Title: THORNS
Author: GREGORY BASTIANELLI
ISBN: 9781787589971
Publisher: Flame Tree Press
Pages: 240
Source: Review copy from Publisher
A deadly contagion spreads throughout the world, while scientists grapple to find a cure before it’s too late…
Dr. Monica Cucinotta works on the front lines of a hospital in Cassino, Italy, dealing with a deadly contagion that causes thorns to erupt along the surface of the body. When Monica becomes infected with the virus and must leave the hospital, she begins a journey across the dark landscape of a pandemic world where she meets the best and worst of humanity that tests her belief in science and faith as she struggles to return home to her loved ones.
Official Summary
29 July 2026
Thank you to Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for the invitation to participate in this blog tour.
Horror is not a genre I often gravitate towards, but the premise of this novel intrigued me, and I was looking forward to reading it.
The story follows an emergency room doctor during a pandemic caused by a highly contagious disease that leaves its victims covered in thorns. There is no cure, and infection is certain to end in death. Much of the novel felt like a fictional retelling of the Covid-19 pandemic, making the events both familiar and unsettling.
We follow Monica, an Italian doctor, from the chaos of the emergency room through her own infection and onto a brutal two-day journey home across rural Italy. Along the way, the author explores the devastating impact of the pandemic on isolated villages and the different ways communities respond to fear and desperation. Some villages shut themselves off from the outside world, while others are so overwhelmed by death that they become little more than ghost towns.
A few years ago, this story might have been much harder to read. Now, with the Covid-19 pandemic behind us, it serves as an emotional reflection on the physical and psychological toll such a crisis can take. Monica’s determination to help those in her care, even as she faces her own grim fate, makes for a poignant and often heartbreaking journey.
At times, the pacing did slow slightly. Monica’s two-day walk home is filled with so many encounters and events that it occasionally felt as though she had been travelling for weeks rather than days.
Overall, Thorns is a thought-provoking horror novel that draws heavily on the shared experience of Covid-19 and the lockdowns. Rather than relying solely on scares, it explores humanity, fear, survival, and sacrifice through the eyes of one doctor caught in an unimaginable situation.
About the Author
Author bio from the author’s site
Gregory Bastianelli is the author of the novels, “October”, “Shadow Flicker”, “Snowball”, “Loonies” and “Jokers Club.” His upcoming novel “Thorns” will be released in July of 2026 from Flame Tree Press.
A Review Darkly has this to say about “October”: “This is a coming of age story that is somewhat idyllic at the beginning for the friends even as the terror begins to grow. The reader knows that it is only a matter of time until they lose their innocence. And really, this is what makes the novel so terrifying.”
Publisher’s Weekly described his “Shadow Flicker” as a “dark disturbing treat.” Booklist stated: “This is a gripping horror story from an author who deserves a wider audience.”
Publisher’s Weekly said of “Snowball,” that “Readers will be riveted by this genuinely scary holiday phantasmagoria.” Rue Morgue Magazine said: “If you want Halloween-infused Christmas terror tale … Bastianelli has got you covered … with several feet of blood-soaked snow.” Horrornews.net has referred to Bastianelli as the “messiah of macabre.”
Horrornews.net has referred to Bastianelli as the “messiah of macabre.”
He graduated from the University of New Hampshire where he studied writing under instructors Mark Smith, Thomas Williams and Theodore Weesner. He worked for nearly two decades at a small daily newspaper where the highlights of his career were interviewing shock rocker Alice Cooper and B-movie icon Bruce Campbell.
He became enchanted with the stories of Ray Bradbury as a young child, and his love of horror grew with the likes of Richard Matheson, Robert Bloch, Stephen King and Ramsey Campbell.
He lives in Dover, NH. He enjoys traveling, especially to Italy where he has visited his ancestral home and hiked the Path of the Gods on the Amalfi Coast and to the top of Mt. Vesuvius.
He is a member of the Horror Writers Association and the New England Horror Writers.
This book surprised me, if you are looking for a book that explores humanity, fear, survival, and sacrifice then this is the one for you. Until next time… Happy Reading!
