I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Burn Line by Jonathan Sims Published by Poisoned Pen Press on August 25 2026
Genres: Adult, Horror
Pages: 384
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Top notch horror elements and heavy handed social commentary combine with mixed results in this slow but entertaining story.
There’s a lot to love in The Burn Line, the latest novel by horror podcaster Jonanthan Sims, but I also found this to be a frustrating read for a couple of reasons. The London Underground setting is so well done, and it’s perfect for a story about subterranean monsters. There are some truly frightening moments in the story, but there’s also quite a bit of social commentary that was so obvious and overstated that I found myself rolling my eyes every time one of the characters got on their soapbox and started lecturing. But still, I had a lot of fun reading it and will check out this author in the future.
The story follows five strangers who meet over a weird shared experience on the subway. Elise is a computer programmer who has just started a new job working for the Department for Transport; Senyo is a subway driver who has been at his job for over twenty years; Tash works for a hotel; Will works for a high end finance firm; and Aaron is a homeless man who often asks for money on the subway. All five just happened to be in the same subway car one day and experienced the same thing: a sense of lethargy and the feeling that they lost time.
Later, all five begin to experience odd things, and after Aaron watches one of his friends being attacked and killed by a strange creature, he decides to try to contact the others who were on the train car that day. What follows is a tense, terrifying journey underground to confront an ancient evil.
First the good. I loved the set-up using the subway and the miles and miles of underground tunnels below it. Anything with a claustrophobic setting puts me on edge, so this idea was perfect for a horror story. The story takes place during one of the hottest summers on record, so the oppressive heat is almost a character itself, and it made everything more uncomfortable. I also loved the creatures, who have a unique way of killing and feeding off people. The further down below the surface the characters go, the stranger and more deadly the creatures become. There’s a feeling of being trapped—and there were moments I thought no one would be able to escape!—and these sections were very well done.
The author takes his time introducing the characters, and I like the care he put into their backstories, jobs, financial situations and more. I didn’t necessarily like all the characters, for example, Will was one of my least favorite. Being higher up on the food chain than the others gives him a feeling of superiority and it comes through in the way he treats them. But I did like the others, especially Aaron, who brings everyone together in the first place. The group forms a tight bond once they realize they are all in danger, and there’s a nice sort of found family vibe that develops.
Despite these positives, though, the story was way too slow for my taste. The action doesn’t really pick up until the 75% mark, and for an almost 400 page book, that pacing didn’t do it any favors. My main complaint, though, is the heavy handed messaging the author sprinkled throughout his story. Right away the reader knows that the economy is terrible, prices are rapidly rising while jobs and salaries are falling. Everyone’s screwed except for the rich, and everyone else is barely scraping by. Plus we’re still in the trenches of the COVID pandemic–it’s 2022 and the world still hasn’t recovered its footing. Shit is bad, and the characters never let you forget it. The whining and anger directed toward the rich got old pretty fast. One or two mentions of these tough times would have been plenty to set the tone and theme of the story, but the lack of subtlety started to sound like it was the author, not the characters, who had a beef with the system. I love a good “kill the rich!” story, but I don’t like to be bashed over the head with it.
Still, the last section was thrilling, a frantic tale of survival as our characters try to escape the monsters, and a final epilogue tied everything up in a nice, almost feel-good way.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
I see our thoughts are very similar, though to be honest, I didn’t find the story particularly slow. I wish the author had trusted his audience to get the message without hammering it in so much…even if I share his sentiments, it was a bit overdone. I agree about Will, but he redeemed himself in the end…Fab review!
That’s how I felt. I agreed with everything he said, but I don’t need to have the characters constantly lecturing me. Thanks Roberta!
Sounds like a great premise, but I think the social commentary would get old for me too.
Exactly, I wish the commentary had been less of thing!
I like the sound of the subway setting to get that claustrophobic feeling in a horror story. It’s too bad that it was a slow read and the action not picking up until 75% into the book would be too late for me.
The setting was fantastic!
Sadly, heavy handed lecturing/preaching/messaging is very often too much for me, so I’ll likely never get to this one, though it does sound like there were some positive and entertaining elements.
It was definitely a mix of good and bad!
Sounds like it has positive elements but I don’t do well with heavy handed or super slow books anymore
There were a lot of elements I loved, but it would have been much better if the commentary had been more subtle.
It is a great setting for a horror novel! But I hate that kind of heavy-handed social commentary in books. I read to escape all of that. ;D
Without all the commentary it would have been much better.
Urg! Heavy-handed messaging AND slow pacing. I wouldn’t have finished the book.
I came close to putting it down…
Yeah, this sounds so good in many ways but too drawn out and I don’t fancy being bashed over the head with a lot of social commentary.
Lynn 😀
I just finished another book with lots of social commentary. I guess it’s just a thing these days?
I dont mind a slow paced read but I don’t think this one would be for me. It doesn’t sound like my kind of horror personally and I’m really not keen on heavy handed messaging. If its woven into the story naturally I’m all for it but in cases like this it just tends to come as preachy I find. I hope your next read is stronger
Thanks Charlotte! I am glad I read it even with the issues.
The creatures getting weirder the lower the people go gives me a videogame vibe, as if there will be a boss level at the very lowest! Still, 400 pages is too long for pretty much any story except an expansive fantasy universe, in my opinion.
Yes, it was too long for me. But I know what you mean about the videogame vibe!
Oppressive heat… No, thank you. I am not a fan of heat, both in real life and in books, and after the Summer we had I don’t really want to think about heat for a long long time, thank you. And I too hate when the authors are too heavy handed with their criticism. I love to read a book that made me think, but at the same time I want to enjoy the story too, and it’s pretty hard to do when someone is constantly in your face with their ideals. Balance is way way better!