One of the sillier superstitions that has been current among young American teenage girls for who knows how long is the idea that if you say “Bloody Mary” three times in front of a mirror, you will summon a ghost. That’s always good for a jump scare at summer camp, but what can a horror author possibly do with it?
Quite a bit, Hillary Monahan has proven with the dyad Mary: The Summoning and Mary: Unleashed. To me, this is proof that the initial concept behind a horror novel or a work of speculative fiction is surprisingly unimportant. That is to say, you can start with the most cliched or otherwise unpromising idea and produce a thrilling tale, or you can start with the most intricate and intriguing notion and write something your best friends will struggle to get through a single chapter of.
***Spoiler Alert in green***
What makes the difference? Compelling characters and storytelling ability. Monahan has created a horrifyingly tragic and thoroughly convincing backstory for the titular Mary that turns a spirited and attractive teenage girl living at the time of the American Civil War into a vengeful ghost. And the group of four present-day friends who summon her are no teenage-girl monster-fodder, they are fully realized characters with intense motivations and relationships. One of them turns out to be a cold-blooded betrayer of the others, and yet I have rarely if ever seen a fictional portrayal of a sociopath like her that manages to convey the disturbing charisma such people have in manipulating others, and why their victims are so slow to cut ties with them. For this alone, these novels are worth the price of admission.
[bctt tweet=”‘Monahan has created a horrifyingly tragic and thoroughly convincing backstory for the titular Mary that turns a spirited and attractive teenage girl living at the time of the American Civil War’ @MeshuggeWriter ” username=”theboldmom”]
[bctt tweet=”‘Say It With Me Three Times: Character and Story Matter’ ~ BOOK REVIEW ‘Mary: ‘The Summoning’ and ‘Unleashed’ (Bloody Mary Book 1 and 2)’ by Martin Berman-Gorvine @MeshuggeWriter” username=”theboldmom”]
