Black Veil by Greg Jolley

★★★★★ 4/5

Suspense

Date Published: 7/1/2020

Publisher: Épouvantail Books, LLC

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Murder and Madness in the High Sierras

The tragic and gruesome story of the Donner Party is being made into a movie, a tale of cannibalism and treachery high in the snowbound mountains. The cast is made up entirely of children. One by one, they are dying. The series of deaths are haunting the production, each one of the “accidents” at the hands of Florentino Urbino. Driven by greed and jealousy, he is killing off the film’s stars to line his pockets by selling off the gruesome footage of the accidents.

Six-year-old actress SeaBee Danser in her black veil is his next target. She is the only one who can see through the black curtain that Florentino Urbino drapes over his deranged and murderous heart.

Can she survive?

Can he be stopped?

Will any of the children be left standing?

My Thoughts

I’ve always been drawn to the dark and macabre. Don’t believe me? I have an entire website dedicated to oddities and curiosities. When it comes to movies and books, you’ll see me picking up horror rather than romance. I’m not going to unpack that right now, but let’s just say, I was instantly intrigued by the description for Black Veil.

Definitely intrigued by all things a bit dark and weird, but at the top of that list is true crime and even more so, cannibalism. I’ve always been fascinated by the Donner Party (a little backstory if you’re unaware).

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What a unique way to retell this story (By the way, someone should totally make the Donner Story into a movie). The book begins on the production set for The Rascals and the revised film title eventually is Rascals – The Donner Party, with filming shifting from Mexico to the mountains of the US.

I found Jolley’s writing to be wonderful and descriptive, drawing me in from the very beginning. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of horror, suspense, and even true crime.

About the Author

Greg Jolley earned a Master of Arts in Writing from the University of San Francisco and lives in the very small town of Ormond Beach, Florida. When not writing, he researches historical crime, primarily those of the 1800s. Or goes surfing.

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