I’m really looking forward to checking out more of Burke’s work!! His prose has a somewhat effortless flow to it, and he manages to get you invested in his characters in a very short period of time. There is some serious mind-fuckery happening in Sour Candy!! Crossing paths with this boy & this woman sends Phil down a path of abject horror, which has him questioning every single aspect of his life, including his own sanity. To give out more plot details than that is a huge disservice to anyone looking to read this book! But in some rather clever ways, Kealan Patrick Burke spins this tale into something completely subversive & insidious. The boy is shrieking at the top of his lungs, grabbing the attention of lots of folks in the store. There’s a strange little boy at the Walmart, accompanied by an even stranger woman. Things start off innocently enough, with Phil Pendleton out shopping for ALL THE CHOCOLATE, so he and his girlfriend can spend a much-needed day off rotting in front of the TV & eating junk. I didn’t quite realize Sour Candy was as short as it is (74 pages) when I ordered it, but goddamn…Burke manages to cram in a novel’s worth of creepiness & unsettling imagery in this very slim novella!! I really dug Sour Candy, and was more than a bit unnerved by it!! So I decided to finally give one of his books a whirl! He seems to engage with the community in really meaningful ways, and the reviews for all his work seem overwhelmingly positive. I’ve watched over the last few years as the Bookstagram horror community has kinda helped turn Kealan Patrick Burke into the face of indie/self-published horror.

What no one knows is that Phil is a prisoner, and that up until a few weeks ago and a chance encounter at a grocery store, he had never seen the child before in his life. Some might say that such leniency is starting to take its toll on the father, given how his health has declined. Some might say he spoils his son by allowing him to eat candy whenever he wants and set his own bedtimes. Some might say the father is a little too accommodating given the lack of discipline when the child loses his temper in public. They take walks in the park together, visit county fairs, museums, and zoos, and eat together overlooking the lake. At first glance, Phil Pendleton and his son Adam are just an ordinary father and son, no different from any other.

Sour candy by kealan patrick burke