Number 7- The Rise- Alan Baxter

 

This is my second Baxter review in a couple of weeks, but this one has slightly more point to it since there are more than 24 copies in the wild.  This is due for a mainstream release on Friday 13th of this month. 

There are several scary towns out there in fiction, places where the top horror writers will set their tales. King has Derry and Castle Rock. Charlie Grant had Oxrun Station, Josh Malerman has Goblin. And Alan Baxter has Gulpepper, aka the Gulp as it has a habit of swallowing people.

This is the third set of novellas set in the town and there's no noticeable dip in quality yet. The previous volumes are The Gulp and The Fall. After the Fall, we can only have the Rise.

Now that a real continuity seems to be building, this one isn't quite as self contained as the other two volumes, but not so much that a brand new reader would struggle. (Although they would have a lot of spoilers for the previous books).

Strange Leaves- the first story- this follows a pair of dope dealers who've just accidentally killed their supplier and the repercussions. The title takes on multiple meanings in the course of the story which is always good. A solid start to the collection.

Sunlight on Clear Water- this is my favourite story in the collection and introduces possibly the most nightmarish creature so far in the Gulp mythos. When a young man, new to the Gulp, goes for a bit of free swimming with his beautiful new girlfriend, he finds himself in the middle of a web of deceit. It transpires that her family have been in the Gulp a very long time and are far from the normal people he thinks.

This is easily the scariest entry of the book.

Vitulinum- This is another solid entry.  A teenage boy from an abusive family finds himself faced with an impossible choice at the hands of a longstanding villainous presence around the Gulp.

The Gulpepper Institute for Health and Wellbeing- This is my next favourite entry.  When global megastar Eevie takes a break at the new Institute in the town to relieve her stresses, she finds the brochure might have missed a few details. This is Gulpepper after all. Her stresses are about to do the complete opposite of fade. The tension that builds in this one is great. The masterful slow reveal of what's going on leads to a violent conclusion. 

The Rise- this is what all the linking factors in the last 4 have been building to. Things are about to hit cosmic proportions and Baxter handles this as well as he did the more personal pains in the other stories.

This is easily on a par with the previous two volumes and demonstrates yet again why Baxter is a name to watch on the scene.

He has a very easy style which is capable of portraying deeply intimate horrors or horror on a cosmic scale.  Poor Gulpepper- that place just can't seem to catch a break.