• Author: E. Reyes
• Publisher: independently published
• Publishing year: 2022
• Number of pages: 163 (Tolino ereader)
• My rating: 4/5

Synopsis:

Love at first sight. A Dark Obsession. Murders.

Nathan Franco is a young man who conceals his true mannerisms and feelings on the inside by presenting a secure version of himself on the outside. He lives his life, goes to college, loves music, and deals with his father, who doesn’t like him much. Things go as they always do until he meets Christine Romero. It’s love at first sight. Nathan promises himself that he won’t make the same mistake with his last love interest. But soon, his jealousy, rage, and possessiveness become too much to keep locked away inside. Nathan’s love and obsession for the girl of his dreams turn into a nightmare in The Love Song of Nathan Franco.

Review:

This was very different from everything I’ve read from Reyes’ before. This wasn’t just a blatant horror story. This book is about obsession and the gut wrenching feeling that is love sickness.

As a reader we witness how Nathan Franco’s descent into madness goes gradually. He starts out as a somewhat socially awkward but sweet guy who falls in love with the girl, Christine, who pulls and pushes him. Although at that point we already know he’s a bit off, due to him seeing a dead girl in his closet at night. (The only supernatural element in this story). And Nathan’s mind is warped and he has a very black or white worldview. Whenever he sees Christine he can’t keep his eyes off of her, even though she spends more time with other guys. And that plays into his insanity, he sees competitors everywhere and he feels Christine is not giving him the needed attention, which she does to the others. All this leads to a catastrophe, murder and hatred.

This is a high school drama, a stalker story, a tale about being obsessed (hooked to, addicted to) someone you can’t get. And with obsession comes jealousy…

This is Reyes’ best novel of his oeuvre so far. I already saw on his Instagram he plans on bringing back Nathan Franco in a future work.

Little side note: not sure this was intentional but I loved how Reyes named his characters for either movie stars or movie characters (especially horror movies)… top of the head: Franco (James and Dave), Christine (the car from King’s novel and Carpenter’s adaptation) Romero (another great name in the horror universe)…

About the author: (from Amazon)

E. Reyes is a horror and Halloween enthusiast who lets his love for the genre bleed on the page. At only eight years of age, E. Reyes discovered Goosebumps by R.L. Stine and became obsessed with reading. Soon after, he was writing his own stories and even some James Bond flash fiction. His love of horror stemmed from John Carpenter’s Halloween, Goosebumps, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and really, anything he could read or watch that was scary. His writing influences are Stephen King, R.L. Stine, Joe Hill, Ray Bradbury, and Clive Barker.

E. Reyes is the winner of a Horror-Writers.com flash fiction contest, and his first published work “Trump Vs the Zombies” appears in the Dark Helix Press anthology Trump: Utopia or Dystopia? He currently resides in Arizona with his fiancee and their three children.

Visit E. Reyes’s blog at halloweeneddie.blogspot.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @EReyesHorror