2023 Number 1.5 - The Dunnie - Keith Thomas

 

This is number 1.5 not 1 because I found myself with a few hours to kill, book 1 was at home but I had this novella lined up on NetGalley so I could read it on my phone.

Asher is a 12 year old boy going to stay at his senile grandfather's (known to him and his mother as Pa) house till his mother finds a suitable care facility to move Pa to.

In one of Pa's more lucid moments he tells Asher about the thing living in the vents in the walls. It's the Dunnie, and Asher can see it too, Asher also witnesses his Pa dragging a sheep into the house in the middle of the night.to feed it. he's been forgetful lately and its getting hungry. Who knows what or who it's going to eat next...

The ideas in this book are a lot more effective than the the writing. There's a really scary book to be made out of the ideas in this, but this book isn't it.

It's a clever twist on an old Cronenburg movie plot that should have worked much better than it did, 

The main reason for that is the workmanlike prose.  there's no atmosphere built at any stage. Asher doesn't ring quite true as a 12 year old,  Pa's Alzheimer's seems to switch on and off as is convenient for the story and the big finale doesn't feel as dramatic or tense as it should be.

The book starts with three full chapters set more than a decade before the events of the main narrative to give some explanation for later events.  The resulting shift forwards in time, and the switch of central character felt like an awkward leap after three chapters.  Maybe it would have felt less awkward as one long prologue (which is what it actually is), or even inserted as flashback chapters later on... As chapters 1,2 and 3, it felt wrong.

Having said all that, I'm probably overanalysing it. since my actual book 1 is very heavily stylised and in depth, while this is a quick easy read.  I was never bored while I was reading it so it did its job in entertaining me while I was reading it and I can't fault that. At only 120 pages it certainly doesn't outstay its welcome.

If you're looking for a quick and easy read, there's no reason not to go for this. It has some genuinely good scary ideas floating around even if they're not given the oomph they should have. Maybe it should be marketed more as a YA book, then people are more likely to overlook the flaws (I know I would be).