The Hat Man


Fiction - Horror
260 Pages
Reviewed on 03/15/2025
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    Book Review

Reviewed by Nino Lobiladze for Readers' Favorite

The Hat Man by Greg Marchand will appeal to fans of horror, drama, mystery, and paranormal fiction. An aspiring veterinarian, Sadie Burrows loses her beloved dog, Buddy, during a weekend getaway on Ward Island, Alabama. A man wearing a brimmed hat blows smoke into Buddy's snout, and the dog gets sick and dies. Who is this sinister man followed by a flock of starlings? Is it possible that a Victorian urban legend came to life? Sadie is determined to uncover the truth about the Hat Man terrorizing the locals. She teams up with her friends, Charlotte and Jerome, a police sergeant, Mia Lindsey, and a charter fisherman, Colton Garrett, to research Ward Island's history and stop the murders of innocent people.

Greg Marchand's The Hat Man is an imaginative, chilling, and inspirational story about a courageous woman who challenged a dark, otherworldly force because it hurt her best friend. This is a compelling read and a touching tribute to dog lovers and their loyal four-legged companions. Marchand knows how to engage his readers with a blood-curdling tale. The villain is well-developed and unorthodox, while his backstory is simultaneously scary and poignant. I appreciated a dose of dark humor and haunting descriptions, like the ones of the settlement of Les Voyants and its peculiar inhabitants. Marchand depicts starlings as poetic harbingers of approaching disaster. The ominous meaning of these beautiful songbirds is another unique metaphor that makes this book unforgettable. The novel ends on a witty note, and I hope to read more from this talented author.