Craig's review - 14 february 2008
Stephen King quotes this novel as ‘A gracefully written, mesmerizing read' and I couldn't agree more. The Night Country (2004, Bloomsbury) is literary horror, a brilliant case study into the psyche of key characters in the aftermath of a car accident.
One Halloween, five teenagers try to recapture their fading youth , taking a journey that inevitably leads to their speeding car careening off a narrow forest road. There are only two survivors – Tim and Kyle – as well as the attending officer, Brooks, who was the first to witness the crash.
Narrated by the unfortunate souls who didn't survive the crash (yes, a ghost story told by ghosts), the reader is able to move with them and see how the members of their small town are coping almost one year later (the ghosts are drawn by their grief). We quickly find that Tim wishes he had never cheated death. He is the only ‘normal' survivor and cannot help but feel the town's repressed scorn. His friend, Kyle, has been left a mere shell of his former self, reverting to a child-like state with severe brain damage. And so begins the inevitable path to retribution – Tim is preparing to recreate the teenager's journey on its anniversary, and this time he doesn't want to be a survivor. The only man who could stop him is officer Brooks, but he has some demons of his own to confront…
I recommend this novel to every horror writer, and indeed every writer in general, as a perfect example of the wonderful way emotion can be used to bring life (or, in this case, death) to characters. I could not put this down until I absorbed every element of Tim's challenge of fate, and hope you enjoy it as much.
