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A review by bickleyhouse
Hell Spring by Isaac Thorne
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
First off, WOW! That's literally my initial reaction to this book. I'm going to attempt to review it without getting too raunchy (I have readers who might get offended at that) and without giving spoilers.
It's somewhere in Tennessee, I believe, and it's March of 1955.
But wait. That's not where it actually begins. The story begins in what must be Hell. And the person of interest is some kind of demonic dog-like character, trapped in a sort of arena. The character is described as "she," and is not given a name. She is fighting for her life, but the "fighting" consists mostly of running around, avoiding what is being spewed out of the enormous structure at the center of the arena. If it touches her, it will consume her and split her into more of her kind.
At one point, in a desperate attempt to avoid the substance, she jumps out of the arena, at one edge, expecting to die. Instead, she finds herself somewhere in Tennessee, in March of 1955, near Beard's General store on Hollow Creek Road.
Shortly after this, the storm of the century occurs and rain is poured out on the area, flooding it worse than it had seen in decades.
The demon, who can read peoples' minds, turns herself into the likeness of Marilyn Monroe, because the first person she encounters is a young man who obsessed with a picture of Marilyn that he has seen.
That young man, along with six other humans and "Marilyn," eventually become trapped inside Beard's General, waiting out the storm. The problem is that Marilyn feeds off of the sin and shame of people. Demon, remember?
That's as much of the plot as I'm going to tell.
This book kept me pretty much mesmerized, the entire way through. It starts with such an outlandish scenario that I couldn't stop. And when it winds up in this community, in that store, with the diverse group of people involved, I simply couldn't put it down. I had to a couple of times, because, you know, sleep is necessary. But I did actually forego my normal game-playing time, last night, in order to finish this book. That's how good it is.
I love Mr. Thorne's writing style. I plan to try to run down his previous book, The Gordon Place, as well, and give it a read.
I spoke of diverse characters. Amazing character development, and I even found myself being able to empathize with most of the people, which is rare. It doesn't mean that I liked them all, but I "got" them. I understood where they were coming from and what made them the way they were. And as the story evolved, we learn more about each of them, especially when they are all finally pretty much locked in the store, together.
The involvement of the "sin-eating" demon made things more interesting, because as she fed off of each of them, they began to be able to "see" into each other's lives and know what they were experiencing, as well.
So it's a horror story, for sure. And, for the record, it has an ending that created a deeply emotional response. In short, yes, I wept just a little bit.
But it is so much more than a horror story. I was, frankly, rather amazed when I realized what was happening. This author has crafted us a tale about the human experience of shame. In fact, the dedication gives us a hint: "For the shamed: the recovering, the recovered, and the broken." Does that not address every single one of us? Are we not all broken, in some way?
And then the quote from Oscar Wilde, "The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame." That truth can be seen in the maelstrom of "book banning" that is happening in our world, right now.
But I digress.
In this unique and entertaining (also very humorous in many places . . . "soul-dads" being my absolute favorite of all), story, we see the disastrous effects that shame has on people, on their souls. I was thoroughly entertained, and, in the process, it also made me so some serious thinking. It gets pretty deep and philosophical in the midst of the outrageous horror story.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
It's somewhere in Tennessee, I believe, and it's March of 1955.
But wait. That's not where it actually begins. The story begins in what must be Hell. And the person of interest is some kind of demonic dog-like character, trapped in a sort of arena. The character is described as "she," and is not given a name. She is fighting for her life, but the "fighting" consists mostly of running around, avoiding what is being spewed out of the enormous structure at the center of the arena. If it touches her, it will consume her and split her into more of her kind.
At one point, in a desperate attempt to avoid the substance, she jumps out of the arena, at one edge, expecting to die. Instead, she finds herself somewhere in Tennessee, in March of 1955, near Beard's General store on Hollow Creek Road.
Shortly after this, the storm of the century occurs and rain is poured out on the area, flooding it worse than it had seen in decades.
The demon, who can read peoples' minds, turns herself into the likeness of Marilyn Monroe, because the first person she encounters is a young man who obsessed with a picture of Marilyn that he has seen.
That young man, along with six other humans and "Marilyn," eventually become trapped inside Beard's General, waiting out the storm. The problem is that Marilyn feeds off of the sin and shame of people. Demon, remember?
That's as much of the plot as I'm going to tell.
This book kept me pretty much mesmerized, the entire way through. It starts with such an outlandish scenario that I couldn't stop. And when it winds up in this community, in that store, with the diverse group of people involved, I simply couldn't put it down. I had to a couple of times, because, you know, sleep is necessary. But I did actually forego my normal game-playing time, last night, in order to finish this book. That's how good it is.
I love Mr. Thorne's writing style. I plan to try to run down his previous book, The Gordon Place, as well, and give it a read.
I spoke of diverse characters. Amazing character development, and I even found myself being able to empathize with most of the people, which is rare. It doesn't mean that I liked them all, but I "got" them. I understood where they were coming from and what made them the way they were. And as the story evolved, we learn more about each of them, especially when they are all finally pretty much locked in the store, together.
The involvement of the "sin-eating" demon made things more interesting, because as she fed off of each of them, they began to be able to "see" into each other's lives and know what they were experiencing, as well.
So it's a horror story, for sure. And, for the record, it has an ending that created a deeply emotional response. In short, yes, I wept just a little bit.
But it is so much more than a horror story. I was, frankly, rather amazed when I realized what was happening. This author has crafted us a tale about the human experience of shame. In fact, the dedication gives us a hint: "For the shamed: the recovering, the recovered, and the broken." Does that not address every single one of us? Are we not all broken, in some way?
And then the quote from Oscar Wilde, "The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame." That truth can be seen in the maelstrom of "book banning" that is happening in our world, right now.
But I digress.
In this unique and entertaining (also very humorous in many places . . . "soul-dads" being my absolute favorite of all), story, we see the disastrous effects that shame has on people, on their souls. I was thoroughly entertained, and, in the process, it also made me so some serious thinking. It gets pretty deep and philosophical in the midst of the outrageous horror story.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual content, and Murder