Breach of the Soul (2026) by Richard T. Wilson - Horror Novel Review

When I heard that the author of the Halloween Girl graphic novel series was releasing another book, I was of course interested to check it out. To my surprise, Breach of the Soul turned out not to be a graphic novel, but was instead a full blown novel set within the Halloween Girl universe. Skimming press releases once again led to surprise and delight. My question was; would a novel be able to do justice to the moral and magical world without the use of art to sell its ideas? For transparency, I was quoted not once, not twice, but three times at the back of the book about Wilson's prior works in the series.

The novel, over 198 pages, is split into two interconnected stories. The first of these is the 80 page long 'Part 1 - Julie and the Devils'. Here, a teenage runaway - Julie ends up in the woodland home of an evil witch. Luckily for her, there is a friendly ghost there to help her escape. She then learns that the witch is part of a Satanic cult who intend to bring ruin to the town Julie lives in.
'Part 2 - Fallen Masks' then takes place a little while later in the nearby town of Crystal Springs, where in a large graveyard, a certain teenage ghost - Charlotte, lives, alongside her much older friend Poe. They sense a darkness spreading over their town, with it felt that something evil must be responsible for causing the mild townsfolk to become embittered and lose their empathy for their fellow man. In the midst of the change, a killer emerges, determined to punish those he believes to be impure.

Breach of the Soul was such an easy book to read. The clear and simple words and fable-like layout of the story me getting through the breezy novel like a hot knife through butter. To begin with, I thought maybe this was more geared towards a teenage audience, but with plenty of swearing and some scenes of bloody terror, this wasn't actually the case. The two stories were very inter-linked, with the same characters reappearing in both. The stories also did feel quite separate, each one with its own adventure. Wilson's trademark 'heart' is on show in these stories. A universe where Heaven and Hell do actually exist in the afterlife. The heroes here aren't vengeance filled with hate towards their enemies, instead they do what they need to for the betterment of the innocent; acting both noble and selfless. Topics here in a roundabout way cover real life things that from an outsiders perspective have made America seem like it is in a death-spiral with itself. Covid and how people acted during it is mentioned, and more specifically it speaks of political divisions that have led people's relationships with each other fraying. It is nice in the Halloween Girl universe that this is able to be attributed to be literally caused by evil forces, and so can be fixed more easily than reality.

Julie, despite some bad judgements (she is just a teen after all), was a protagonist easy to like, and easy to root for. Like the graphic novels, Charlotte, Poe, and Alma were really likeable - nice characters full of kindness and understanding. These characters were the perfect foil to the evil of the Satanists and witch McKenna.

The book flew along at a fast pace, well written to the point that in my minds eye, I could see these events playing out. This may be a horror, but is one that keeps a positive outlook on mankind. Dark things do happen during the events of the book, but it never felt like good wasn't going to triumph over evil.

Breach of the Soul was a lovely read from start to finish. The story told effectively, the returning characters translated into purely words in a natural and entertaining way. I really enjoyed reading this. Breach of the Soul released on June 3rd.

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