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A review by michelareads
Remains by Andrew Cull
5.0
"Grief is a black house."
Lucy Campbell has a terrible breakdown after the brutal murder of her young son and she decides to lock herself in a psychiatric hospital, hoping to find some peace of mind and the power to move on with her life. But the abandoned house where his son tragically lost his life is calling her, giving her a morbid hope that she could find answers there.
But what she finds there is not what she was looking for...
After falling in love with Andrew Cull's beautiful writing and dark atmospheres in his previous work called Bones (a collection of horror stories which you all should read), I was really excited about reading his first novel Remains and... wow. I absolutely loved it. Let me shortly explain why (no spoilers!).
As the author himself described it, Remains is a proper "slow burn" because there is a long and deep presentation of the main character, Lucy, her obsessive thoughts and the heavy grief that is now part of her. The first half, which lacks in action, is however necessary to build anticipation and get up ready to be horrified from what's about to happen. I was glued to this book, especially its second half, which is packed with unexpected events, shocking twists that made my jaw drop a few times and a general feeling of... fear. The supernatural element is obviously part of it, but mostly the horror comes from the human feelings, the dark grief, the obsession, the pain of a childless mother and what she's willing to do to find her peace.
In some ways, it reminded me of the gripping painful heartache that I experienced while reading Pet Sematary by Stephen King (which is one of my favorite books ever).
Remains is brilliant. A book that I would reread immediately.
It's beautifully written, unputdownable (short chapters!) and an amazing debut novel. I highly recommend it to all horror lovers and to those who are addicted to spine-shilling stories as I am! 5 stars!
Lucy Campbell has a terrible breakdown after the brutal murder of her young son and she decides to lock herself in a psychiatric hospital, hoping to find some peace of mind and the power to move on with her life. But the abandoned house where his son tragically lost his life is calling her, giving her a morbid hope that she could find answers there.
But what she finds there is not what she was looking for...
After falling in love with Andrew Cull's beautiful writing and dark atmospheres in his previous work called Bones (a collection of horror stories which you all should read), I was really excited about reading his first novel Remains and... wow. I absolutely loved it. Let me shortly explain why (no spoilers!).
As the author himself described it, Remains is a proper "slow burn" because there is a long and deep presentation of the main character, Lucy, her obsessive thoughts and the heavy grief that is now part of her. The first half, which lacks in action, is however necessary to build anticipation and get up ready to be horrified from what's about to happen. I was glued to this book, especially its second half, which is packed with unexpected events, shocking twists that made my jaw drop a few times and a general feeling of... fear. The supernatural element is obviously part of it, but mostly the horror comes from the human feelings, the dark grief, the obsession, the pain of a childless mother and what she's willing to do to find her peace.
In some ways, it reminded me of the gripping painful heartache that I experienced while reading Pet Sematary by Stephen King (which is one of my favorite books ever).
Remains is brilliant. A book that I would reread immediately.
It's beautifully written, unputdownable (short chapters!) and an amazing debut novel. I highly recommend it to all horror lovers and to those who are addicted to spine-shilling stories as I am! 5 stars!