The Feast of All Souls.

The Feast of All Souls is the new novel from Simon Bestwick and is published by Solaris Books. The titular feast is, of course, Hallowe’en so it makes absolute sense to release the book in December. Actually, it does given the central theme of the novel is the non-uniformity of space-time. Oh yes, there’s a great deal of quantum mechanics and physics to be getting on with here. Luckily, there are also malevolent ghost children, ogres and mysterious red-cloaked figures…

The story begins with the return of Alice to her home town, attempting to pull her life back together after the death of her daughter and the break-up of her marriage. Her new home, 378 Collarmill Road, has a history though with a former resident Arodias Thorne, a Victorian mill owner a prominent part of it. When ghostly apparitions begin to appear – most notably the malevolent children seemingly hell-bent on attacking Alice – that history begins to reveal itself.

This process is enabled by a switch in the narrative between the events of the present day and the “confession” of Mary Carson, employee – and ultimately lover of – Arodias Thorne. It’s all nicely atmospheric stuff which I enjoyed, but all the while I was concerned that the book would turn out to be a variation of James Herbert’s The Secret of Crickley Hall – not that that would be too bad a thing but certainly not what I would have expected from Simon.

Those fears, of course, proved to be foundless as the novel incorporates this well-worn trope into a much bigger narrative, one which turns out to be an extremely potent blend of science fiction, horror and thriller.

378 Collarmill Road is a special place, a portal to other realities and dimensions and it’s the journey through these shifting realities which forms the intricate and twisting plot of the Feast of All Souls. There is, it has to be said, a lot going on in this book, a mixture of themes and genres and in the hands of a lesser writer it could have turned out to be a car crash. This isn’t the case here though, Simon keeps full control over all the themes and ideas, merging them perfectly into a gripping – and horrific – whole.

Towards the conclusion of the book, there’s a break from the action to present Alice’s back-story and I have to say this was my favourite part of the book. The writing here is incredible, presenting a tragic and horrifying scenario in a deeply moving way. It’s placement in the narrative is perfect, a moment of quiet and contemplation before the conclusion.

The plot requires a fair bit of exposition from the characters but this is handled about as well as it can be, never an easy task but the theories expounded are certainly interesting ones, creating  logical – if highly imaginative – explanation for the supernatural goings-on.

I really enjoyed The Feast of All Souls, loved the imagination on display. Scary, thrilling but in places also incredibly moving. 

Silent Voices.

Silent Voices is the second book in the Concrete Grove Trilogy by Gary McMahon and is published by Solaris Books. Being the second part of a trilogy usually means a trip to the dark side where all the bad stuff happens, awaiting resolution in part three. (Or is that just Star Wars? Mind you, the really bad stuff didn't happen in that particular saga till long after the third instalment and George Lucas got his hands on some nifty new computers...) This is a Gary McMahon book though, so you're pretty much guaranteed very dark, very bad things happening irrespective of whether it's book one, two or three.
The story revolves around the characters of Simon, Marty and Brendan, adults now but who, as children, went missing for a weekend in the Needle, the derelict tower block at the heart of the Concrete Grove estate, emerging from it traumatised, abused and changed forever. Now, some twenty years later, they are plagued by dreams and memories of their experience and are drawn back to the Needle to face up to the evil they encountered there.
Yes, there will be the obvious comparisons to Stephen King's IT, but this novel bears those comparisons with ease. IT is possibly my favourite King novel but I can honestly say I enjoyed Silent Voices equally as much. Pennywise was great but Silent Voices has Captain Clickety - a brilliantly scary creation, the creature that haunts the three men's childhood, and present day thoughts. It's a great name for a monster, somehow mixing childhood innocence with an ominous feeling of dread. (Comparisons are probably appropriate too to Gary's earlier novella The Harm which explored the theme of childhood abuse resonating into adulthood).
The characters of the three men are brilliantly drawn and entirely believable. It's Simon (the only one to have escaped the clutches of the Grove) who drives the "reunion" but it's obvious he's simply the catalyst, fate has caught up with all three of them. All are plagued by visions and dreams (yes, the hummingbirds are back!) which makes for some pretty gruesome body-horror scenes, particularly in the case of Marty. (Think Cronenberg's Videodrome and you'll have some idea of what's in store...) It's bleak and unrelenting and, like the first book of the series, mixes ancient evil with modern day fears - and there's no one better at that than Gary McMahon.
There are big themes at play here, the Concrete Grove really is a doorway to Creation we're told (on page 20 so no spoiler!) something hinted at in the first novel and a theme which is expanded on in the book's final showdown. It may be a small book physically but it's an epic novel.
This is a great book. My dad is a twin and I live twenty minutes away from Morpeth but that didn't spoil my enjoyment of what is further evidence that Gary McMahon is a major force in the field of horror literature. (I'm aware that much of that sentence will mean nothing to you if you haven't read the book but hey...)
Silent Voices is a cracking horror story. It's also about good and evil, guilt and redemption. Most of all it's about friendship and what that really means.
Roll on book three.

The Faceless.

The Faceless is the new novel from Simon Bestwick, published by Solaris Books and is proof that Simon is one of the best writers of horror fiction currently plying their trade. In fact scrap that, it's proof that Simon is one of the best writers  - of any genre - currently plying their trade. This is a great book, one that I thoroughly enjoyed (if that's the right word) reading. It has everything, a great - and, it has to be said, fairly intricate - plot, wonderfully drawn characters - not all of whom are sympathetic, or even likeable, and dialogue that seems natural and uncontrived even when the inevitable spectre of exposition rears its ugly head. Simon is a classy writer with wonderful style, something I first appreciated when I read his collection Pictures of the Dark, where the intense nature of many of the stories was leavened by beautiful, almost poetic prose. It's no mean achievement to maintain stylish writing over the course of a novel but he does, The Faceless is a perfect combination of style and substance.

The plot is multi-layered and told from the viewpoints of a variety of characters, including a psychic only slightly more sympathetic than Gary McMahon's Trevor Pumpkiss. When mist settles on the Lancashire town of Kempforth, people start disappearing whilst at the same time there are sightings of the local bogey-men known as the Spindly Men. The police investigation into the disappearances creates the main narrative thrust of the story but gradually the supernatural elements are added to the mix, culminating in a climax in an abandoned sanitarium.

The book is beautifully written, yes. It has a great plot, yes. Most importantly though, it's scary as hell. Some of the images created in this book will stay with you long after you've finished reading it. The Spindly Men are brilliant creations, drifting through mist-shrouded streets and deserted hospital corridors... The book's title refers to these creatures (who wear masks to disguise their lack of features) but it also sums up the main underlying source of unease and horror generated by the novel. The abandoned hospital - Ash Fell - was used to treat the wounded of World War One, in particular those with facial disfigurement. The fear we feel at seeing someone with such disfigurements - either as a result of injury or disease - is real but is not based on anything so crass as "they look a bit scary". It goes deeper than that, our face is how we communicate with one another, anything that affects that ability causes us unease, we can't interact fully with someone if we can't read their expressions. This is why clowns (or evil bastards as I call them) are so troubling. They could be wearing the hugest of grins, painted all over their faces, whilst at the same time plotting to kill and eat you.

Anyway, I digress... Anyone who's read Simon's story The Slashed Menagerie will find echoes of it in some of what actually went on at Ash Fell. Suffice to say, it's the sanitarium that is at the heart of the story, the source of all the strangeness affecting the town of Kempforth.

Scattered throughout the text are testaments from soldiers wounded in the Great War, later to become residents at Ash Fell. I thought these interludes were brilliant, written in a disjointed, rambling way to reflect the pain, confusion and bitterness of the men involved, adding to the story and providing some sort of rationale for the events that unfold. (My one criticism of the book is that this device is used in the book's coda in a way that took away some of the impact of the earlier entries). The theme of sacrifice runs throughout the book - most profoundly in the testaments of the soldiers who question whether the sacrifice they made was worth anything - and it's fitting that the end of the book is a contemplation of that same theme.

I loved this book, and I thoroughly recommend it - go and buy it now! There's a resurgence in horror at the moment which is to be relished and Simon Bestwick is at the forefront of that. To digress slightly (again!) I wonder if a lot of my appreciation of this book comes from the fact that many years ago I wrote a novel (this in the days when everything was saved on a floppy disk!) about evil deeds performed just after World War One and involving an abandoned sanitarium. Strange but true... I still have the rejection slips but now I know why I got them - The Faceless is a much, much better book than the one I wrote. Damn you Bestwick...