Bastion Falls

June M. Blurton is a retired speech pathologist.

The people of Bastion Falls are not surprised when it starts to snow one
day in September. They live in a small town in Northern Ontario and are
accustomed to early warnings of the onset of winter. What does surprise
them is the lack of notice by the weather office, the enormous amount of
snow, and the high winds. Very soon it is impossible for anyone,
schoolchildren or adults, to make it home, and they take refuge in a
downtown mall. What most of them do not know is that this storm has a
supernatural element not found in other storms. It emanates from the old
fort that once housed the dregs of the army. One schoolgirl does know,
but she is not telling. She is afraid of acknowledging her gift for
forecasting the future and burrowing into the thoughts of others.

Susie Moloney certainly has the imagination to construct the bones of a
horror tale. What mars this first novel is the writing. The many
descriptive passages contain grammatical errors and information that is
neither interesting nor germane to the story. The characters never
really come alive. In an effort to make the reader’s spine tingle, the
author piles episode on episode and description on description. This is
a book to borrow, but not to keep.