Book Review: 'The Taranock' By Willow Hewett
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The Taranock has a lot of classic horror staples: ghosts, possession, a priest, and, of course, a haunted house. A husband and wife fall for the old cliché of buying the worst house on the best street and ignore the property history of death and mayhem. But in this economy, who can blame them?
Amelia and Arthur don’t exactly get along, and this takes up a large proportion of the book. If James Herbert decided to write a novelisation of The Last Five Years and set it in the Amityville horror house, the finished product might be a little like this. Minus Herbert’s crowbarred in singular smut scene.
Fans of Dean Koontz or Shirley Jackson might find this a little light, but at just over three hundred pages in length, The Taranock works for a quick read for the commute. There’s little blood and gore, a low death count, and only minor sexual references, so teen readers and those new to the genre should be safe to pick this up. But, as always, check the text first if you are the parent.
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Pretty much every single character is argumentative and negative the entirety of the book. Although the story is written in the third person, we are over Arthur’s shoulder for most of the time, and he is the worst culprit for this. But if you’ve ever read Stephen King’s Under the Dome or Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, then you know that horror has absolutely no requirements for an endearing cast. But saying that, Arthur and Amelia’s dynamic at the beginning of the book perhaps does the opposite of what the author intends because of how aggressive Arthur is in his language. The best two chapters by a country mile are the ones where we are shadowing other characters for the duration, such as the priest or Amelia.
The Monster is creepily done, with shades of the Slenderman urban legend and The Exorcist. The descriptions are suitably creepy, and although we know his base of operations, we never know where he is going to appear. Willow Hewett makes The Taranock suitably unpredictable enough that we never know what the next scare will be.
The children brought the page to life every time they appeared. Small children gleefully saying strange phrases is an easy win for any horror, and this pair was drawn very vividly. Almost as scary as the monster itself. The priest’s scenes, although brief, were an excellent addition, and he was the clearest narrative voice in the novel.
Willow Hewett paced the horror scenes well and understood the concept of escalating the tension throughout the plot. The last one hundred pages are littered with red herrings that lead you to think the story is going to turn one way, and then it twists another. A sense of mystery is essential for this genre, and the author does that well.
The Taranock has promise, but there is a lack of consistency with backstories that, at times, throw the reader out of the action. Willow Hewett is also guilty of telling rather than showing the character development rather than giving us scenes. However, she does write a good scare, and that’s why horror readers will want the book. The enigmatic ending leaves room for a second as the monster deserves another outing.
Rating: 5/10
The horror elements were spot on, but the characters need work.
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Source(s): Willow Hewett, Amazon
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