Whatever Remains of Us in the End by Brandon Baker

I’ve been following Brandon Baker for quite a while on social media – most notably TikTok and Instagram. So I was thrilled to find out that he’d written books, especially horror/thriller books. So of course, when I got KindleUnlimited back, I had to read them.

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Lee knew of the old Maxim place, of course. Everyone in Lincolnshire had. Plagued by superstitious rumors, the woods surrounding the home were supposedly haunted, and the house itself inhabited by a witch; but he never believed the rumors. However, after a home invasion plot gone horribly wrong, Lee finds himself on a mission to uncover the secrets of the Maxim home and learns that there might be something more to the rumors after all. Whatever Remains Of Us In The End is a dark, bloody, and emotional supernatural thriller, and is the first full length novella from author Brandon Baker.

Content Warnings: graphic violence, injury detail, descriptions of gore including dismemberment and disembowelment, body horror, drug use/addiction, loss of loved ones, self harm, gun violence, suicidal ideation, bullying, homophobic and misogynistic language, brief description of an injured animal, brief allusions to white supremacist ideologies

While I will admit I didn’t feel a big connection to any of the characters in this book, that isn’t uncommon for me with horror genre novels. For some reason I just don’t tend to get attached to or connect with most horror novel characters – probably because I figure they’ll die at some point. But the characters in this book had fairly decent backstories. Obviously this being a novella the characters couldn’t have too elaborate backstories, but I think the backstories were sufficient for the needs of the story.

The plot for Whatever Remains of Us in the End is a bit convoluted, but again, it’s a horror novella. I’ve seen full-length horror novels with more convoluted plots – and they were much harder to follow that this was. I had no trouble following the plot at all. I liked the twists that came up and was pleasantly surprised at the ending – I’d almost like to see a sequel because I think it would be fun.

Just a note: this is only Brandon’s second published work. So obviously you might not find it OMG AMAZING but I truly think you can see the talent Brandon has. Most authors don’t have the greatest first few published works. It’s just the way writing is.

This is a great novella that would make a good entry point into horror – it isn’t as scary as some horror novels/novellas are, but it gives a good idea of what you can find in horror novels. I gave it 4/5 stars because there’s always room for improvement but this was a great novella for a second published work.