The first chapter is solid.  Joseph is falling asleep behind the desk of a motel in the middle of no where.  A man arrives with his young son, both of whom look less awake than Joseph is.

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I’ve been reading ‘Shepherd’ before it came to the web-fiction guide, and it is one of the best web-fiction stories I’ve read thus far.

There are currently six chapters up, and a section of each chapter is published every Friday.

The story follows Joseph, at first a seemingly ordinary guy working a dead-end job as a grave-yard shift motel clerk, but that all changes the moment a man and his son enter the motel one early morning, mysteriously carrying a picture of him the man said to have found on the internet. He then asks Joseph to help his son, who is rather sickly and seems to not have much time left.

You quickly begin to wonder if there’s more to Joseph than meets the eye, and perhaps Joseph’s current placement (motel clerk in the middle of nowhere) isn’t necessarily due to him just being a poor guy down on his luck.

The characterization is -very- strong; the reader is continuously inside Joseph’s head as he deals with these strange visitors, revealing bits and pieces of what appears to be a much more complex and mysterious premise.

The story itself is very unique, and also quite peculiar, along the lines of what Stephen King or Dean Koontz might put out. (I guess I mean more along the lines of weird, but weird in a creepy, good way.) There is a chilling scene where the boy looks in a mirror, only to see his face suddenly become decrepit and ghastly, and the imagery presented actually made me shudder.

Shepherd is also very well written, a tad description heavy in the first couple chapters but the imagery is still very good. Chapter four, the story begins to accelerate in pace and suspense and I found myself unable to stop reading until I ran out of material from Chapter five to Chapter six—part three.

Other than the pacing being a little slow in the first three chapters, I really can’t say anything bad about this. There is great imagery, great characterization, and everything is so well written that it makes for a very fluid read.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys paranormal, modern-day thrillers.

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