Sweet Reviews: The Eris Ridge Trail by Larry Hinkle
- aejs19852
- Apr 30
- 2 min read
"From award-winning author Larry Hinkle comes The Eris Ridge Trail, a cosmic horror road trip, with dogs.
You won’t find the Eris Ridge Trail on any map. You won’t find the people who go missing on it, either. The Eris Ridge Trail has no beginning. No end. It runs forever, connecting realities across space and time.
Four travelers find themselves lost on the Trail…
A novice reporter who learns that some shortcuts are anything but.
A grieving author who’s reunited with his dead dog in the tunnels beneath a haunted hotel.
A young man who tries a new ride-share app that abandons him in the space between Nebraska and Colorado.
A seasoned hiker and his aging dog who discover the remains of a six-legged rodent near the sign for a trail they’ve never heard of.
Disoriented by an ever-changing landscape and hunted by otherworldly predators, can they work together long enough to find their way home, or will they fall prey to the cosmic beast that guards the Trail?"
I breezed through this in two days! I am a big fan of spooky lore, time warps, and what-the-hell-is-going-on-here stories. I fell in love with the characters right away (which you know by now makes a story that much better for me!) and I couldn't wait for their paths to cross---whether in real time or by bread crumbs or evidence or whatever!
Hinkle begins by writing different chapters from the POV of each character as they learn about/find themselves on the Eris Ridge Trail. Each of their backstory is unique and tied in with the conclusion. I was at the edge of my seat, wanting to turn the pages before my brain had even fully finished the last sentence on the previous page. I found myself having to turn back to the page before, just to make sure I had gotten it right before moving on.
It reminded me a little of Tales from the Gas Station by Jack Townsend. Crazy creatures, safe havens (in the form of a service station actually!), missing time/time moving differently. One main difference with The Eris Ridge Trail, though, was that two of the main characters are dogs. And on the Eris Ridge Trail, dogs work differently... in more ways than one.
There was a scene where the characters find themselves in a hallway of doors, and behind each door there is one horror after the next. I love the idea of portals to different realities and wished this had been expanded on more. They end up going through one door, and their experience was horrifying. It was one of my favourite parts!
The ending, in my opinion (for once!), fit perfectly to the story! I loved every single word all the way up to the conclusion. If Hinkle writes a sequel or anything else that is centred around the Eris Ridge Trail, I am there (to read about it! Not to explore the trail, eep).
5 stars from me!
Where to find The Eris Ridge Trail by Larry Hinkle: Amazon https://a.co/d/0kf3e39 (it's on KU too)
Thanks so much for the kind words. I'm really glad you liked it. It was a ton of fun to write. So much so, that I'm writing a sort-of sequel. A collection of connected short stories that take place on or around the Trail.