Horror Book Spotlight : Devil’s Bluff by Mark Towse

Small towns can be a beautiful place to visit, have a holiday, and leave with cherished memories. 

Unless, of course, you visit a town where, for some reason, residents never leave. 

This week’s Horror book recommendation is DEVIL’S BLUFF by Mark Towse. The book was published by AETHON: Wicked House in March 2026. The novel is currently on the best-seller’s list for U.S. Horror Fiction and Horror Suspense. 

The novel has so far received positive reviews. 

DEVIL’S BLUFF Plot Summary

Devil’s Bluff is an idyllic tourist spot during the summer. There is only one road that leads in and out. 

While tourists are allowed to come and go as they please, the locals are forbidden to go. In fact, according to the legend, if anyone crosses the border, they are found on the side of the road with their eyes gouged out and mist pouring from every orifice. 

Two best friends, Zac and Ryan, decide to solve the town’s mystery and finally uncover the truth about their town. 

DEVIL’S BLUFF My take

The book opens with Tommy Nicholls in 1988, who is on his bike, escaping town. As soon as he crossed the border, he started to smell something strange, and a tune began to play in his head. His bike breaks down. Soon after, he is engulfed in the mist and hears a voice reminding him that escape was never an option. Tommy then drives his thumbs into his own eyes, popping them. 

This sets the tone of the book and introduces us to the town’s threat. While the character and threat are conceptualized well, the descriptions can sometimes be dragging, and the transitions are not always smooth. 

The first chapter begins, and the story now takes place in August 2002. Ryan has been told he has tinnitus, and he suffers from headaches and struggles with them. He helps out his family during the tourist season by working at the ice cream shop. Ryan is clearly bored with the town and the screaming children, and the tourists who come for a few months to make treasured memories before leaving them in a ghost town. 

Ryan feels he probably wouldn’t have been able to survive this town if it weren’t for his best friend Zac, who always came up with some idea or another to make things interesting in this town. Tonight was going to be especially interesting since he and Zac were going to put the rumors of this town to rest. They were going to finally be called heroes for showing the locals that there was no curse holding them back in Devil’s Bluff. 

The next chapter shifts to Zac, who is helping his father serve burgers and snacks to customers that Zac finds annoying. 

He talks about leaving the town, but his father immediately interrupts him and reminds him of the curse. Zac doesn’t believe it, and his father tells him that he is now old enough to know that when  Tommy was found, he wasn't only hairless and lifeless. There was more to that story. 

However, we never find out because the book sample ends right here on that cliffhanger. 

READ OR SKIP?

READ this one. So while the writing flows and the story is intriguing, sometimes, you can feel a little lost about what is going on because things and characters are not introduced properly. We don’t find out for sure where Ryan helps his family until a few pages later. And what are Zac’s parents actually doing? 

It is up to us to pay attention to the hints dropped all around to figure out what is happening.

Devil’s Bluff clearly has some secrets hidden, and it will be interesting to know why the locals are unable to actually leave the town. 

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