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Book Review: Ararat by Christopher Golden

Ararat by Christopher Golden

St. Martin’s Press, 2017

ISBN-13: 978-1250117052

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition. Audible, audio CD.

 

It has been several years since a novel truly unsettled this reviewer enough to produce repeated nightmares. Ararat, though, is a read that nestles under the skin.

In Ararat, a team of explorers, scientists, and scholars have discovered something embedded into the rock of Mount Ararat that may be Noah’s Ark. However, instead of animals two by two, they find a handful of human corpses… and one mummified being with horns. Something on the mountain is not quite dead, but is waiting until the time is right for it to show itself. The expedition’s members struggle to figure out the dark puzzle, as a blizzard threatens to make the mountain cave their tomb.

Golden’s characters breathe, live, and fear on every page. Adam and Meryam, who spearhead the Ararat expedition, drive the story, along with Ben Walker, sent from DARPA to assist in ascertaining the true nature of the find. Secondary characters become fully fleshed beings, with nearly everyone turning a bit part into something crucial.

Christopher Golden has penned some great tales in the past– most recently, the disturbing Dead Ringers– but Ararat just might be his best. In this novel, Golden takes advantage of tropes common to the thriller and horror genres, while stepping deftly around the typical pitfalls. Golden tears perceptions and twists the plot in unexpected directions throughout.  Is it a thriller with horror, or horror in a thriller format?  Doesn’t matter– labels will soon be forgotten once the pages whiz by.

Ararat calls to mind classics like The Thing, The Exorcist, and The Omen,  but it stands on its own. Golden’s knack for intertwining sympathetic characters and the horrific with suspense ensures that this unsettling story will be read in just a few sittings. This is a story that begs for a blockbuster-style movie, but it’s one that this reviewer won’t be viewing. The nightmares aren’t worth it. Readers of thrillers and horror will be talking about this one for year.

Reviewed by Dave Simms


Posted on April 28, 2017 by , Reply

Book Review: Black Feathers: Dark Avian Tales: An Anthology edited by Ellen Datlow

Black Feathers: Dark Avian Tales: An Anthology edited by Ellen Datlow

Pegasus Books, 2017

ISBN: 9781861773216

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition

This anthology of avian-themed fiction, edited by Ellen Datlow, presents a fantastic collection of short stories by some of the best authors in the horror genre. Each story features, as the anthology title indicates, birds that act as agents of death, sentinels, communicators, and more. The authors present the darkness the bird realm can represent, and present unique philosophical questions and uncomfortable answers in this collection.

Datlow has collected some of the best writers for this anthology. Authors include Sandra Kasturi, Nicholas Royle, Seanan McGuire, Paul Tremblay, Joyce Carol Oates, Richard Bowes, Alison Littlewood, Jeffrey Ford, Mike O’Driscoll, Usman T. Malik, Stephen Graham Jones, A.C. Wise, M. John Harrison, Pat Cadigan, Livia Llewellyn, and Priya Sharma.

There is not a single story in this anthology that does not linger with the reader. A struggling academic studying owls gets too close to his research subjects, much to his wife’s concern, and ending in a deadly discovery. What happens to him will change his family forever. A young girl obsessively counts the types of birds she sees throughout the day, and interprets the numbers to mean certain things will happen. She’s never wrong. A grieving widow begins to relate to the herons on her property, who help her deal with the death of her husband. The birds seemingly take care of her problems and provide her with a new sense of freedom. Rogue birds are being investigated by an occult group for helping humans cheat death. A twin returns home after her father’s death, reconnects with her sister, and finds out the terrible truth about herself after the funeral. These tales are only a fraction of what this collection offers to the reader.

While there is very little in the way of gore, there are definitely psychological horrors that the reader will encounter. Sometimes these can be more terrifying than any amount of blood and guts.

Datlow has won multiple Hugo, Locus, and Shirley Jackson awards and has received several lifetime achievement awards, including the Bram Stoker Award. She is adept at anthology selection, and I promise you won’t be disappointed with this collection. Highly recommended

Contains: brief sex, abuse, psychological terror

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker


Posted on April 14, 2017 by , Reply

Book Review: Lost Gods by Brom

Lost Gods by Brom

Harper Voyager, 2016

ISBN-13: 978-0062095688

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, Audible

 

Brom is a highly skilled author. The tale he weaves in Lost Gods, with its vivid and detailed illustrations, forges story, art, and nightmare into an amalgam of epic proportions.  Lost Gods is not a simple voyage; it is a soulful experience.

Chet Moran is freshly released from jail and on a mission to win back the heart of his girl, Trish.  Two things are standing in the way of his true happiness: Trish’s father, who is a very influential judge in the town of Jasper, and Chet’s own foolish past.  When he and Trish decide to flee, in hopes of staying with Chet’s grandmother, all hell breaks loose, and Chet is killed by an ancient horror.

The story takes the recently deceased Chet on a mission into, of all places, Purgatory.  He isn’t waiting idly for a spiritual decision; he has a serious purpose, with more than his soul at stake.  A war is about to erupt in a land where grisly creatures seek to end a soul’s existence and gods are itching to be remembered.

A big book, near 500 pages, Lost Gods puts the reader through trial after dreadful trial.  Chet begins as a loser, hoping for change, but becomes the embodiment of a hero.  The tale doesn’t rest only on Chet’s story, though; there are gods stewing in Purgatory, all looking for supplicants, days of old, and maybe a sacrifice or two.   In addition, there are factions looking to free Purgatory, as it can be a good place for souls to wander.

Lost Gods is a strong story, laced with love, family, painful deaths, gore and betrayal.  It’s multi-faceted, rich in lore, and in all the negative aspects of faith and religion.  It’s dark, and so fast-paced you never receive an inkling of boredom.  Purgatory is so well-developed, you see it– you experience it!  Any reader and lover of horror will find a great appreciation in Brom’s words, as well as the illustrations that bring it all to life.  Many times I found myself looking back at the pictures, seeing what the characters saw, making the read a legendary undertaking. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Alyssa Renee Hunt

 


Posted on April 13, 2017 by , Reply
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