Book Review: "Gothictown" by Emily Carpenter

Folk horror is my favourite sub-genre and please, I understand it's not spooky season yet but I'm sick and tired of the heat! I want to bake gingerbread and drink toffee flavoured coffee whilst watching scary movies already and time simply isn't going fast enough. Be that as it may, I have to be grateful for books like Gothictown by Emily Carpenter that never fail to get us all ready for the oncoming season. This novel has all the intensity and dread of historical horror whilst having all the urban legend thrills of something more folkish and sinister. The author has done a brilliant job at giving us a superb atmosphere before we even start reading the main narrative. Of course, it's thanks to a prologue that intends to frighten the soul and does exactly that.

For just $100, Billie Hope could be in a lovely Victorian style home in Juliana, Georgia - so the email states. A woman who is existing rather than living could never turn down such an offer, could she? She also gets a business grant to open a new restaurant, so she's definitely in the plus now. She's definitely feeling the fire of something and somewhere new and so she, her husband Peter and her daughter, Meredith completely relocate - starting a new life in this strange and wonderful place. The author has already set us up with that dark and intense prologue I won't tell you much about, so it's only obvious that we would honestly feel a sense of dread once Billie and her family enter Juliana and start their new lives there. The author does a great job with this prologue and I know that prologues aren't for everyone, but I love it when it adds something to the story. Here, it definitely does.

As they settle in, Peter starts to suffer from insomnia and mood swings, and it only gets worse and worse without any known cure. Billie herself gets horrifying and vivid nightmares which almost feel real. It is a slow burning and intense fear in which nobody can quite tell what is going on or what to do about it. To make the connection to the place where they are will take some real work, at the moment the author wants us to understand how badly it is impacting these people. The town elders are a strange bunch - controlling and manipulative, they are sociopathic almost and it is very eerie, it definitely makes you dread for what might be coming next.

The one thing that the author wants you to question is why at all, was Billie told to come to this town to start her new life. Was she lured there? Was she forced? Was she under some dark spell? What is it about her that made her the perfect candidate for this town? One thing is that you're going to learn that part way through the book and unfortunately for the reader, that is when the real horror starts if you haven't been scared off your pants already by the madness going on inside the family. The author does a fierce job at atmosphere yes, but the slow-burn maddening almost 'Wicker Man' like idea makes for a brilliant reading experience. I'm not going to lie but I felt my heart actually speed up whilst reading the second half of this book. There was something about it where I think I knew what was going on - I felt it in my bones. And yes, I was right. You would think this would make it predictable? Yes it did. But that's not the point.

I was terrified at what I had predicted. It was brilliant from start to finish.

I love it when books get under your skin and bury themselves into your soul. This is one of those books. A fantastic new era folkish demonic horror novel with aspects of very real situations that could happen mixed with something much more supernatural. If you're a fan of books like Honeysuckle or you're a fan of the movie The Wicker Man, then you will absolutely adore Gothictown by Emily Carpenter.

Oh, and you might want to keep the lights on when you read this one.

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