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tylertylertyler's review
3.0
I received an advanced ecopy of this book for free from NetGalley, for the sake of reviewing.
This book is a rather excellent exploration of dark pasts and emotional writing. The plot has a few little turns to await you, and while they never reached a level of jarring surprise I'd want to warrant five stars I think it deserves a solid three because of the intricate tale of darkness and loneliness that it weaves. It was enough to pull me in and want to know more, to piece together the little pieces that were just beginning to surface, and the ending left me fairly satisfied all in all.
The writing had a few rough edges, but was all in all enjoyable and easily accessible. The prose was neat and clean and managed to convey an edge of darkness and dread that just edged into the narrative enough for you to know something was coming without it necessarily being obvious. Gifune managed to tell a story of forgotten pasts creeping toward the surface not just with the plot but with the writing as well, and he did a decent job of it.
Mainly, I might have asked for just a few more questions answered, but sometimes it's nice to just be left wondering.
Plus, for added fun, there are some Easter Eggs to find. How many Twin Peaks references can you spot? The occasional throwback most certainly made me smile and added just that extra bit of enjoyment to the read.
This book is a rather excellent exploration of dark pasts and emotional writing. The plot has a few little turns to await you, and while they never reached a level of jarring surprise I'd want to warrant five stars I think it deserves a solid three because of the intricate tale of darkness and loneliness that it weaves. It was enough to pull me in and want to know more, to piece together the little pieces that were just beginning to surface, and the ending left me fairly satisfied all in all.
The writing had a few rough edges, but was all in all enjoyable and easily accessible. The prose was neat and clean and managed to convey an edge of darkness and dread that just edged into the narrative enough for you to know something was coming without it necessarily being obvious. Gifune managed to tell a story of forgotten pasts creeping toward the surface not just with the plot but with the writing as well, and he did a decent job of it.
Mainly, I might have asked for just a few more questions answered, but sometimes it's nice to just be left wondering.
Plus, for added fun, there are some Easter Eggs to find. How many Twin Peaks references can you spot? The occasional throwback most certainly made me smile and added just that extra bit of enjoyment to the read.
fictionfan's review
5.0
‘…more things in Heaven and Earth…’
Deep within him, Gordon has always carried the horrific memories of his time in Vietnam but his love for his wife Katy has allowed him to put those days behind him. But now Katy has died and Gordon is old and alone, and all the guilt and fear has returned - along with the voices in the rain, whispering, calling. Gordon’s nightmares of a night long past are now seeping into his daytime world and he can’t ignore them any longer.
Dark, frightening and blood-soaked, this novella length story won’t be for everyone. But it is superbly written and builds a truly nerve-racking atmosphere of horror. What really happened that night? Are the things Gordon sees and hears real? Or feverish, guilt-induced hallucinations? Where is the line between light and dark, nightmare and reality?
Told in the third person, we see the story unfold through Gordon’s eyes. As we see flashes of the memories that torture him, we get to know him and to understand the things that haunt him. But like him, we don’t know where the truth lies, and his story is morally ambiguous enough that we can’t know whether the sympathy we feel for him is deserved. But we feel it nonetheless.
I admit this is considerably darker than my usual fare, but within a couple of chapters I was completely hooked and read it in one rapid sitting. I would say it’s the best ghost story I’ve read in years, except that it may or may not be a ghost story at all. It is, however, an extremely well-constructed psychological study of a man haunted to the brink of madness, whether by supernatural forces or by his own demons of grief and guilt. If it’s your sort of thing, I highly recommend it. And if it isn’t your sort of thing at all, you might still find, like me, that it’s well worth stepping out of your comfort zone for.
NB This e-book was provided for review by the publisher, Darkfuse.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Deep within him, Gordon has always carried the horrific memories of his time in Vietnam but his love for his wife Katy has allowed him to put those days behind him. But now Katy has died and Gordon is old and alone, and all the guilt and fear has returned - along with the voices in the rain, whispering, calling. Gordon’s nightmares of a night long past are now seeping into his daytime world and he can’t ignore them any longer.
Dark, frightening and blood-soaked, this novella length story won’t be for everyone. But it is superbly written and builds a truly nerve-racking atmosphere of horror. What really happened that night? Are the things Gordon sees and hears real? Or feverish, guilt-induced hallucinations? Where is the line between light and dark, nightmare and reality?
Told in the third person, we see the story unfold through Gordon’s eyes. As we see flashes of the memories that torture him, we get to know him and to understand the things that haunt him. But like him, we don’t know where the truth lies, and his story is morally ambiguous enough that we can’t know whether the sympathy we feel for him is deserved. But we feel it nonetheless.
I admit this is considerably darker than my usual fare, but within a couple of chapters I was completely hooked and read it in one rapid sitting. I would say it’s the best ghost story I’ve read in years, except that it may or may not be a ghost story at all. It is, however, an extremely well-constructed psychological study of a man haunted to the brink of madness, whether by supernatural forces or by his own demons of grief and guilt. If it’s your sort of thing, I highly recommend it. And if it isn’t your sort of thing at all, you might still find, like me, that it’s well worth stepping out of your comfort zone for.
NB This e-book was provided for review by the publisher, Darkfuse.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
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