of an otherwise decent, normal person. Good horror hews close to reality -- at all points, we must be able to empathize with the human targets of evil, which requires them to act and react in ways that we ourselves would react if faced with the same situation. D.A. Stern accomplishes both of these goals here. He also doesn't condescend to the reader with a neatly-wrapped ending. You'll be able to figure out what happened in Rustin Parr's basement, but only if you pay attention, catch the clues Stern provides and put them together on your own. For a book no doubt designed simply to keep public interest alive in a popular horror movie, D.A. Stern has gone above and beyond the call of duty. "The Secret Confessions," with its echoes of Nathaniel Hawthorne, is one of the best piece of horror fiction you will run across this year.
Rating:
Summary: Well-crafted genre piece
Review: This novel, which I assume must be tied into the sequel to "The Blair Witch Project," is a well-crafted piece of horror genre. Given the wretched state of horror fiction in general right now, that's high praise, indeed. "The Secret Confessions" is chopped and channeled, stripped down to the basics of spare prose, straightforward narrative and the final twist in the tale down the back stretch, where everything falls into place with little effort. Rustin Parr is the recluse hung by the State of Maryland in 1941 for the murders of seven children in the basement of his house in a forest near Burkittsville. Parr's final confession is given to a young Roman Catholic priest who has some sins of his own that he carries with him from Burkittsville. Sixty years later, an acquaintance of the priest, who has long since renounced his holy orders, struggles to find out why the old man burned his house down, killing his beloved wife in the process and leaving him comatose with third-degree burns. You won't need to be a Blair Witch fan to enjoy this novel, which can be read in one sitting. Stern gives you everything you need to understand what happened in Burkittsville and why the evil there found its way to the home of an elderly couple in Florida. Horror fiction rises or falls on a few key points. One involves whether the supernatural action arises from simple human frailty, a dark force entering through a chink in the armor of an otherwise decent, normal person. Good horror hews close to reality -- at all points, we must be able to empathize with the human targets of evil, which requires them to act and react in ways that we ourselves would react if faced with the same situation. D.A. Stern accomplishes both of these goals here. He also doesn't condescend to the reader with a neatly-wrapped ending. You'll be able to figure out what happened in Rustin Parr's basement, but only if you pay attention, catch the clues Stern provides and put them together on your own. For a book no doubt designed simply to keep public interest alive in a popular horror movie, D.A. Stern has gone above and beyond the call of duty. "The Secret Confessions," with its echoes of Nathaniel Hawthorne, is one of the best piece of horror fiction you will run across this year.
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