Saint Nicholas - Bryan James

Got this as a Christmas freebie for my Kindle. The storyline sounded like an interesting twist on the original St. Nick story so I figured it was worth a look. The story may be a little on the far side for some, but that's what I found kinda fun! Instead of Christmas, here we still see the pagan celebration of Yule, where the dead may rise at the darkest time of year and attack the living. St. Nick is not all that recognizable at first. Living on a farm in the small town of Rudolphson, Saxony, Nick is a lean-framed, blue eyed, black haired (& beard) veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, now struggling with alcoholism. He's lost his wife and daughter to a lung illness and his son was killed in the Wars. He only goes by "Nick" now because his wife used to call him "Saint", he doesn't  want to be reminded of the loss. His friend Kris Kringle  is the town toymaker (yep, two different characters here).

 

Nick remembers that as a child, he stories he always heard of the legends of the draugars (living dead from Norse legend) always mentioned the living running but never standing up to them, fighting back. Inspired by this, when the draugars rise and start to attack & kill the locals again, the now grown Nick & Kris team up to save a group of town children targeted by these undead. 

 

This is a quick read but well written and very entertaining, particularly if you're a Walking Dead fan.