Reviewed by Lee Ashford for Readers' Favorite

Gated by Matt Drabble is a horror novel as good as any you will find on the market today. The town of Eden was the epitome of good, old-fashioned, friendly small-town America. It sounded too good to be true. It was. However, Michael and Emily Torrance didn’t know that… yet. Having lost their first child when then pregnant Emily was hit in a freak accident, the Torrance’s thought a change would be good for them. Living in the wet, cold United Kingdom, the email they received about Eden sounded like just the change they needed: move to an entirely new country, in an idyllic town, with zero crime, excellent jobs with lucrative wages, and warm, sunny days the year round. What could possibly go wrong in a place like Eden? Even the name sounded heavenly. In fact, the town’s motto was, “Heaven on Earth, and Twice as Nice”. But Eden held a deep, dark secret; one that was anything but “Heaven on Earth, and Twice as Nice”.

Matt Drabble has written a number of horror novels, short stories, and short story collections. He is a gifted master of the genre, and will continue to make his mark for many years to come. Gated is as professionally written as anything written by the “big name” authors. In fact, Gated is such a well-written book I can’t help but wonder if “Matt Drabble” is a pen name being used by one of the “big name” authors. Whether it is true or not, Gated is a book all fans of horror must read. It is pure horror, all the way through, with a sprinkling of the supernatural thrown in for good measure. I expect to see “Matt Drabble” on the cover of some seriously frightening horror stories for a good, long time.