Reviewed by Lee Ashford for Readers' Favorite

“Scarlett and the Tat Revenants” by John Kilmerstone features an archaeology professor and one of his students, studying an extinct tribe of Native Americans. However, this story is nothing like whatever image came to your mind when you read that first sentence. Indeed, it is nothing like anything you have ever read before, and I seriously doubt if it is like anything you have ever imagined, although it is possible you could have had a nightmare with some common elements with it. The extinct tribe had been called “Tat” while they lived, but they were such a merciless, bloodthirsty, evil bunch that the demons of hell sent a plague to wipe the tribe from the face of the Earth. In time, even their memory was forgotten, because nobody had any desire to keep even their memory alive. Professor Ka and his student, Scarlett Dean, both had an extreme desire to learn all they could about the Tat, to the point that both wanted to perform a ritual of bravery to impress the spirits of the Tat enough so that they would be accepted as contemporary Tat warriors. This ritual involved facing an overwhelmingly superior foe, such as a lion, wolf or bear, and killing it in a one on one battle to the death. At the time of this story, an enormous and blood-crazed bear had been on a killing spree in the vicinity, and pictures taken by hidden game trail cameras suggested it stood six feet tall while on all four feet. It was Scarlett’s purpose to face and defeat that bear. When she and the professor found and followed the bear’s trail to its home cave, the professor recognized the cave as one of the rare Tat ceremonial altars, from which they communicated with demons. In his excitement, he released several Tat warriors from hell, who were charged with killing the professor.

The descriptive narrative in this tale paints a nearly visible image of the action, the topography, and the bloody, gory violence the Tat were once known for. The story is not one to read late at night, but if you are a fan of vicious paranormal killers from hell, you definitely will want to read it; just not late at night. John Kilmerstone has demonstrated an enviable talent for developing an edge-of-your-seat suspense-filled story of horror. You have to read it to believe it.