Book Review: "The Vein" by Steph Nelson

I genuinely thought that this book sounded interesting when I first bought it, so why I waited some time before I actually read it is a mystery to me. Part murder-mystery, part urban horror, and part psychological thriller, this book combines the folk stories of a small town with the multiple timeline structure of a modern thriller novel to create a very atmospheric piece complete with complex main characters and a strong supporting cast. For this review, I will overlook how many characters there are as you know, I do not like having too many characters in a book - but it is personal taste and has nothing to do with the writing of the book itself. It may have been short but it was an enjoyable read nonetheless.

Steph Nelson introduces us to a woman named Sylvia (Syl) who returns to her hometown after being let out of her job and finds herself embroiled in a mystery after locating the dead body of a man who was only seen the day before - very much alive. However, the main issue is that the man looked like he had died years and years ago. Between this and a woman named Dawn walking towards a mine with dynamite in her backpack, we are led to try and work out what the hell is even going on here - and it is far bigger than we want to realise. The author's ability at creating atmosphere is something that makes me overlook the 'many characters' issue. The atmosphere is brilliant. It's filled with darkness and mystery, filled with violence and the 'grey area' of morality.

Sylvia has to work with a fairly idiotic police officer in order to find out what is going on here. She starts to find out that there are links between this dead man and other people who have gone missing or died in the area. But what's even worse is how the officer she's working with seems to know more than he's letting on and isn't telling her for fear of what may come of it. For fear that Sylvia herself may be the 'host' - though Sylvia doesn't know what that means yet. The author definitely makes us all feel like Syl with everyone else knowing more than she does. A weird spiritual woman with a very overstuffed house that makes her look like a hoarder tells her about something big coming, some decades earlier a woman shoots her husband in an act of revenge in a barn shed - but what is the revenge for? On top of this we have a whole suicide note from a woman not too far removed from the horrors. It all comes to a climax when a woman from Sylvia's past who is most definitely dead comes back. But it's not really her. Steph Nelson takes us through the novel as a form of urban legend, there's something that almost doesn't feel real about what Syl is learning about this town but there is also something awful going on. If there's one thing about this book I loved is the way creeping dread is written into every timeline. There's a twist to be had at every corner yes, and you won't guess what the term 'host' means until near towards the end of the book. It really does keep us hooked on to what the whole legend may be.

The atmosphere shifts from being an urban legend horror to a murder mystery, from being a folkish terror to being a modern feminist fight to be heard amongst the rooms of incompetent men and finally, it also shifts from first the third person narrative and back again - it is an excellent example of narrative stylistic control. The more I thought about it, the more I thought about how difficult it would be to do this properly and I very much appreciate the way the author got it just right. It definitely was brilliant.

All in all, this is pretty much one of those perfect reads for Halloween. As this is being written in the mid-Autumn you can imagine how I'm feeling about it. This book has made me incredibly happy and you know what? I have forgotten all about the lengthy cast list of the novel...