By Rick Hautala (Bedbugs, Occasional Demons, Moondeath, Little Brothers)
Grade: A-
My first Hautala novel, The Mountain King brings (almost) everything you could want in a good horror novel: monsters, drama, characters you can relate to, violence, and plain ol' fashioned fun. You'll notice I left out the most crucial part though: actual horror. While The Mountain King may have a great story, it's never actual scary.
The plot, reminiscent of creature-features of the `70's, is what will draw in any horror fan: When Mark and his buddy Phil set off to hike Mount Agiochook, the last thing they expected was for Phil to fall off a cliff and be taken away by...some sort of creature. But that's exactly what happens, and now Mark must find his friend while avoiding search parties that think he's committed murder, along with the fact that something has been stalking him--something that's killed before, and something that will kill again to remain hidden.
Sounds scary right? While Hautala does prove he can keep a novel moving along at a great pace and keep the reader wondering what took Phil away, the novel misses out on true terror. It has a great mood throughout, yet it just never sends the chills down your spine it should be sending. Also of note is that Hautala's writing becomes repetitive--you hear the same words over and over again through the course of the novel. Scenes also take place in the same setting, (there is literally three attacks by the same back door) leaving the reader with a sense of "been there, done that".
Yet for every bad thing, there are a handful of good things. The drama and characterization is top notch, and the book feels like a soap opera with a lot blood. And for those of you who don't know what that means, it means this book is very entertaining.
If that wasn't enough, three short stories are included in this edition (Leisure's paperback, not Cemetery Dance's hardcover): "Chrysalis", Deal with the Devils", and my personal favorite, "The Birch Whistle". This is where Hautala truly shines; these short stories (which all feature Untcigahunk, the monsters of his earlier novel Little Brothers) are all pulpy fun, and just by reading them made me go out and pre-order Hautala's new short story collection, Occasional Demons, from Cemetery Dance. (It includes the before mentioned Untcigahunk stories, along with five other Untcigahunk stories, eighteen other short stories, and three collaborations.)
So if you're looking for a fun read (especially with summer coming up...) you can't go wrong here. I look forward to reading more of Hautala...and to someday see a sequel!
No comments:
Post a Comment