If you think evil had been put to rest with Halocline, john g rees’ 2nd book of his ‘anoxic zone’ series, think again. Evil does not sleep, nor take a break as men do. It waits, but it is not still. Patient, but never at peace. It waits until men take their break on vigilance. Then the tendrils of greed, lust, power and jealousy insinuate themselves within the fecund soil of the unguarded mind. That is just the beginning. Evil does not want to be forever on the inside, just behind the eyes. No, it wants to live among men, feed on their fear. It wants out! Sechra was just a child when she witnessed man’s cruelty in the extreme. Her young mind became black with hatred for what had been done to her family and people. Now this is what you call fertile soil. In a moment of childhood ignorance, she embraced the seed of evil in an effort to fill the void of all she had lost. It sprouted. Grew. A dark hand guided her, unseen behind Sechra’s sparkling eyes. Years of practice and natural ability rendered the girl a master stonecutter. No one noticed the sinister nature within her sculpture, least of all Sechra, until it was too late. Then all hell breaks loose. ‘Out of Stone’, john g rees’ 4th horror novel, once again grabs hold of the reader by the neck and brings them to places they’ve never been. And never want to be. That’s the fun of it! Out of Stone, takes two characters from his earlier award winning anoxic zone series and gives them headline roles. They fulfill them rather tremendously; bringing us into worlds we did not know existed, showing us horrors from theirs and other lives that immediately become our own. We follow Sechra, who was a peculiar little girl as Halocline ended and just a child when she witnessed man’s cruelty in the extreme. Her young mind became black with hatred for what had been done to her family and people. Her Aunt Karuna was there more often for the girl, as her daughter Riana & Vlad, her husband, the Voivode, were more involved in the workings of their people and land in Romania. Karuna most definitely thought Sechra was a unique child. Her determination and strength of mind were amazing. She had been through a lot in her young life, things that would have turned others mad. Instead, she turned it out to art. Sechra had turned into quite the sculptor in her teens, continuing on to amaze and confound her family, acquaintances, and then the art world, none of which had never seen such hideous visions, let alone imagine them. Karuna Danesti felt the evil in Sechra’s work and knew it had to be out in the world as well. That was what Sechra’s work was saying. No one noticed the sinister nature within her sculpture, least of all Sechra, until it was too late. Then all hell breaks loose!