Horror Book Review: The Town The World Forgot by Boris Bacic

 

This week’s Horror Book Pick is THE TOWN THE WORLD FORGOT written by Boris Bacic. 

Quick details about the book 

The book was published in July 2024 and is the first book in the series THE TOWN THAT SHOULDN’T EXIST. It is on the bestseller’s list of Occult Horror and Fiction. 

This book has been marketed to those fans who have enjoyed the TV show FROM. Reviewers have found this book to be creepy and a chilling page-turner. Many found the ending to be shocking but not entire unpredictable. 

The negatives were about how the book seemed to draw out plots that were not pertaining to the main story. They also felt the book could have benefited from better editing and more focus on the main story than the characters. 

Quick Book Review of THE TOWN THE WORLD FORGOT

Boris Bacic is no stranger to horror and thrillers and has carved his name in the genre. The book is an exciting inclusion in his bibliography, mainly because the theme of being entrapped in an unknown location and learning to live with strangers, is the trend of the season. 

The book could not have come at a better time. 

The story begins through the eyes of a seventeen year old boy called Tom. He is currently residing in a town where every night, an inexplicable event occurs which threatens the safety of everyone. 

Tom is enjoying his book when he receives a word of warning from Douglas, the town’s so-called sheriff. The reason he’s not officially called Sheriff is because he is not. He has only undertaken the responsibility of the town. Yet, he commands enough respect that the citizens do heed his warning and enter their homes as soon as the sun sets. 

A storm is coming and it isn’t just any ordinary storm. The icy winds turn careless citizens into ice sculptures. As Tom drifts off to sleep, he overhears a scream but avoids giving into the temptation to peek outside. 

The next day, Douglas suspects it may be his ex and when he heads to a house that has been broken into, he sees a trail of blood and a new ice sculpture. That leaves one less resident and one more ice sculpture. 

We then move on to John and Lisa, a newly-married couple who are headed to their honeymoon in Washington, only for their GPS to stop working and for them to get lost. Soon after, a blizzard hits and they are surprised to find snow falling in the middle of summer.

Next up is, Evelyn and Paul. The couple have a daughter called Lorrie whose birthday Paul missed. He has been spending late nights at the pub while Evelyn is left feeling fearful for her family and for being left all by herself in this strange town. The couple get into an argument that ends with both of them leaving the house separately. 

Then there’s Nathan who is certain that everyone, including him, is part of an experiment conducted by the CIA. He plans to escape the town but soon enough, encounters icy fingers in the middle of the ground that convince him that anyone who tries to leave may end up being buried and iced. 

Maya is a waitress who is dealing with shortage of food supplies. She also has a strained relationship with her father who is trying to reconcile with her especially since he believes that whatever is out there, might take his daughter next. Maya rebuffs his efforts of reconcilation and leaves. 

Later, we return to John and Lisa who are still lost and considering turning back. 

Based on the book’s plot, they will not be turning back or returning home any time soon. They are going to be stuck in the town too. It’s just a matter of when that happens. 

The story is no doubt compelling and the author keeps up the suspense of the looming threat, throughout. 

It can get frustrating though because the prologue sets up the scene well and alludes to the threat. The next six chapters do pretty much the same thing. We don’t move forward and learn more about the threat. The characters are introduced one after the other and those looking for a fast-paced thriller, will find it tiresome pretty quickly. 

While the author is setting up the story (it is going to be a trilogy, after all), it makes sense that he would be bringing in more characters to advance the plot but this leads up to a monotony in the story and you wonder if you should care about the characters or keep trying to figure out what is going on. 

The characters and the theme is also heavily borrowed from FROM. There’s always an arguing couple, a lovey-dovey couple whose relationship will be challenged, and a conspiracy theorist. It’s as good as watching an episode of the TV show. 

To Read or Not to Read?

While I find the concept intriguing, I also found it too much to be like the TV show FROM. The characters did not appeal to me after the Prologue. The book has an exciting, and compelling beginning but the chapters after that are not moving me forward. I found myself skipping to the last paragraph of every chapter to find out what is going on in the town rather than read about the character’s backstory. 

I would probably pick up this book after I finish watching the TV series and would want to read something that has a similar theme. 

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