A review by raforall
Smithy by Amanda Desiree
5.0
STAR review in the April 2021 issue of Library Journal: https://www.libraryjournal.com/?reviewDetail=smithy-2110199
And on the blog [blog link live 4/5/21]: https://raforall.blogspot.com/2021/04/what-im-reading-april-horror-reviews.html
Three Words That Describe This Book: epistolary, extreme unease, realistic frame
Draft review:
The year is 1974 and a group of students join their infamous psychology professor for a groundbreaking study to see if Smithy, a chimp can be taught to have spontaneous communication through sign-language. Housed in a run down mansion in otherwise glamorous Newport, RI, the crew is focused but isolated. When strange and dangerous things start happening, is it that house is haunted by nefarious ghosts who only Smithy can see or are the humans paying a price for the consequences of their animal experimentation? Told in an extremely effective, epistolary style that allows multiple points of view and formats to deliver the details, Smithy begins at a place of extreme unease and never allows the reader to get comfortable, even before a supernatural possibility is revealed. A realistic and unsettling frame, combined with a perfect horror ending that resolves the conflict but leaves the fear open enough that it spills out of the pages of the novel and follows the reader after completion, this is a debut novel that demands attention.
Verdict: An original haunted house tale that confidently moves from uneasy to creepy to all out, “keep the lights blaring” terror with an utterly unique plot and compelling and vivid characters. For fans of the space where true crime, paranormal phenomenons and Horror overlap like in the fiction of Clay McLeodd Chapman and Emily M. Danforth.
Notes:
Great haunted house story with a unique frame-- the Chimp in the study can see the ghost. Starts creepy and unsettlingly and gets all out terrifying by the end.
Promising debut!
The epistolary style never allows the reader to be comfortable even before the supernatural threat comes. Also the whole experiment on a animal from the 1970s is super uneasy to readers today. Well employed frame.
Great overlap for readers who like parapsychology and even true stories of haunted places.
Three Words That Describe This Book: epistolary, extreme unease, realistic frame
And on the blog [blog link live 4/5/21]: https://raforall.blogspot.com/2021/04/what-im-reading-april-horror-reviews.html
Three Words That Describe This Book: epistolary, extreme unease, realistic frame
Draft review:
The year is 1974 and a group of students join their infamous psychology professor for a groundbreaking study to see if Smithy, a chimp can be taught to have spontaneous communication through sign-language. Housed in a run down mansion in otherwise glamorous Newport, RI, the crew is focused but isolated. When strange and dangerous things start happening, is it that house is haunted by nefarious ghosts who only Smithy can see or are the humans paying a price for the consequences of their animal experimentation? Told in an extremely effective, epistolary style that allows multiple points of view and formats to deliver the details, Smithy begins at a place of extreme unease and never allows the reader to get comfortable, even before a supernatural possibility is revealed. A realistic and unsettling frame, combined with a perfect horror ending that resolves the conflict but leaves the fear open enough that it spills out of the pages of the novel and follows the reader after completion, this is a debut novel that demands attention.
Verdict: An original haunted house tale that confidently moves from uneasy to creepy to all out, “keep the lights blaring” terror with an utterly unique plot and compelling and vivid characters. For fans of the space where true crime, paranormal phenomenons and Horror overlap like in the fiction of Clay McLeodd Chapman and Emily M. Danforth.
Notes:
Great haunted house story with a unique frame-- the Chimp in the study can see the ghost. Starts creepy and unsettlingly and gets all out terrifying by the end.
Promising debut!
The epistolary style never allows the reader to be comfortable even before the supernatural threat comes. Also the whole experiment on a animal from the 1970s is super uneasy to readers today. Well employed frame.
Great overlap for readers who like parapsychology and even true stories of haunted places.
Three Words That Describe This Book: epistolary, extreme unease, realistic frame