
by Ryan Leslie
AdventureAdded on March 27, 2026
While landscaping his backyard, ever-conscientious Paul Prentice discovers an iron door buried in the soil. His childhood friend and perpetual source of mischief, Jay Lightsey, pushes them to explore what's beneath. When the door slams shut above them, Paul and Jay are trapped in a between-worlds place of Escher-like rooms and horror story monsters, all with a mysterious connection to a command-line, dungeon explorer computer game from the early '80s called The Between. Paul and Jay find themselves filling roles in a story that seems to play out over and over again. But in this world, where their roles warp their minds, the biggest threat to survival may not be the Koŝmaro, risen from the Between's depths to hunt them; the biggest danger may be each other. "I found The Between dark, super creepy, and pushing the limits of my limited amounts of courage to explore-but I couldn't stop myself from coming back for more because it's propulsive, addictive, and scary good fun." - Sean Gibson, author of The Stuff About the Dragon Was (Mostly) True "...an incredibly intricate novel that skillfully blends aspects of horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and cyberpunk." - Nicole Willson, author of Tidepool. "While in the first third of this book, I mentioned that the atmosphere reminded me of one of my favorite horror novels, SL Grey's The Mall. There's a surreal, not-right quality to that book that touched off a nerve in me that I just adored....I don't at all mean this as an insult, as that's a damn fun book- and so is this one! ....It's almost like a grown up, more gory and violent horror version of Heir Apparent." - Alexandra, Goodreads "This debut novel by author Ryan Leslie combines elements of science fiction and horror that at times reminded me of The Hike by Drew Magary and Off To Be The Wizard by Scott Meyer, all while being something distinctly different." - Matt, Goodreads "It was a great mix of horror, sci-fi and adventure gaming!" - Stephanie, Goodreads
Full disclosure: I received an ARC of this book for review from the author (with whom, incidentally, I share a publisher). That in no way influenced my review, and I promise you I would still tell you if it sucked.But, friends—it did NOT suck. Not even a little. In fact, this twisty, scarifying, riveting thriller is like what would happen if Groundhog Day had been set not in idyllic Punxsutawney, PA, nor focused on a man doomed to perpetually relive the day a reluctant marmot rendered its woeful
The Between. Is it a horror, sci-fi, fantasy, a mixture of all of these genres? - whatever it is, its great fun. I looked up epic and found the following - "...narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures..." - and yes, I would say that The Between has some newly created legendary figures having a weird and wild adventure in a very imaginative and frightening world. Ryan's characters feel real, are well developed, and have a good sense of humor - built solidly within their w
Alright, alright. Is this book good? Probably not. Is this a fun book? Hell yeah. I’m giving it 3.5 stars because it’s chaotic, messy, repetitive, and too confusing at points, but it was so damn fun.Paul’s digging holes in his backyard trying to fix something in his house when, ta-dah, he finds a weirdass looking door that is creepy and shouldn’t be there. The door’s giving him the heebie jeebies but his good pal Jay comes to the rescue with his lockpicking skills and a ladder… and down the door

A Time of Kings Episode One

The Reluctant Expat: Part Two - Finding my Feet

Warped Ambition (A Jo Riskin Mystery Book 1)

Coming Apocalypse

Stolen Sisters: A John Treehorn Mystery (Book 2)

Crashing Into You (Whisper Lake: Savage Brothers Book 3)

A Trail so Lonesome (Wagon Train Matches Book 1)

The Last Archer (Green Ember Archer Book 1)