Book Review: "Saltwash" by Andrew Michael Hurley

The first time I ever read Andrew Michael Hurley's books I was more than sold on the fact he was going to be a big name in the horror community in the coming years. His book Starve Acre, to this day is one of my personal favourite horror novels purely because it conceptually scared the crap out of me. I read it shortly after it came out and I could not stop thinking about it for ages afterwards. Some days, I feel like I still think about it sometimes. It definitely left its mark. Saltwash in some ways reminds me of a Shirley Jackson style story. Shorter than his other works, this is about two men: Tom and Oliver, who are penpals and both dying. Yet, there's something that Tom doesn't know about, and when he finds out it might be too late...

The first thing I always have to applaud is the way Andrew Michael Hurley creates a sense of vivid and intense folkish atmosphere. There's emptiness and distance from the known and familiar world, there's something not quite right with the way everything looks and atop of this, Tom doesn't really know what to expect. When he arrives in Saltwash, he can sense that things are not familiar to him as he walks into a place owned by The Paleys. They hand him a badge to put on his person indicating he has not been here before and immediately, we are met with a whole host of interesting characters. But Tom's main question is where is this man he has been communicating with? Where is the man who told him to meet with him here today? Where is Oliver Keele? Andrew Michael Hurley does a great job at keeping this question nagging in our minds as we meet new characters, study new scenery and learn bits and pieces about the imperfect main character. I'm not sure whether the author wants us to feel sorry for him and then not feel sorry for him, but my pity quickly dissolved when I found out more about Tom. The first half of the book is definitely dealing with the atmosphere of the unfamiliar and teaching us about the main character in various flashbacks and side-stories. The way in which he interacts with new people as well, is very telling. The author has done a brilliant job of pulling us into a story which has so much internalised chaos and paranoia that it is actually a surprise that Oliver shows up at all.

We start to learn the true nature of why Tom is at Saltwash as Oliver shows up in Part 2 of the book. This is roughly halfway through and yet, we already feel like we know the surface layer of his character since the others have spoken about him to a degree. Fortunately enough, the surface is not good enough for our author - there are secrets buried under it, crimes that are described as irredeemable to a degree that are unfolding before our eyes. Again, we start by feeling sorry for Oliver but as the narrative goes on and we start to realise what has happened, that pity somewhat dissolves. I'm not sure how the author wanted us to feel about the whole point of the book - especially when the lottery-style game is played, but it seems to me that this is like an unlikeable thing happening to unlikeable people. Is it taking an easier way out other than confrontation and accountability? Is it the ultimate way forwards? Is it leaving behind something that is not actually the truth? The book winds your philosophical mind and will challenge you to think about what it means. I'm not going to reveal too much but you don't have an excuse not to read it as well because it's short.

All in all, this was a fantastic book. It is definitely deeper than his usual requests and I thoroughly enjoyed my reading experience. Of course, it is not as frightening as Starve Acre but then again, I don't think it would be as good if it was. It is a folk horror mixed with a psychological thriller mixed with a bit of speculative fiction. I very much enjoyed this genre-blend.

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