Glenn Rolfe and I seem to float around the same circles, and have many of the same influences (Stephen King, Jack Ketchum, etc.). I’d reviewed a book on Goodreads, and Glenn was gracious enough to ask if I wanted to read one of his stories, which I’d never had a chance to before now. Unfortunately, there’s a long list of authors on my radar that I haven’t read as yet, and I jumped at the chance to read something by Glenn.

Along comes Abram’s Bridge, inspired by the Springsteen lyric from Darkness on the Edge of Town where the Boss sings, Tell 'em there's a secret out 'neath Abram's Bridge…. And in Rolfe’s story, there sure as hell is a secret.

You get a good sense of the protagonist, L’il Ron, right off the top. Kid’s got very little going for him. An alcoholic father, and judgemental grandmother, and not a lot of friends. And to make matters worse, the poor bugger has to listen to music on a Zune, and even that doesn’t make it much past the second page.

I won’t go much into the story, as it’s better experienced as you go, and, as a mystery/thriller, it’s not a bad tale.

Let’s get into some of the stuff that didn’t work for me.

As an overarching observation (and I rarely list this as a bad thing), this story was too short. It felt a touch underdeveloped to me, mostly in the relationships. Some examples are, when L’il Ron runs across Heath Barnes the first time, he’s described as a rich kid, a genius, and all-round asshole. But there was actually no assholery happening, and the rich kid part never really came into play. As for genius, well, maybe a bit. My point here is, I would have liked to have seen a bit more of a build in their relationship, to understand where L’il Ron was coming from with his observations.

A similar point with Ron’s father Greg, and Stefan. You get a solid sense that these two were fairly tight 17 years back, but now, when they meet, while there’s little dialogue, there’s very little sense of history between them. Guys that have been friends for years, even when they don’t see each other for a decade, can still talk in shorthand. “Hey, Bill, remember the cheese?” “Oh shit, and the shaved dog?” “Yeah!” “Hell yeah. Good times.” That sort of thing. I got none of that here. Just two guys that felt more like passing acquaintances.

Then there was Sweet Kate, who was both the highlight, and the biggest disappointment of the book for me. On the plus side, she was tragic, sad, and heart-achingly attractive. She jumped off the page for me, and I immediately saw the same things Ron saw in her. And the fact that she showed up within three pages of the story told me she was going to be a major figure throughout the story.

Unfortunately, she was only there to start the mystery. She relayed a story, and then like the ghost she is, disappeared for virtually the balance of the book. The other problem I had with her, despite her charms, was how she spoke. This is a girl that was “almost fourteen” around the year 2000, yet she comes out with lines like, “My mom and dad did not want to have children, but they did their duty as parents,” and, “I was lonely. My parents didn’t have much, so I dressed in secondhand clothes. The others at school looked at me with pity and disdain,” and, “All those years, growing up, isolated…I accepted loneliness as fate.”

Just doesn’t sound like an almost fourteen-year-old to me, and it threw me out of the story at times.

Overall, I enjoyed the story, and the inevitable explosion of violence toward the end, but I just wish I could have gotten to understand the players a bit better, and that Sweet Kate could have had more of a hand in the downfall of the one that caused her death.

Would I read more of Glenn Rolfe, though? Hell yes. ( )

Abram's Bridge is, at heart, a ghost story and I love ghost stories.

Sweet Kate is lurking underneath Abram's Bridge when she was discovered by Lil Ron. As their meetings under the bridge continue, Ron realizes that Sweet Kate was murdered and he wants to help discover the killer.

With a gritty cast of small town characters this novella has some memorable moments. I liked this premise and I enjoyed the characters. So why only 3 stars you ask? It was the writing. I believe this is Mr. Rolfe's first published work and I think he has talent, but the writing needs a little work. I'm not an editor or a publisher, nor do I pass myself off as some kind of writing expert. But when I read an awkward sentence like this one, it takes me out of the story:


" Music is what got him through the mess life had decided to litter his path to adulthood with."

Despite a few awkward sentences like this one, I truly did enjoy the story. It was intriguing and fast paced and the tale wound everything up very nicely. Overall, I do recommend this story and I will read more of Mr. Rolfe's work in the future.

*I received a free copy of this novella in exchange for an honest review. This is it.* ( )

Review copy

Abram's Bridge is a quick little novella which may just leave you breathless.

Glenn Rolfe is quite skilled at painting a picture with his words. Crossing over the uneven wooden planks, his Huffy BMX bike bumped, riddled and rattled like the chains of the Ghost of Christmas Past.

It was while out riding his bike by Abram's bridge that Li'l Ron heard a girl's voice and discovered Sweet Kate exuding an impossible blue-tinged luminance.

When he hears Kates's story, he makes solving the mystery of her untimely death his mission and he's determined to learn the truth about what happened in his otherwise sleepy town and set her spirit free.

The clues are easy enough for the reader to unravel and it's not to difficult to see where the story's going before it gets there, but there are still a number of nice surprises as what begins as a charming little ghost story quickly builds to a devastating climax.

By the end of the read my adrenaline must have been flowing as much as Li'l Ron's.

A terribly entertaining tale and one I can easily recommend.

This re-release of Abram's Bridge is a Macabre In Production, an imprint of Crossroad Press, is available in both e-book and Audible formats.

From Glenn Rolfe's bio - Glenn is an author, singer, and songwriter from the haunted woods of New England. He has studied Creative Writing at Southern New Hampshire University, and continues his education in the world of horror by devouring the works of Stephen King and Richard Laymon. ( )

This is a fast and enjoyable story which I read complete from start to finish. Li'l Ron meets the ghost of Sweet Kate under a bridge and she discloses to him that she did not actually disappear in the year 2000 (as was rumoured) but was brutally murdered. With his trusty bike Ron pieces together the clues that leads him to confront some well known residents of the community in an attempt to solve the demise of one sweet little girl. The story moves at a very fast pace and one cannot help but feel great warmth for our hero Li'l Ron who, in addition to identifying the perpetrator, attempts to keep his father Greg from slipping into a depressive alcohol state following the departure of his wife Jen (and Ron's mum) some weeks prior. What I enjoy about coming of age stories is that they concentrate, correctly, on the young presenting them as much wiser than the adults who are meant to be there to support them during the exciting and often troubled emergence from youth to adult. ( )