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Book Review: The Fervor by Alma Katsu

Cover art for The Fervor by Alma Katsu

The Fervor by Alma Katsu

G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593328330

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

( Amazon.com | Bookshop.org )

 

 

The Fervor takes place during World War 2 and alternates between five points of view. Meiko Briggs is a Japanese immigrant married to a white man, Jamie Briggs, a pilot in the army. She and their daughter Meiko are living in the Japanese internment camp Camp Minidoka, where residents are becoming infected with an illness that makes them violent and murderous. Archie Mitchell is a pastor who saw his pregnant wife and several children killed in an explosion thought to have been a Japanese bomb, who was friends with Jamie and has now gotten entangled with local white nationalists. Fran Gurstwold is a Jewish woman reporter who witnessed a similar explosion and decides to investigate locations where she suspects other explosions have happened. These alternate with journal entries from 1927 by Mieko’s father, Japanese scientist Wasaburo Oishi, who discovered poisonous spiders related to the yokai jorogumo, that cause the illness now spreading through the camps and nearby towns. The story follows Mieko, Aiko, Archie, and Fran as their stories intersect and begin to make sense in the context of Oisho’s writings, while dealing with a coverup by the government.

 

Katsu notes that this book differs from her previous ones because rather than portraying a specific historical event she was using a wider lens to explore the bigotry and violence against Asian-Americans in the past as a way to deal with it in the present, so while period details are correct , events and places may have been moved around for plot purposes.

 

This was a fascinating book, and better than The Deep. I am a fan of yokai whenever I see them, and I enjoyed the way Katsu incorporated this into the book. The portrayal of Archie as a person who is drawn into a white nationalist group due to weak character rather than malice, was accurate and well-written. Unfortunately, there continue to be too many people like him today.

 

Contains: racial slurs and violence

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

Posted on January 26, 2023 by , Reply

Graphic Novel Review: Tales from Harrow County Volume 1: Death’s Choir by Cullen Bunn, art by Naomi Franquiz

Tales from Harrow County, Volume 1: Death’s Choir by Cullen Bunn, art by Naomi Franquiz

Dark Horse, 2020

ISBN-13: 97815067168

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, comiXology ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

Award-winning, Eisner-nominated Southern Gothic horror returns in Tales from Harrow County, Volume 1: Death’s Choir. The story focuses on Bernice Anderson as she has taken on the mantle of steward of the small community ten years after her best friend Emmy Crawford left Harrow County. World War II has taken young men from the community, leaving tragedy in its wake. Harrow County is left in a state of mourning when the news of the deaths of their family members arrive. A mourning woman, Mrs. Dearborn, has called upon the spirits, but in summoning the supernatural choir that beckons the spirits of those the war has taken, has also summoned a deadly banshee as well. Bernice and her partner Georgia must find a way to save Harrow County from certain doom. The town does face more than supernatural foes. With not only Bernice’s protective witchcraft, but also the same-sex relationship between Bernice and Georgia, the Reverend unleashes some passive-aggressive nonsense.

 

 

For readers familiar with Harrow County, there will be familiar haints and creatures. As a fan of Priscilla the goblin, I was overjoyed that there was more of her, but I was ill-prepared for the cliffhanger ending.

 

 

Artist Naomi Franquiz takes over from Tyler Crooks. While her style is similar to Crooks’, she seems to have a more vibrant color palette, but this does not detract from the story. Her lush landscapes and well-developed character designs and art lend Cullen’s story a familiar atmosphere.

 

 

Volume 1 collects Tales from Harrow County: Death’s Choir #1-#4. Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on October 22, 2022 by , Reply

Book Review: How Quickly She Disappears by Raymond Fleishmann

How Quickly She Disappears by Raymond Fleishmann

Berkeley, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-1984805171

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook

 

This novel has been billed as the cross between The Dry and Silence of the Lambs.  That’s a boast if I ever read  one. Is it accurate? Read on to find out. If nothing else, it’s a fine thriller that has a great comparison line.

Set in 1941 in the wilds of Alaska, the story begins with Elisabeth Pfautz living in a small town with her husband who works as a teacher, and her daughter. Everything seems normal– boring, even– but they’re content with life.

The postal plane arrives on a regular schedule, their only connection the outside world. One day, a different pilot and carrier, Alfred Seibel, lands and asks a small favor: to be put up in the family home as the agreement states as part of an old town rule. Alfred departs the plane and inserts himself into Elizabeth’s life. With Alfred being German, the situation could get ugly, easily, for both sides.

Once he’s settled into the house, Elizabeth is plagued by dreams of her twin sister, Jacqueline, who disappeared twenty years prior, never to be found.

Alfred quickly inserts himself into her family, and the town. Yet one day, he murders a local, a close friend of Elizabeth’s. Once in prison, Alfred tells her he has information about Jacqueline and how he might be able to solve the mystery that has plagued Elizabeth for most of her life. With a poor marriage and no life in the desolate land, she accepts his request to visit him in prison.

He offers her this: for each gift she gives him, he’ll take her one step closer to her sister.

She accepts, and finds that although Alfred begins innocently enough, he quickly steps up his game. As Elizabeth discovers the cost of each gift she gives, he has her hooked with the puzzle he hands her.

Alfred turns out to be a quality villain who is much more than he seems to be, full of flaws that Lecter never revealed. Elizabeth is no Clarice. but she’s not meant to be. Her surroundings, family, and town, all serve as antagonists in her quest to find her sister, or at least the final piece of the puzzle. This literary fiction novel masquerading as a thriller/horror hybrid lulls the reader into a stark place that ultimately delivers in all three genres.

A challenging, yet highly rewarding, read for this new year.

 

Reviewed by David Simms

 

Posted on December 31, 2019 by , Reply
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