Melissa (aka Mouse) is sent by her elderly father to clear out her recently deceased grandmother's house. In addition to being an all round not nice person, her gran was also an extreme hoarder, so it could be a long job.
In her grandad's old room, she finds a journal which seems like gibberish. Unfortunately, after she takes the dog a=on an eventful walk, where she finds geographical features that shouldn't exist, his writings begin to make a lot more sense.
I was hoping for something dark, twisted and scary. instead this is actually more of a comedy. The cover mis-sells this book entirely.
Mouse is a very funny narrator. Her descriptions of living with her coon-hound almost make me (a devoted cat-person) want a dog.
Looking at it as a light-hearted horror with a comic edge, this really works very well. Once I adjusted my expectations I found a lot to like in this book.
The ramblings in the Granddad's journals are actually taken from a 1904 Arthur Machen story- The White people. I'd never heard of it until the writer's afterword, but prior knowledge of the story will probably not affect enjoyment overmuch.
Despite never being particularly scary because of the light tone of the narration, Kingfisher still generates some decent tension in places. As a reader I liked her and the dog, and didn't want to see them come to any harm. I particularly liked the fact that, when things took an unambiguous turn for the nasty, Mouse's first instinct was to get the hell out of there. She's certainly one of the most believable central characters in a horror novel in that regard.
The supporting cast are nicely drawn and good comic support. The monsters when they appear are imaginatively nasty.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and will definitely be buying more of her work in the near future.
No comments:
Post a Comment