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A review by obscurityshero
Hell's Gate by Laurent Gaudé
4.0
I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, Gallic Books.
I know I'm not the first (and I'm sure to not be the last) person to pick this one up expecting a horror novel. However, don't let the genre deter you from giving this a read. I was pleasantly surprised to find this was not just another author's take on the horrors of hell. Instead, Hell's Gate focuses more on the grief and psychological effects parents go through when losing a child. There's not much to the characters in this novel, though. Each one, to include the main characters, father Matteo and mother Giuliana, were incredibly two-dimensional. I was not in any way attached to them and wasn't necessarily effected by their inevitable fates. If it wasn't for the fact that I myself have children, I don't think I would understand the motivations of the either of them.
That's not to say this made for a bad read. To me, the characters were the only issue, but not anything that ruins the book. The story kicks off on a high note and maintains a high level of excitement throughout. You're made aware (kind of) from the start about what's going, with the details unfolding as you continue the journey. Even with the sequence in hell being a fairly short stint, there is no shortage of action. Gaudé was somehow able to take the aforementioned two-dimensional characters and place them in a unique situation, which made for a truly page-turning story.
Overall, I give this one a solid four stars. I am able to forgive the issue with the characters since this a truly original story told from a unique perspective. I recommend Hell's Gate to anyone that's a fan of a non-horror story tackling the ideas of if life, death, and the after-life.
I know I'm not the first (and I'm sure to not be the last) person to pick this one up expecting a horror novel. However, don't let the genre deter you from giving this a read. I was pleasantly surprised to find this was not just another author's take on the horrors of hell. Instead, Hell's Gate focuses more on the grief and psychological effects parents go through when losing a child. There's not much to the characters in this novel, though. Each one, to include the main characters, father Matteo and mother Giuliana, were incredibly two-dimensional. I was not in any way attached to them and wasn't necessarily effected by their inevitable fates. If it wasn't for the fact that I myself have children, I don't think I would understand the motivations of the either of them.
That's not to say this made for a bad read. To me, the characters were the only issue, but not anything that ruins the book. The story kicks off on a high note and maintains a high level of excitement throughout. You're made aware (kind of) from the start about what's going, with the details unfolding as you continue the journey. Even with the sequence in hell being a fairly short stint, there is no shortage of action. Gaudé was somehow able to take the aforementioned two-dimensional characters and place them in a unique situation, which made for a truly page-turning story.
Overall, I give this one a solid four stars. I am able to forgive the issue with the characters since this a truly original story told from a unique perspective. I recommend Hell's Gate to anyone that's a fan of a non-horror story tackling the ideas of if life, death, and the after-life.