Scan barcode
A review by stevetalksbooks
Hearts Strange and Dreadful by Tim McGregor
5.0
If you are familiar with my reviews you know I try really hard to not spoil anything other than the very basics that you'd get from a cover. I even try to avoid stuff in the synopsis most times. So this one will be tough to give my thoughts without spoiling any surprises.
The setting for this book is in the 1820's, the time period is perfect for this type of horror story. Our main character is Hester, a young woman living in a small village. A stranger arrives one day and people in the village start getting sick and dying.
From there Hester and the townsfolk have to deal with keeping their loved ones alive, unravel the mystery of where the stranger came from, what he's done and what to do about the illness.
When our characters want to find what happened in another village or town, they have to send someone on a journey to find out. This means sending this person potentially into danger or death. And they wait for a response. Days and weeks go by without hearing anything. The waiting is torture. The isolation and unknown creeps up on you. Fear spreads quickly in places like this, ripping them apart. In the smaller villages where everyone knows everyone and they have their practices, people often do things they wouldn't normally do when panic sets in. Even with a vast amount of open land around them to explore they feel trapped. That panic makes people do the craziest stuff you can think of, all in the hopes of normalcy.
We spend a lot of time getting to know the Hester, her family and the village. I feel closer to Hester than I do almost any other horror story I've read. I feel like I know everything about her and how she thinks. Hester is the readers eyes into this world, making sense of the strange customs and traditions.
It's a bit of a slow burn, but by the end the end of the book you can walk around this village and waive to the people in it. It took a turn I didn't see coming, although I really should have and the traditions are historically accurate. Even with the slower pace, I was never bored or wondering where the story was going, I was hoping it wouldn't end so I could learn more about Hester and the illness. Towards the end of the third act things really pick up and there are some paragraphs you want to turn away from but you can't stop reading.
Hearts Strange and Dreadful is a wonderful historical horror story that leaves you thinking well after you turn over the last page.
The setting for this book is in the 1820's, the time period is perfect for this type of horror story. Our main character is Hester, a young woman living in a small village. A stranger arrives one day and people in the village start getting sick and dying.
From there Hester and the townsfolk have to deal with keeping their loved ones alive, unravel the mystery of where the stranger came from, what he's done and what to do about the illness.
When our characters want to find what happened in another village or town, they have to send someone on a journey to find out. This means sending this person potentially into danger or death. And they wait for a response. Days and weeks go by without hearing anything. The waiting is torture. The isolation and unknown creeps up on you. Fear spreads quickly in places like this, ripping them apart. In the smaller villages where everyone knows everyone and they have their practices, people often do things they wouldn't normally do when panic sets in. Even with a vast amount of open land around them to explore they feel trapped. That panic makes people do the craziest stuff you can think of, all in the hopes of normalcy.
We spend a lot of time getting to know the Hester, her family and the village. I feel closer to Hester than I do almost any other horror story I've read. I feel like I know everything about her and how she thinks. Hester is the readers eyes into this world, making sense of the strange customs and traditions.
It's a bit of a slow burn, but by the end the end of the book you can walk around this village and waive to the people in it. It took a turn I didn't see coming, although I really should have and the traditions are historically accurate. Even with the slower pace, I was never bored or wondering where the story was going, I was hoping it wouldn't end so I could learn more about Hester and the illness. Towards the end of the third act things really pick up and there are some paragraphs you want to turn away from but you can't stop reading.
Hearts Strange and Dreadful is a wonderful historical horror story that leaves you thinking well after you turn over the last page.