Strowg: A Bledbrooke Tale by John F Leonard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Strowg is a new story from the Bledbrooke series of mild but creepy horror novella tales.
Charles Hennessy is a disgruntled servant/ butler/ chef/ man-of-all trades, to a dark being that lives in the bowels of their currant abode. His employer Strowg is no longer the man he was when they first met and the powerful aged being is demanding of Hennessy. However, Strowg is also the means that keeps Hennessy alive.
Distracted by a beguiling beauty, Hennesy gets clumsy while searching for Strowg’s next gourmet meal. An incident occurs and makes the news. While Hennessy needs help after he is savagely attacked, Strowg sources his own tasty meals which make their own news headlines.
I’ve now read a few of the tales from Bledbooke, so I am aware of the eerie atmosphere and strange events that often occur in this place. Hennessy was a likeable chap with a series of complaints about his employer that might have some parallels with any man-servant. I understood his quandary and how he solved some of his problems. An entertaining tale, that left a shiver down my spine.
Book Description:
Have you ever got fed up with your job? Changing profession is the obvious answer. Of course, that’s somewhat more difficult when it’s one of those lifestyle jobs.
And infinitely more difficult when your employer is Strowg, an age-old creature of the night.
A long time ago, Charles Hennessy struck a bargain with Strowg. This strange and darkly charming figure had a noble bearing, was clearly wealthy and offered something too tempting to resist.
The keys to immortality.
With hindsight, what a wonderful thing that is, the deal was a rather big mistake. The promise has yet to be fulfilled and being Strowg’s factotum grows more onerous and offensive with each passing year. Worse still, Strowg isn’t the same. The human skin shedding and the creature beneath it is terrifying even for someone acquainted with the diabolical.
They live a nomadic existence in order to satisfy Strowg’s thirst for blood but they need to rest and have come to one of their boltholes. More than that, Hennessy hopes that a spell in Bledbrooke may restore what is lost in Strowg. Because Bledbrooke isn’t like other places. It’s home to an unknowable entity that could swallow Strowg whole and spit out the warped bones.
Hennessy’s life has to change and he’s right insofar as Bledbrooke is where that will happen.
It just may not be how he expects.
