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Book Review: Haven by Tom Deady

Haven by Tom Deady
Greymore Publications, 2017
ISBN-13: 978-0990632726
Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

 

With the release of Haven, it is clear that Tom Deady is ready to make his mark in the horror world.  While “coming home” and “coming-of-age” stories have been done masterfully before in books like Dan Simmons’ Summer of Night, Robert McCammon’s Boy’s Life, and the monumental IT, Haven is a fresh take on the trope. With characters who stand out and plot twists that push comparisons to the side, the pages fly by.  Deady weaves a story of mystery and horror that will leave readers not just frightened, but feeling a powerful emotional impact.

Paul Greymore has been locked away in prison for 17 years, serving a sentence for being a child murderer, despite evidence to the contrary. Disfigured in childhood, and already an outcast when the murders occurred, he was blamed for the deaths as he emerged from a lake with a wounded girl. With his imprisonment, the killings stopped. The town of Haven has not been a “safe haven” for him.

Paul’s main ally, the local priest, believes it best for Paul to return home and start anew, yet the killings begin again just as he arrives. Sheriff Crawford, the cop who put Paul away despite the evidence, is still hellbent on putting him back behind bars. Along with his friend Billy and young Denny, the damaged crew set out to solve the mystery of who, or what, is actually killing the children. More than any monstrous outside force, though, Haven explores the the darkness within the human characters, and how that line of good and evil burns pieces of our souls off with each struggle.

Deady’s writing is strong here, sidestepping many of the first novel pitfalls, a big accomplishment for a story that tops five hundred pages. The characterization, especially of Paul, shines. Haven is definitely one of the best debuts of the year. Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Dave Simms


Posted on April 29, 2017 by , 1 comment

Book Review: The Binding by Nicholas Wolff

The Binding by Nicholas Wolff

Gallery Books, June 2016

ISBN-13: 978-1501102714

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

 

A dark and foreboding atmosphere is established on the very first page of Nicholas Wolff’s The Binding, and the story, which for a short time, seems like it will be relatively straightforward, quickly makes a turn into even darker and more disturbing territory.

Northam, Massachusetts has serious problems. The recent, bizarre, and gory murder of college student Margaret Post is in the news, an unsolved crime that unsettles and disturbs John Bailey, the policeman who arrived at the scene. Dr. Nat Turner is the psychiatrist on night shift at the community clinic when the distressed and haunted-looking father of teenage Becca Prescott arrives, and asks for help for his daughter: she no longer recognizes him, and insists that she is dead. Divorce lawyer Chuck Godwin is certain he is being stalked by an apparition. First grader Charlie Bailey, examining the family photos hanging in the hallway, senses that the stories he’s been told about them are incomplete, and that something there is seriously wrong. Suicides are up, and bodies are missing. Is it all chance, or is something more going on?

There’s a common trope running underneath the plot of The Binding, but the action takes some surprising directions before that trope  is revealed. Unfortunately, much of the reveal takes place during an awkward interruption of the story with a long, detailed, but not very helpful chunk of exposition from someone who is not a direct witness to the events described. This breaks the pacing and suspense just as we’re building to the climax of the story. The conclusion to the story is another awkward piece of exposition by a person not acquainted with the events of the story, undermining the sense of foreboding established at the beginning of the book and leaving the reader feeling as if the story is incomplete. Some relationships also seem unbelievable, particularly the one between Nat and Becca. Despite the extended expository sequences and improbable relationships, however, The Binding is still an atmospheric, compelling, tangle of a story that will stick with you after you are done. Recommended.

Contains: cannibalism, torture, mutilation, gruesome scenes, suicide, murder, implied necrophilia, corpse stealing

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on June 12, 2016 by , Reply
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