Synopsis:
Herman and Janet Erikson are going through a crisis of grief and suffering after losing their daughter in a hit and run. They've given up on each other, they've given up on themselves. When their dog goes missing, Herman resolves to find the animal, unaware he's hiking to the border between the Living World and the Dead. Long ago the gods died and the River Styxx dried up, but a bottle containing its waters still remains in the badlands. What Herman discovers about the dark power contained in those waters will change his life forever.
Author: Benjamin Kane Ethridge
Publisher: Horrific Tales Publishing (April 3, 2015)
Buy Links: Amazon
First... let's talk about that cover! Wow! I'm normally not a 'judge the book by its cover' type of reader but when I saw this cover before the book was published, I knew I needed to read this story. That cover speaks emotions that this story will make you feel... despair, loneliness, disgust, and the will to carry on, yes, carry on. Every reader takes away something from every book they read. What I took away from this book is that despite your personal horrors, you have to carry on. No matter how.
I've got to say that if you love a good Greek mythology story, this is far from what you know. I loved the take that Mr. Ethridge brought with his view on the River Styxx and its inhabitants. But, this story is much more than that. Mr. Ethridge conveys a story of unimaginable loss that no parent should suffer, no marriage should suffer.
While this story was a bit slow to start with, it grabbed my attention as the story starting going in a completely different direction I thought it would go. Some stories you can read and pretty much figure out what the ending will be like. Not this one. Bottled Abyss grabs your attention with every gruesome and horrific turn that the characters encounter. The scenes are so well written that you find yourself being there witnessing everything as if you were just a mere bystander in the story. As if it were a train wreck that you just can't look at away because you're intrigued as to how and what will happen next.
I'd say to definitely grab Bottled Abyss and give it a shot. It's worth the read.
