After not speaking to his brother Matt for seven years, Barry must return to his childhood home after he gets the news that Matt is missing. When he arrives he finds the house trashed and the word LEBO written in blood on the bedroom wall. Even though Barry and his brother don’t get along (Matt actually tried to kill him once) he is determined to find out who is responsible for his disappearance.

Barry teams up with Jennifer, a childhood acquaintance who is much more than she seems, and starts poking around the town for answers. It isn’t long before they find something much more sinister is going on than just your basic vandalism. Matt had taken in a strange boarder named Ren who was into some very dark arts that he practiced inside the family home. Barry and Jennifer must find the answers they need, and fast, in order to confront a growing evil that is threatening to take over the town.

I don’t buy hardbacks very often. I read extremely fast (sometimes three books a day without neglecting anything) so when I’m buying books I’m going for paperbacks. Obviously you get more books for your money this way. When I do take the plunge and pay for a new hardback I’ll often hold out on reading it to heighten the anticipation (and for some reason this makes me feel like I’m getting more of my money’s worth.) I truly planned on savoring The Lebo Coven, only reading bits at a time to draw it out. So much for intentions; I couldn’t put it down. I managed to make it last a day.

The characters are well developed. No one in this book is perfect; everyone has their flaws and issues. Heck sometimes I didn’t even like the characters I was supposed to be rooting for. This made the book more realistic to me. We don’t always like our family and friends and their asshole behavior but we wouldn’t want them dead either. If I wished for anything in this book it would have been more back story for Matt’s anger and the brothers growing up in general. I wanted the history to go deeper.

Other than my desires for more info the book was perfect length. Author Stephen Mark Rainey has crafted a tight, fast-paced horror novel that never becomes slow or boring. There are times when Jennifer, who practices magick, has to cast spells on them or the home. Mark describes these incidents, and also explanations in magick happenings, well enough to keep your interest without going overboard with pages and pages of arcane knowledge.

The deaths are very descriptive and enough to give you nightmares. Not only will the killings horrify you, they’ll make you angry as well. I wanted to see justice done in very violent ways. There are a lot of emotions involved here.

I thought I had things figured out early and one thing I did but the ending took me completely by surprise. Mark avoids the cliché and obvious ending in order to shock you more. It’s not a cheat but a well thought out conclusion that makes perfect sense once you think about it. I highly recommend The Lebo Coven. If you like occult stories with creepy happenings and enough humanity thrown in to keep things grounded then you will definitely like this book.