Barking Madness is a paranormal thriller that grips you from start to finish. After surviving a vicious wolf attack, Rosetta must face her nightmares and embark on a journey where she finds herself living in a world with ghosts, monsters, and a crazed masked man.
Rosetta Harper and her family have just moved from Florida to a small, rural New England town. Her beauty and manipulative ways have quickly made her the center of attention and part of the ‘it’ group. But all is not as it seems. She inadvertently becomes the target of a twisted series of events involving supernatural creatures, scary visions and horrific nightmares that test her loyalties to her friends and family.
The story alternates POV between Rosetta and Michael. Shortly after moving into Ashwood, Rose gets the attention of Tommy, the high school quarterback. After going to a party and heading home through the woods, the pair comes face to face with a massive wolf. They are attacked leaving Rose severely injured. This physical attack results in Rose believing she is afflicted with something monstrous and Rose soon finds herself living in a world of ghosts and monsters.
Hearing screams from the road, Michael runs through the woods to find the source. What he finds will forever change his life. Rosetta Harper, the new girl who he has admired from afar is on the ground before him fighting for her life. Her rescue will be the start of a slow-building, back and forth friendship that develops into a loving relationship. At first, Rose wants nothing to do with Michael. He isn't popular, a jock, or outgoing at all. He is completely out of her social circle, but as the story develops and Rose seeks to discover the truth about her past and her future, so does their connection.
Excerpt
Every day, I kept the hood tucked up around me so nobody could read into my soul. I didn’t want anyone to know what I was going through. Unfortunately, everyone read me pretty well anyway, and soon I was without friends, living ones that is. Chloe and Brit and everybody else eventually stopped talking to me when I stopped talking to them, but at least Tommy and Zach still kept me company.
They appeared every now and then to say hello and to talk for a brief period of time before disappearing and going back to their limbo business. When I finally asked Tommy one night where he and Zach go off to, he told me that they go to watch their families. Even though they couldn’t be with them physically, they felt that somehow they could still connect with them just by watching and being near. This made me feel sorry for the two of them on a daily basis.
It was a beautiful day when Zach’s family had his funeral, and I couldn’t bring myself to go, which started some rumors at school, but Zach told me all about the morbid gathering the following night. He complained about who showed up, he whined about the nice weather, and he cried the entire time. When his story ended, he watched me undress and prepare for bed before asking me, sincerely, to commit suicide.
Shocked at first, I eventually understood why he asked that of me. According to his and Tommy’s curse they never leave alone, I have to die for them to be at peace.
In all honesty, suicide isn’t off the table. If I don’t find out a way to stop seeing ghosts, I will kill myself. Their mangled flesh and deteriorating joy depresses me more and more each day, and they can see that, so they avoid me for the most part, but sometimes they just have to talk to me to keep themselves from going crazy as well.
Professional Reviews
“Ashwood: that sounds a little dark, don’t you think?”
4 Stars By Grady Harp HALL OF FAME TOP 100 REVIEWER VINE VOICE
on July 21, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition
Massachusetts new author Ryan Hill is now a student at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. According to Ryan ‘I wrote BARKING MADNESS as a senior in high school and based the characters loosely on people that I knew in school. I feel that some readers have had a hard time believing that teens can be so self-absorbed..and mean. But, they can!’ This first novel is directed toward to Yong Adult audience though as a psychological thriller/ghost story it likely will appeal to all readers who are fascinated by the plethora of the many movies and television that deal with the dark world.
Ryan seems to have an ease with words: his writing style is fluid, propulsive, and well aimed at the core and resolution of the story – a tale that mixes teenage life views with treks into the netherworld. In Ryan’s own summary he phrases, ’17 year old Rosetta Harper and her family have just moved from Florida to a small, rural New England town. Her beauty and manipulative ways have quickly made her the center of attention and part of the ‘it’ group. But all is not as it seems. She inadvertently becomes the target of a twisted series of events involving supernatural creatures, scary visions and horrific nightmares that test her loyalties to her friends and family. Michael hates his family and feels alone and unloved. He only finds comfort when he’s with his friends, but even they get on his nerves. Everything about Ashwood and his life bores him, until Rosetta Harper moves into town. The story alternates POV between Rosetta and Michael. Shortly after moving into Ashwood, Rose gets the attention of Tommy, a ‘popular’ boy. After going to a party and heading home through the woods, the pair comes face to face with a massive wolf. They are attacked leaving Rose severely injured and Tommy dead. This physical attack results in Rose believing she is afflicted with something monstrous. Rose soon finds herself living in a world of ghosts and monsters. Hearing screams from the road, Michael runs through the woods to find the source. What he finds will forever change his life. Rosetta Harper, the new girl who he has admired from afar is on the ground before him fighting for her life. Her rescue will be the start of a slow-building, back and forth friendship that develops into a loving relationship. At first, Rose wants nothing to do with Michael. He isn't popular, a jock, or outgoing at all. He is completely out of her social circle, but as the story develops and Rose seeks to discover the truth about her past and her future, so does their connection.’
Solid character development, a plot so full of surprises that it keeps us guessing, and fine adventure into the strange aspects of dark fantasy – all make for an impressive debut novel. The book is a bit long in the tooth and likely Ryan’s next novel will be tighter and better edited, but for a first outing this is impressive work. Grady Harp, July 16
Great book!
5 Stars By My Library Card Wore Out
on March 21, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition
Ryan reached out to me over this book and as a he was a university student like I am as well, I had to give it a go as I was curious and all Uni students want success and I’d love to be a part of that for him. And I’m definitely glad that I agreed to read this book as it was fantastic! It took the regular story of a werewolf and gave it a slight twist which was quite interesting and unexpected.
I would definitely classify this book as older YA because of some of the themes occurring, such as some of the violence, but other than that it was a perfect YA novel! Which was a really nice change for me because I’ve been reading such heavy texts recently as well as adult novels (so the writing is more advanced) and it was nice for the change.
First thing I’ll focus on is the character development, which there was a lot of. I love when there is character development and because there was so much in this, you kept wondering how characters would react to different situations, as they kept developing. You were never sure and so it definitely kept you on your toes.
Next was the general story line. Even until the end I wasn’t sure how it was going to end, because of the character development. You never really knew who would say what and react to each situation.
Now this book is heavy with death and violence, some of which is quite graphic, so if you aren’t necessarily into that type of stuff, then this book isn’t exactly for you. There was also quite a lot of talks about suicide and self-harm, which I want to mention as I know quite a few people get uncomfortable with things such as this within books. There was bullying and teen drinking and all that such, hence why I classify it as mature YA, a genre which it fits perfectly into.
It was a decent length, almost 500 pages, so it wasn’t an excessively long read but potentially a little longer than some YA books.
Also, one of the things which I really liked was that you got to dislike or really hate some of the characters in the book. I love when an author can do that because it makes it more realistic and more fun as well! So that was also really interesting and awesome.
One of the best books I've ever read!
5 Stars By N. N. Light
on March 14, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition
High School can be hell on its own but there’s a murderer on the loose and no one in Ashwood knows who’ll be next.
Rosetta Harper is a beautiful blonde seventeen-year-old girl and she’s just moved with her family to the small town of Ashwood. Being the new girl is hard but she makes the best of it. Some call her shallow but deep down, she’s lonely and frightened of a masked man invading her dreams.
Michael hates his family, can’t wait to get out of Ashwood, loves playing video games and feels so lonesome. Even his best friend, Kyle, gets on his last nerve. All that changes when he lays eyes on the new girl, Rosetta Harper. He’s taken in by her beauty and charm, even when she’s mean to him.
Rosetta soon starts dating cutie Tommy (football player, all-around stud, etc.) and one night they go to Brad’s house for a party. Everyone starts drinking, including Rose and Tommy, and when Rose wants to go home, Tommy walks with her through the forest. They’re attacked by a giant wolf; Rose’s shoulder is torn apart by the wolf and Tommy brutally dies. Rose would be dead if it wasn’t for Michael rescuing her and fending off the wolf.
Strange deaths start happening to those around Rose and her dreams with the hooded man intensify. Who is this hooded man and what does he have in store for Rose and Michael?
I’m a big horror/paranormal reader and this is one of the best books I’ve read in years. Yes, it’s a long book but that’s one of the things I love about it. There’s so much going on in this intensely complex plot and I don’t have any idea what scene/plot point I’d edit out of the book to make it shorter or to split it into two books. It’s an addictive read and I couldn’t put it down.
The author weaves a spooky tale that at times, scared me as I was reading it. The more I read, the more I grew attached to both Rose and Michael and the more I wondered what was going to happen next. Twists and turns make this one of the most original horror stories I’ve read. There wasn’t anything predictable about it.
A note about the POV: For those of you who abhor dual POV, this may not be the book for you. While I loved the dual POV because I got to see both sides of the story, I understand it’s not preferred for some readers.
The characters are fully developed and yes, there are some characters who I didn’t care for. But like in high school, I hated people who bullied and took advantage of those who were smaller/weaker than themselves.
What made this such a spectacular horror story was the personal reflection of a human being becoming a werewolf. Normally in this genre, we get the view of the victims and the gore that follows werewolf attacks. In Barking Madness, the author plunges us into the psyche of a werewolf transformation. Imagine blacking out and waking up to find you killed your boyfriend/girlfriend/friends/family member. Frightening doesn’t begin to describe that emotion of pure helplessness.
At the core, this is a coming of age story where reality is a nightmare and everyone has issues to deal with. It’s about growing up, falling in love and letting your guard down. It’s about the consequences of drugs, alcohol, bullying, fighting and becoming your own person. At the end of the day, we’re all just barking madness.
Favorite Character: Michael. I could relate to him the most as I was a quiet, geeky girl in high school. I was shy and had my share of guy crushes. Michael is pushed beyond his limits and yet, he still cares for Rose. He loves her by the time we reach the climax (no insta-love here) and he’s the hero of this story in my opinion. He frees himself from all the emotional baggage of his life and tells the truth. He’s brave beyond belief and I loved him as a character. Plus, he loves video games.
Favorite Quote:
“I stood perfectly still and watched the barking madness draw nearer. This is truly the end.”
Twenty-eight years ago, Stan Parker and Angela Carpenter broke off their engagement when each wanted to go their separate ways.
Stan became a sheriff’s deputy, married a dispatcher, and had a daughter. His wife died 7 years ago leaving him l
