The Watchers by A.M. Shine

The Watchers by A. M. Shine is a tale of horror and forgotten monsters that when not paid attention to, will rise again.

Summary –

“…A sudden cacophony of shrieks poisoned the air-the same fearful strain from the night before. It was so loud and the voices so many that Mina fell back onto the floor, clutching the bird’s cage as though the yellow one could somehow protect her. The screams came from just outside, from the darkness where only moments ago she had run toward the light. She looked to the many locks – some bolted, others mere chains – that stood between them and whatever had overrun the woodland.
‘You’re lucky to be alive,’ the woman said, reaching out her hand. ‘Quickly now, come with me. The light is already on…”

The job seemed simple enough. One of those favors you do for a friend only there’s a little money involved for your trouble. There’s a rare bird collector in Connemara and all Mina had to do was drive the bird on over. A couple hours of her time. Easy money. Just take one of those country roads, they told her and you’ll be there in no time.

Only Mina takes the wrong old country road and seen she finds her self engulfed in a dark forest that seems to not have changed since the dawn of time. When her car begins to cough and sputter she curses her luck. Her phone is also useless. She has no other option but to begin to walk until she finds someone and somewhere to make a call. But the night is coming on and in this old forest, the light of day recedes quickly.

“…Above the fireplace, someone had written on the wall. They had used some scorched timber to scratch out their lesson, pared to a needle’s point and bathed in hot, hypnotic flame. The letters were sharp and tortured, and reiterated so many times that they scored deep into the plaster. If written words could shout, these were screaming at anyone who would listen.

Stay in the light…”

As she reaches a clearing she sees and old house and a woman beckoning to her. But the woman is doing more than calling Mina. She’s screaming for Mina to run, to run fast. Mina isn’t sure why but she races to the woman and the house and behind her she feels something coming. Something primeval, something that her mind doesn’t know, but her subconscious has never forgotten. And then there is something else screaming, something that doesn’t want Mina to make to the house. To make it to the light.

“…Your husband left four days ago,’ Madeline said, her tall frame towering over Ciara. ‘He did not come back to save you. He couldn’t even save himself. They brought him back, and they want us to hear his suffering.’
‘But,’ Ciara replied, whispering now, ‘why would they do that?’
‘Because he tried to escape,’ she replied. ‘I am tired of wasting my breath on you. No one escapes this place. How many times do I have to tell you this? John was dead the moment he walked out that door thinking that they wouldn’t find him. They always find you…”

Inside, Mina finds three other people. The older woman Madeline, the younger woman Ciara and a young man named Daniel. The story the three tell Mina is extraordinary. Creatures forgotten by modern man that surface in the night and cannot approach the light. The forest that traps travelers and the punishment for trying to escape. The creatures are the Watchers, but who they are and what they do is lost to forgotten lore. But they’re real and now Mina is trapped. Forever.

Review –

I once read someone say that horror, when done badly, becomes comedy. Only in The Watchers, there is no punch line.

The setting of an old forest where cars break down suddenly and there is no phone service has popped up in at least three prior books already. The forest housing creatures; ancient fairies of folklore who are now more like shape shifting aliens (from the movie Aliens) is also done to death. The fairies banished and buried underground but can now surface at night to terrorize any passerby just doesn’t hold for very long.

Plus the way the group comes across this information and the eventual means to escape the Watchers is something out of an episode of Lost. Only just not as believable.

Sorry but this one was B movie horror at best. But just not as fun.

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill is a terrific whodunnit that very well be one of the most original novels I have picked up in some time.

Summary –

Four strangers share a table in the reading room at the Boston Public Library when the peaceful calm is shattered by a woman’s scream. The four, Winifred, Marigold, Whit and Cain now find themselves thrust into a mystery. Who screamed and why? Security on first inspection could find no reason for the scream or anyone who actually witnessed it. Until the next day, when…

“…I look up. A reporter talking to camera. ‘…the body of a young woman was discovered by cleaning staff in the Boston Public Library.’
I close the laptop and turn up the volume, leaning forward towards the television. A body, My God, the scream! The reporter tells me nothing more of any use. I switch to another station, but the report is much the same. The body is not identified beyond being that of a young woman.
My phone rings. It’s Marigold. ‘The news! Did you see the news?’
‘Yes.’
‘That scream.’ Marigold sounds more excited than frightened. ‘That must have been her.’
‘I wonder why they didn’t find her then?’
‘Maybe whoever killed her hid the body?’
I smile. ‘They didn’t say anything about murder…”

Now the four new friends are eager to solve the mystery of the dead woman in the library but in reality, they themselves are only part of a story being written.

“…Dear Hannah,
I sense my Marigold is in danger. Killing her would certainly enhance the sense of tragedy and tension, but it does run the risk of feeding into the cliché that the quirky best friend is there to be killed off. If you are going to take her (and I will mourn that), make sure you don’t waste the opportunity to tear the reader apart with the horror of it. Marigold should not go quietly…”

Hannah Tigone is a successful writer embarking on a new novel. Her premise is a murder in the Boston Public Library. Four strangers huddled around a table quietly studying when a woman screams and then these four strangers are strangers no more. Hannah is corresponding with a fan and frustrated writer, Leo, who becomes her beta reader. Chapter by chapter, Hannah sends Leo the proof of the novel and he in turn, responds with his critique.

Only chapter by chapter, Leo’s critique becomes more personal and he begins to behave as if the manuscript is actually his. As the messages are sent back and forth, Leo becomes darker and more sinister with each passing chapter.

“…What exactly did the FBI tell you, Whit?’
Whit falls into the couch beside me. ‘Cain was convicted of murder in the first degree. He served nearly eight years. Got out about seven years ago, changed his name and wrote a novel.’
‘And you didn’t think this was something Freddie and I needed to know?’ Marigold has recovered enough from the shock of the news to shout at Whit.
I interrupted. ‘If he got out seven years ago, and he served nearly eight, he must have been very young when this happened.’
‘Unless he lied to us about his age, along with everything else.’ Marigold folds her arms.
‘We don’t know that he’s ever lied to us,’ I protest.
‘He didn’t tell us anything about prison!’
‘That’s not the same thing as lying. None of us has told each other everything.’
Marigold studies me. ‘It’s a big thing to leave out, Freddie.’
‘It’s also a big thing to confide…”

The four friends begin to unravel the mystery of the woman in the library and when one of them is attacked, they begin to realize that one of them may actually be the murderer.

Review –

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill is as near perfect a novel as you will ever come across. A tantalizing Russian nesting doll of a tale. The inner story, of the four friends and the Woman in the Library is a tense mystery where the four trust and mistrust one another as they realize how very little they truly know of one another. The outer tale, of Hannah and Leo, is a slow burn of terror and madness that strips away the veneer of normalcy and allows the reader to peer into the paranoia and fear that recent events have wrought.

What is most impressive is that Gentill writes both stories so well. Though the story of Hannah and Leo is more of a short story than a full novel, given the space it is given, it is still very much a well crafted and detailed narrative. The reader is engrossed in both tales and neither one seems to encroach on the other. Like Siamese twins joined at the hip, one does not live without the other.

The mystery of the woman in the library does not suffer from being a story within a story. The reader will care greatly about the characters and the emotional investment needed in such a murder mystery is powerful. You will want the best for Freddie. You will want Cain to be innocent. You will want Whit to act like a grown up and you will want Marigold to learn some boundaries. All the while knowing that they are characters in some one else’s book.

The Woman in the Library is a damn good read.