05/15/2025 Sonja Ska Reviews ‘ The Sundowner's Dance’

OK, I've found my book of the summer. The Sundowner's Dance by Todd Keisling is a cosmic, Twin Peaks-esque grief horror that will leave your brain utterly broken but somehow wanting more.

The Sundowner's Dance is an unsettling exploration of loss, aging, and a small-town mystery that will leave you flipping the pages because, holy hell, what's going on?? At the center of the mystery is Jerry Campbell, a recent widower trying to make peace with losing his wife by moving to Fairview Acres - a seemingly idyllic retirement community that comes with community BBQs and super-friendly neighbors. But what starts as an attempt to start over quickly spirals into something far darker.

Let me start by saying Keisling is a master of slow-burn dread. He steeps you in tension-filled paranoia that revolves around Jerry trying to figure out what's happening in his community. At first, things seem easy enough to explain: odd nightly parties, the sound of footsteps on his roof, but then he starts getting cryptic warnings from one neighbor telling him to leave and that 'the worms dace at night.' But it's not just the town's weirdness that threatens Jerry - it's the slow realization that he might be losing his mind, too.

The blend of cosmic horror and the terror of falling into a disorienting dementia that twists your perception of reality becomes an inescapable nightmare. Eventually, you won't be able to tell where one horror ends and the other begins, and getting to the truth of what's happening is all about figuring out if you can trust your own truth and brain.

Horror aside, The Sundowner's Dance hurts. Keisling's depictions of fear and grief dig deep and morph into something palpable. Jerry's journey is so raw and sharp that I had to put the book down a few times to breathe through the emotions it flared back to life. I don't know if I should applaud Keisling or throw this book at his face. I'll have to see what instinct weighs out when I see him face to face.

This is perfect for people who love small-town horror, that feeling of something evil lurking just underneath pristine lawns, cosmic, culty horror, and horror that hurts.