Yellow Eye by Ada Avery

Yellow Eye by Ada Avery is a fast-paced creature feature that delivers exactly what it promises: a remote cabin in the redwoods and a nine-foot legend lurking in the trees. Retired psychiatrist Kip Kalvin and his wife Jess arrive for a quiet holiday at the old Bingham cabin, where a young girl vanished years earlier. Within days their dog is dead and Jess has been carried off into the forest. Kip soon finds himself suspected of murder and on the run.

The strongest element of the novella is the unlikely partnership between Kip and Harlan Boone, the town drunk and Vietnam veteran who has spent decades hunting the Yellow Eye. Their bickering supplies much of the humour, and Harlan emerges as a memorable character with a genuine arc of his own. Jess is also more than a damsel in distress, and her resourcefulness plays a key part in the escape. The action moves briskly from one set piece to the next, and the book can easily be read in a single sitting. The final chapter closes with a satisfying nod to the genre.

The novella would benefit from a thorough proofread for continuity, grammar and punctuation, as errors of this kind occasionally interrupt the flow of the story. Some loose ends would also have been satisfying to see resolved. The reader never learns exactly what the creature is, what became of it after the escape, or why it kept Ruby Bingham alive for so long. A reunion between Ruby and her parents, who appear so vividly in the prologue, would have given the ending added emotional weight.

That said, Yellow Eye is an entertaining and lively read for anyone who enjoys Bigfoot legends and horror with a sense of humour. I would recommend it to readers looking for a quick, fun escape into the wilderness.