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The Haunted Forest Tour is exactly what it promises to be. The premise is wonderfully ridiculous in the best possible way: after a portal opens up and unleashes countless monsters into a forest, the government does the only sensible thing they apparently can think of and turns it into a tourist attraction. Visitors climb aboard reinforced trams, cameras in hand, to get a close-up look at creatures that would happily tear them apart if given the chance. It’s such a gloriously over-the-top idea that I was hooked almost immediately.
The first part of the book spends some time introducing the cast and setting up the story. There are quite a few characters to keep track of, and while I didn’t connect equally with all of them, they each served a purpose once the action got underway. The pacing is fairly steady at first, but once the tour inevitably starts going wrong, it barely pauses for breath. From that point onwards it becomes an absolute avalanche of monster attacks, desperate escapes and increasingly creative acts of survival.
One of the novel’s greatest strengths is the sheer imagination on display. The monsters aren’t simply variations of zombies or vampires. Every time you think you’ve seen the strangest creature the forest has to offer, another bizarre nightmare appears. Some are genuinely unsettling, others are grotesque enough to make you wince, and a few are so strange that they almost become fascinating rather than frightening. You can tell the authors had a great time inventing them, and that enthusiasm comes across on the page.
The action scenes are relentless. There are moments where entire chapters feel like one extended chase sequence, yet it rarely becomes repetitive because the threats are constantly changing. Just when the characters seem to have escaped one impossible situation, something even worse appears. The body count is impressively high as well, which means there’s a genuine sense that nobody is completely safe. That unpredictability kept the tension high throughout. Jeff Strand’s trademark humour also helps balance out the carnage. There are plenty of funny lines scattered throughout the chaos, usually arriving at exactly the right moment to stop the book becoming relentlessly grim. The comedy never completely undercuts the horror, but it gives the characters a bit more personality and makes the quieter conversations feel natural. That said, I did feel the book occasionally became a little exhausting. Because the action is almost constant for such a long stretch, some of the individual set pieces started to blur together by the later chapters. I also would have liked a little more time to explore the mystery of the forest itself and how the attraction came to be.
The concept is so entertaining that I found myself wanting more world-building between all the bloodshed. The characters were solid overall, even if they weren’t the main attraction. A handful stood out enough that I genuinely wanted them to survive, while others mainly existed to become monster food. In a story like this, that’s not necessarily a criticism, as the spectacle is very much the focus, but a little more emotional depth here and there would have made some of the losses hit harder.
The gore is definitely not for the squeamish. Limbs fly, bodies are torn apart, and the authors don’t shy away from describing the damage in graphic detail. If splatter horror is your thing, there’s plenty here to satisfy that appetite. Despite the graphic violence, the book keeps a playful tone that stops it from feeling unpleasant or mean-spirited.
Overall, The Haunted Forest Tour is an entertaining blend of creature feature, action thriller and splatter horror with an unforgettable premise. It fully embraces its outrageous concept and delivers exactly the sort of fast-paced monster mayhem the title promises. It isn’t particularly deep, and the relentless pace can become slightly overwhelming at times, but it’s difficult not to admire the sheer creativity packed into its pages. If you’re after a fun, bloody adventure filled with bizarre monsters and spectacular carnage, this is well worth picking up.
Gareth Ellis - Author 