On September 3, Union Square & Co. published a book titled Pay the Piper by late film writer and director George A. Romero with the help of author Daniel Kraus. Romero is most known for his work on the Night of the Living Dead franchise. Having both written and directed each film in the series, Romero has made a name for himself in the horror industry.
Two years after Romero’s death in 2017, Kraus stumbled upon an unfinished manuscript by Romero in the University of Pittsburgh Library System’s George A. Romero Archival Collection. This manuscript, Pay the Piper, had no ending, and with it being such a compelling story, Kraus knew he had to give it a proper finish.
Pay the Piper Review
Pay the Piper follows the residents of Alligator Point, a Louisiana bayou, near New Orleans. Alligator Point, known to the locals as The Point, is haunted by something sinister, yet nobody can agree on what that something sinister seems to be. Some believe it to be cancer, others believe it to be the gods, and some believe it to be haunted by “The Piper,” a creature that lures children to their deaths.
Introduced first is 9-year-old genius Pontiac. When her best friend Billy May stands her up at the local carnival, she makes it her personal mission to do the scariest attraction there and rub it in his face later. But she never gets the chance: Billy May goes missing that same night.
With his disappearance being narrated by himself, Billy May describes an unknown boy coming to his house in the middle of the night and convincing him to walk towards the water. Billy May later describes the boy’s transformation from a child into “The Piper,” who later kills Billy May by growing talons and ripping his heart out. But as the story goes on and different characters are introduced, it seems that nobody in the bayou is a reliable narrator. Many people are either sick, drunk, high, or delusional and imagination begins to mix into reality.
With Billy May considered missing, the former sheriff and his unofficial deputy begin investigating and start to bring up sins from each person’s past. When another child goes missing, it becomes clear that something that has been brewing for years in The Point is about to come to the surface.
Pay the Piper is a wonderfully written book that goes about horror and the supernatural in a unique and captivating way. With new characters being introduced in every chapter, the environment and life of Alligator Point comes to life. Each character has a rich backstory that makes their present self even more dynamic. They’re all plagued with demons, many hooked on alcohol or drugs to cope, and are just trying to survive the next day.
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