Review: Relic by Gretchen McNeil

First, thanks to Epic Reads Impulse and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  I have been a huge fan of Gretchen McNeil's horror stories for quite a while.  And this one doesn't disappoint.  In fact it is one that I could seriously see being done as a movie.  It had all the perfect qualities of that.  The scenes and visual descriptions in her writing even made it seem like a movie playing in my head as I was reading it.  I'm also really glad that we were able to read this.  There was a time during one publisher closing its doors that it looked like this book would  not make it to the public.  So thanks again to Epic Reads Impulse for saving it for us to read.

The main character is Annie.  School is out for summer, and she and her friends have decided it will be an epic summer, where they will do the things they normally wouldn't do.  The first thing is going to camp on an island and explore an old abandoned mine.  She plans to maybe even take the next step with her boyfriend.  Making things a little more difficult is the fact that her boyfriend Jack's ex-girlfriend has been invited on the trip by one of Annie's friends who is interested in her.  But his ex really wants him back, and does whatever she can to come between Jack and Annie.  Along with those normal teen issues, there is a mystery around the mine.  Some people have disappeared into the mine and not been found.  Annie and her friends have a visit with some water patrol and cops shortly after they arrive, who also make very clear that they shouldn't be going to the mine. 

Another visitor that night is a man that they haven't seen, but who claims some really weird things.  When he runs off, they go looking for him, and can't find him anywhere.  They go to the mine the next day, but something weird happens after they just barely get inside.  All of a sudden they are all by themselves, and they have to find their way out of the mine.  When they all arrive back at the campsite, one after another, hours apart, they head home.  The cops just happen to find a mummified body outside the mine shortly after the group gets home.  And it turns out the body is the man they saw the night before.  Soon other things start happening.  People end up dead, they find a notebook of history about the mine and the area around it.  Soon one by one they will meet with danger, and only Annie and her friends that survive will be able to figure it out, using the clues in the scrapbook and what else they can figure out.  They don't know for sure if the killer is even one of their group. 

The ending was definitely a good one, like I said, would be a perfect end to a horror movie.  We get some mysterious history of the mine and I guess that is where the title comes in.  My only complaint in the story is that I kind of wanted a little more to the "relic" part of the story.  Would have maybe liked it to come into play earlier in the story somehow.  I'm not sure how, but overall it didn't really affect the story, as it still ended up being a good one.

I believe this story may only be available as an ebook at this time, but you can get it for a great deal of only $1.99, here are the links:

Barnes and Noble
 Amazon