Weekly Reader: Murder in Montague Falls by Russ Colchamiro, Sawney Hatton, and Patrick Thomas: Graphic Violence and Murder in a Small Town

Weekly Reader: Murder in Montague Falls by Russ Colchamiro, Sawney Hatton, and Patrick Thomas; Graphic Violence, Murder, and Psychological Terror Haunt Three Generations of A Small Town

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


PopSugar Reading Challenge: A book by an author who has written more than 20 books (Patrick Thomas, 40+ books and over 150 short stories)


Spoilers: Anyone who lives in a small town can tell you that violence and murder can happen there just as well as in any city. Anywhere people live will always have violent arguments, jealous quarrels, drug deals, domestic violence, child abuse, jealousy over possessions, and death. That's probably why small towns make such enticing settings in mysteries. The authors and creators love to poke holes into the whole "nothing can happen here" attitude and reveal these small town residents as often violent, bloodthirsty, arrogant, judgemental, hypocritical, and just as ready to pick up a gun or knife and do away with someone just as much as their urban counterparts.

The three-part novella series, Murder in Montague Falls, explores the concept of murder in a small town. Three authors, Russ Colchamiro, Sawney Hatton, and Patrick Thomas, capture three generations of secrets, gaphic violence, psychological terror, and murder in the small town of Montague Falls.

The stories are unrelated to each other. Two stories are told from the criminals' perspective and one from an amateur detective's.

No characters make appearances between the three works. One references another story in one line, but that's it. Somehow that elevates the stories to an even more sinister level. There is no suggestion that one story influences another or that the characters are destined to take a violent path. Instead it suggests that violent natures exist in anybody and that murder can occur randomly in any time and under any circumstance.

"Red Ink" by Russ Colchamiro- This story captures a youthful excitement in having an overactive imagination and shows what happens when, uh oh, those youthful fantasies turn out to be true.

Isaac Fuller, a young newspaper deliverer, finds some excitement in his tedious part-time job by pretending he's a young secret agent. He imagines that his neighbors are Communist spies and he is on their trail. (It is the '80's after all). Tension mounts between Isaac's reality and fantasy when he sees a dead body inside one of the houses and what appears to be a murderer standing over the body. Suddenly, his once wild imagination may not be so wild after all.

This novella captures that energy that is found in those kid adventures like The Goonies or The Monster Squad where it is up to the kids to face some nasty villains and save their world. It's no coincidence that "Red Ink" is set in the 1980's when those adventure films were popular.

There are also some Hitchcockian moments that hearken back to earlier more adult adventures. There is some suspense when the body is removed, the suspect provides an alibi, and no one believes Isaac's crazy story. Some psychological background is provided with the death of Isaac's baby sister and his determination to protect others. Above all, the most suspenseful passage is when Isaac learns that not only are his spy fantasies real, but he is alone with the murderer. He quickly learns that reality is a lot bloodier and more painful than his dreams.

"The Devil's Delinquents" by Sawney Hatton-If "Red Ink" is a tribute to the kid adventure films of the '80's, then Sawney Hatton's "The Devil's Delinquents" is a tribute to the '90's psychological horror films and the Goth culture which led to a lot of Generation Xers feeling like misfits and outcasts from society.

Three of those misfits are Derry Rhodes, Cal Virgil, and Natalie Glantz. Derry and Cal are in an alternative band that sing songs invoking Satan. However, these two are just pretenders compared to Natalie. She calls herself a dark witch, holds rituals, and claims to have a dead fetus of her child by Satan kept in a jar. When Ntalie gets the duo involved in her ritual, she demands a blood sacrifice....human sacrifice.

I would say that the trio are stereotypes,but that's the point. They are almost comical in their Satanic worship that they study from movies, metal music, and books. It's all based on the appearances that they see. They are basically dumb pathetic idiots playing dress up, but extremely violent idiots make no mistake about that.

They want to solicit Satan's help as a way out of their pathetic sad lives and obtain fame, attractiveness, and acceptance that they don't have at home. They are misfits that will commit even the darkest deeds to get that notice and acceptance.

There is a darkness that was so prevalent in '90's culture of suspicion, horror, and psychological thrill that this novella captures.
In a twist that is almost worthy of Quentin Tarantino, the violence is carried out in a way that is deliberately over the top. In a moment of being careful what one wishes for, one of the characters does get their fame and acceptance in the most horrific way possible.


"A Many Splendid Tthing" by Patrick Thomas-The final novella, "A Many Splendid Thing" is more of a tribute to an older genre than the previous novellas. While the book is described as noir, this story is the one with the strongest claim to the genre. "A Many Splendid Thing" hearkens back to the noir films like Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice in which a sexy femme fatale entices a poor shmo to commit murder. Then after the murder happens, the two conspire against each other.

In this variation, the poor shmo is high school senior, Jethro. He doesn't have much luck with the ladies or anyone else for that matter until he captures the interest of Rosa Carmine, his Science teacher, the aforementioned femme fatale. Rosa provides Jethro with some ,ahem, hand's on tutoring before she confesses that she is being abused by her husband and needs one little favor from her boy toy.

While all the stories are great, this is by far the best of the three because of the almost old school glamor that in which it pays tribute. Even setting the story in the 1950's reveals those Old Hollywood sensibilities that "A Many Splendid Thing" acknowledges. While violence is present and bloody, it's not as important as the aftereffects and how it resonates with the characters.

Once the violent act is committed, the novella becomes a tug of war as Jethro and Rosa turn on each other very quickly and vie to outsmart each other. The ending is brilliant and clever as both parties have one final gambit to play, even beyond death.

Murder in Montague Falls is an excellent book that honors different genres in the author's unique styles. The three works reveal the worst and the darkest aspects that exist inside those cute little houses around those slow moving streets. It reminds us that just because everybody seems to know everybody does not necessarily mean that they aren't hiding a knife behind their friendly greeting.