The Virtual Entity Part 1

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Virtual Entity" by Richard Street.]
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3 out of 4 stars
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The Virtual Entity by Richard Street is a little book of eerie horror. I say ‘little’ because it is laid out onto 88 pages, but if one were to change the formatting of the text, it could easily fit into 55-60 pages. It tells a story of a young couple – Danielle and David – who leave the city life behind and move into a little town of Bakewell, which sits right in the middle of the Peak District National Park in the UK. The house they purchased without viewing used to belong to David’s father’s friend and had been empty since his death. Not long after them, a removal truck carrying all of their belongings arrives. When one of the removal men comments that he did not realize there were three of them moving in, Danielle and David let the comment go over their heads. They also do not give much thought to how rushed to get away from the house the estate agent seems to be nor how the town’s people react to when they tell them which house they moved into. Soon, their first night in their dream country house dawns, and strange things start happening. Will these ‘strange things’ drive a wedge between them? Will it do something even more sinister?

I award The Virtual Entity by Richard Street with 3 out of 4 stars. I took one star off due to the aforementioned drawbacks. One may think that, due to the volume of discrepancies, more stars should be deducted. But I take into consideration that this is the author’s ‘first goose’ and, with a little more practice, slowing of the pace, and polishing, this book could become a script for a good old traditional horror film with the element of modern tech. In addition, what I took away – I cannot be sure whether the author meant it or not – is a ‘between the lines’ message about what technology does to people’s relationships.

This book does not contain any vulgar language, sensitive or erotic scenes. However, the are some scary scenes that make the reader peek what is behind them as well as some gruesome verbal illustrations (such as the description of the entity or what I named to be the ‘vomiting’ scene), so I advise caution. This book would be most enjoyed by old-style horror and Stephen King fans. As can be expected from such a genre, some religious rituals come into play when trying to dispose of the ‘entity.’ These themes are not in any way preachy; instead, just the good old ‘exorcist’ style.

But have these rituals succeeded in expelling this ‘entity’ from our realm? Or is it still lurking somewhere, injured, biding its time waiting for his next source of power?...

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The Virtual Entity