[Novella Review] One For The Road by Wesley Southard

One For The Road by Wesley Southard is a fast-paced tale of bizarre horror that is equal parts terrifying and fascinating.

Pick this one up on a day that you can cruise through from cover to cover! You won’t want to put it down!

Also, congrats again to Wesley for winning the 2020 Splatterpunk award for this novella!!

Let’s dive in!

My Thoughts on One For The Road by Wesley Southard

Set up as a memoir, this tale follows the events that occurred when a band was just wrapping up a very long tour.

Our main character, Spencer, is looking forward to getting back home and finally quitting the band to work on other projects. Of course, he hasn’t told the intense ringleader/lead singer, Steve, just yet.

After their last show, they grab a beers for the road and head out. But the next thing they know, they have all woken up on a road that isn’t familiar and all of their gear is missing… but what happens next is much worse than being robbed or stranded…

I had SO much fun reading this tale! Each new twist and turn that occurred was so bizarre and totally caught me off guard. I was so spooked by the overall environment that they found themselves in and I was terrified to see what was going to happen next.

Each of the main characters in the band and all of the side characters that we were quickly able to see were all very intriguing! I think the trees may have been my favorites!

Per usual with Wesley’s wiring, I LOVED all of the pop culture references!

I also really enjoyed the little breaks that were taken where the character writing the memoir paused to make sure we were still following him, or noted when he got distracted from writing it all down. I love when characters break the fourth wall like this!

But other than those few notes, I have to recommend that you just dive into this one to experience it yourself!

My Favorite Passages from One For The Road

Everything has its own smell. So does failure. 

Much like the excess poison dripping from the wounds, his pale skin had darkened to a deep shade of purple, as did his eyes and hair. To be frank, he looked like the wrong shade of Hulk. 

My nerves pulsed to a beat of a son I swore I knew, but I could not find the lyrics. I fought to find anything that made me happy: a heavy guitar riff, the face of an ex-girlfriend, my mom and dad. But I struggled to imagine anything that didn’t have teeth ready to bite. 

My Final Thoughts on One For The Road

My goodness I loved this story so much! I really enjoyed the suspense of never knowing what was going to happen next, the wicked interesting setting, and just how fast-paced this was!

I highly recommend checking this one out!

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Thanks for reading!
And thanks again to Wesley Southard for sending me a signed copy!