Peter Critchley
For The Moring Star
A great novel transcends the page and form to speak to readers of all persuasions. And this applies equally to the horror genre as to mysteries, science fiction and fantasy or any other genre.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane (2013) by Neil Gaiman is a storytelling tour de force crafted by one of our most talented authors. The tale begins when the protagonist, an artist, returns to his childhood home in the English countryside to mine his memory of events that nearly destroyed him, a seven-year-old boy at the time, and his entire family.
Forty years ago the suicide of a stranger, lodging with the protagonist’s family, opened the door to a deadly, malicious spirit who disguised herself as a housekeeper. The housekeeper won over the boy’s sister and mother, seduced his father and threatened the boy if he told anyone the truth. But the boy did have three allies—a warm and welcoming family of witches at the old farm up the road—and the youngest claims her duck pond at the end of the lane is an ocean, a body of liquid knowledge that transcends both space and time.
Behind Closed Doors (2016) by B.A. Paris is a taut, compelling psychological thriller that readers will find difficult to lay down for even a moment. Jack and Grace are the perfect couple—he is handsome, successful and dotes on his wife and she is thin, stunningly beautiful, kind and the epitome of charm. Of course, all is not what it appears to be and slight chinks can be discerned in the façade the two present to the public.
Grace is never out of Jack’s sight, does not own a cell phone and doesn’t email. She cannot meet anyone for coffee, despite not working, there are bars on one of the bedroom windows at their idyllic house and she never answers the phone. But it appears Grace is willing to pay this price in order for Millie, her 17-year-old special needs sister, to live with them once she turns eighteen, an arrangement Jack appears to support despite mistakenly saying more than a few times that Millie’s new bedroom will be red when her favourite colour is yellow.
But it appears Grace is willing to pay this price in order for Millie, her 17-year-old special needs sister, to live with them once she turns eighteen, an arrangement Jack appears to support despite mistakenly saying more than a few times that Millie’s new bedroom will be red when her favourite colour is yellow.
The Deep (2016) by Canadian author Nick Cutter is an intense ride that sprints out of the gate and gains momentum. The world is reeling from a plague called the ‘Gets, an insidious condition that causes people to forget—first little things, like where they left their keys or the right word and ultimately how to breathe, how the heart should beat.
There is no cure but there is a glimmer of hope. Far below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, deep in the Marianas Trench, scientists have discovered a substance hailed as “ambrosia,” a universal healer according to initial reports. The scientific team is studying the phenomenon on the Trieste, a deep water lab eight miles under the sea’s surface in the Trench.
But when the support crew loses contact with the scientists below it is up to Luke Nelson, a veterinarian, and a brave few to descend through the dark depths to unravel the mystery. The last message the support crew received came from the lab. It is a chilling message that beckons Nelson to “come home” and that the scientific team needs him.
These three titles are available at your Okanagan Regional Library www.orl.bc.ca.
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