NetGalley: Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow by Christina Henry

Published: 9/28/2021

Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group

Pages: 320

Genre: Horror/Mystery/Thriller/Ghost retelling

Amazon

Everyone in Sleepy Hollow knows about the Horseman, but no one really believes in him. Not even Ben Van Brunt's grandfather, Brom Bones, who was there when it was said the Horseman chased the upstart Crane out of town. Brom says that's just legend, the village gossips talking.

More than thirty years after those storied events, the village is a quiet place. Fourteen-year-old Ben loves to play "Sleepy Hollow boys," reenacting the events Brom once lived through. But then Ben and a friend stumble across the headless body of a child in the woods near the village, and the discovery makes Ben question everything the adults in Sleepy Hollow have ever said. Could the Horseman be real after all? Or does something even more sinister stalk the woods?

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.” 

I love a good re-telling of the horseman...we hear so many retellings that sometimes it can become overwhelming, but once I saw the cover, I knew I had to give this book a chance. We are introduced to Ben, the granddaughter of Brom. From the get-go, Ben has made it be known she is not going to be a female; she wants to be like her grandfather. Do everything he does and whatnot. She wants to play in the woods and get dirty, not sit around and learn to sew or wear pretty dresses. While playing in the woods, Ben feels as though something is watching her, and when the first body is found, well, you know the rest. Of course, the headless horseman is to blame. He always has been but, what if I was to tell you that something evil lurks in the woods, something that is not from this world, so to speak. Something so evil that touch will have your skin melting and your bones showing? An evil that will leave almost no trace of a body. As our story unfolds and we follow Ben, who sets out to pretty much get answers because she is an inquisitive person and doesn't believe the horseman is evil, we see just what Ben uncovers. I really enjoyed getting to the end and seeing how the author started shaping the town of Sleepy Hollow as times progress.  

CHRISTINA HENRY is the author of the CHRONICLES OF ALICE duology, ALICE and RED QUEEN, a dark and twisted take on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, as well as LOST BOY: THE TRUE STORY OF CAPTAIN HOOK, an origin story of Captain Hook from Peter Pan.

She is also the author of the national bestselling BLACK WINGS series (BLACK WINGS, BLACK NIGHT, BLACK HOWL, BLACK LAMENT, BLACK CITY, BLACK HEART and BLACK SPRING) featuring Agent of Death Madeline Black and her popcorn-loving gargoyle Beezle.

She enjoys running long distances, reading anything she can get her hands on and watching movies with samurai, zombies and/or subtitles in her spare time. She lives in Chicago with her husband and son.

 

You can visit her on the web at www.christinahenry.net, facebook.com/authorChristinaHenry, twitter.com/C_Henry_Author and www.goodreads.com/CHenryAuthor.