The Seven Visitations Of Sidney Burgess by Andy Marino

 

Sydney Burgess had clawed her way out of poverty and degradation to a good life, she thought.  She had been a junkie, strung out and living with a drug dealer, when she had her son, Danny.  She managed to find the fortitude to leave that man and after a series of dead end jobs and lousy apartments, she had gotten a degree and a good professional job.  She met Matt, a good man and together they bought a house and built a good family life.  But that was before that day.

Sydney returns home early one day in time to walk in on a burglar.  Rather than fleeing, he attacks her but she manages to get away and lock herself in a bedroom.  When he starts breaking down that door with a knife in his hand, determined to kill her, she jumps out the window and runs to the neighbors.  But in the hospital, the sheriff doesn't remember the incident the way Sydney does.  He arrived at her house to find the invader dead, stabbed multiple times.  

Sydney has no memory of fighting the man, much less killing him.  But the sheriff is certain she has.  Then Danny who is now eleven, starts to shy away from her, telling her that her face doesn't look right.  Danny's father who she hasn't seen in eight years, now reappears.  Her in-laws are determined to break up her and Matt.  What is going on and why is her world starting to change so much?  Soon, she starts to suspect Matt of doing things behind her back and lying to her.  Is that valid?  Is everyone really against her?  Is she losing everything?

Andy Marino is known for his work in the horror genre.  He specializes in lives that start out as ordinary and then are changed forever through no fault of the individual and that is definitely true in this novel.  Sydney has spent so many years doing whatever she can to provide a good life for Danny and now sees it slipping away day by day.  The horror of watching her lose more and more is chilling as is the visitation of something she cannot explain or ignore.  This book is recommended for horror readers.