An inventive, multi-layered horror novel structured around a cryptic document.
In Blackhurst’s debut horror novel, a lawyer attempts to understand a mass death event and avoid becoming one of its victims.
In 2017, two hunters in Kentucky came across a dead town; ‘dead’ in the sense that all of the residents—hundreds of them— seem to have been killed in a freak landslide. The event came to be known as the Carrington Tragedy, even though no one is sure that the town had been called Carrington (in fact, before the hunters stumbled across it, the outside world was entirely unaware of the town’s existence). The sole record of the town, and of what happened to it, is a series of 33 canvases, found buried in the rubble, on which a man called Richard Maltessouri had scribbled a difficult-to-decipher diary. The first entry begins, ominously, “I wish the marionettes would stop trying to break through the windows. Incredible. I’m not entirely convinced I’m still alive.” Though it’s unclear whether Richard was sane—or even real—his account implies Carrington suffered something closer to a massacre than a natural disaster, even if the claims in the barely legible diary (written in a hard-to-read paint called “tint”) are difficult to parse. Along with a colleague, lawyer Joseph Blackhurst travels to the Carrington site in an attempt to decrypt the demented diary, hoping that his efforts at transcription do not end, as previous attempts have, in catastrophe. The book is a metafictional puzzle, with two texts unraveling side-by-side: that of Richard Maltessouri and that of the fictional Blackhurst. The real-life Blackhurst writes them both with the kind of neurotic restraint that hints at larger, unspoken forces. “I should come clean,” confesses the character Blackhurst early on. “In a footnote, I wrote that no part of the Canvases would be edited or omitted during transcription to preserve a complete record of the evidence. However, certain inconsequential edits will be made at the decision of the Committee.” It’s a fun puzzle of a book, reminiscent at times of Mark Z. Danielewski’s work, creeping slowly from confusion to delightful terror.
An inventive, multi-layered horror novel structured around a cryptic document.Pub Date: Dec. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9798988484318
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Fast-moving fun and a highly creative plot.
Bloody murder spoils folks’ fun while megafauna return from extinction.
What a glorious way to spend a honeymoon: Mark and Olivia Gunnerson go backpacking through the vast Erebus Resort in the mountains of Colorado, where scientists have “de-extincted” species like the woolly mammoth and other Pleistocene megafauna. Just watch the peaceful beasts at their watering holes. Behold the giant armadillos, and the indricothere that make mammoths look like dwarfs. The scientists have removed genes for aggression in these re-creations, so humans will be safe unless they’re accidentally stepped on. And yet, someone doesn’t want the newlyweds camping there, made evident by their disappearance without a trace, save only a copious amount of blood outside their tent. Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent in Charge Frankie Cash takes the case. What happened to Mark and Olivia, and why? The park has no predators, so humans must be responsible. But where are the bodies? A doctor suggests that due to the amount of blood found, the victims may have—gasp!—been decapitated. The matter gathers national attention, and things only get worse as more people die. The late groom’s aggrieved billionaire father demands immediate answers, and of course he interferes with the investigation: “You’ll see me now, you son of a bitch, and tell me what the fuck you’re doing to find my son!” And speaking of F-bombs, surely it is possible to write a thriller with fewer—maybe use one or two to establish a character and then move on to more creative language? Anyway, the investigators are doing a lot. The action seldom lets up, and readers will feel the mounting tension and excitement. The setting itself is a scientific wonder, and it must tie into the murders somehow. Meanwhile, Hollywood is filming an action movie in the park, and the pièce de résistance will be the spectacular explosion of a train. But wouldn’t you know, Preston has other plans. Imagine Jurassic Park with the timeline brought forward to the Pleistocene, and you have the Erebus Resort. Science, imagination, storytelling, and action are all here.
Fast-moving fun and a highly creative plot.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780765317704
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Forge
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
Squeamish readers will find this isn’t their cup of tea.
Dexter meets Killing Eve in Wallace’s dark comic thriller debut.
While accepting condolences following her father’s funeral, 30-something narrator Claire receives an email saying that one of her paintings is a finalist for a prize. But her joy is short-circuited the next morning when she learns in a second apologetic note that the initial email had been sent to the wrong Claire. The sender, Lucas Kane, is “terribly, terribly sorry” for his mistake. Claire, torn between her anger and suicidal thoughts, has doubts about his sincerity and stalks him to a London pub, where his fate is sealed: “I stare at Lucas Kane in real life, and within moments I know. He doesn’t look sorry.” She dispatches and buries Lucas in her back garden, but this crime does not go unnoticed. Proud of her meticulous standards as a serial killer, Claire wonders if her grief for her father is making her reckless as she seeks to identify the blackmailer among the members of her weekly bereavement support group. The female serial killer as antihero is a growing subgenre (see Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister, the Serial Killer, 2018), and Wallace’s sociopathic protagonist is a mordantly amusing addition; the tool she uses to interact with ordinary people while hiding her homicidal nature is especially sardonic: “Whenever I’m unsure of how I’m expected to respond, I use a cliché. Even if I’m not sure what it means, even if I use it incorrectly, no one ever seems to mind.” The well-written storyline tackles some tough subjects—dementia, elder abuse, and parental cruelty—but the convoluted plot starts to drag at the halfway point. Given the lack of empathy in Claire’s narration, most of the characters come across as not very likable, and the reader tires of her sneering contempt.
Squeamish readers will find this isn’t their cup of tea.Pub Date: April 16, 2024
ISBN: 9780143136170
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Penguin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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