BOOK REVIEW by Martin Berman-Gorvine - COLERIDGE by Tom Deady

The setting of Tom Deady’s psychological horror novel Coleridge is apparently very contemporary, with its widowed protagonist, Dalia, deep in mourning for her wife, Zadie, a thing unimaginable at any earlier time.

But be not deceived: literarily speaking, the atmosphere is very much that of the year when the titular house “Coleridge” was built, 1871. That is to say, from the first page we are plunged into a Victorian melodrama, the constant mood one of barely repressed hysteria.

Moreover, we enter immediately into the land of The Twelve Basic Plots, variant A Stranger Comes To Town And Causes Trouble crossed with The Haunted House Tale.

The stranger calls himself Slade, claims to be the deceased Zadie’s father, and displays uncanny physical strength and an unnerving level of knowledge about Dalia’s house, which she and Zadie restored. Slade forces his way in one cold winter’s night, and the melodrama shifts into high gear.

In short, Coleridge is a very traditional sort of suspense story, but Deady is a skilled enough writer to keep us turning pages and guessing at the solution to mysteries until the end. Recommended as a diverting read for a long pandemic quarantine evening.

[bctt tweet=”In short, Coleridge is a very traditional sort of suspense story, but Deady is a skilled enough writer to keep us turning pages and guessing at the solution to mysteries until the end. @MeshuggeWriter @DeadyTom #horrorreview” username=”theboldmom”]

SYNOPSIS

Coleridge was the start of everything for Zadie and Dalia. Their love for the old house began as a restoration project and blossomed into a love story. Until the tragedy. Coleridge was all Dalia Cromwell had left. It served as both a tribute to their love and a harsh reminder to her loss. Until the visitor arrived. Coleridge was his obsession. Slade knew more about the house than Dalia did. And he knew of its past. By the end of their long night together in the house, Dalia would know all of Coleridge’s secrets, and Zadie’s.

[bctt tweet=”Coleridge was the start of everything for Zadie and Dalia. Their love for the old house began as a restoration project and blossomed into a love story. Until the tragedy. @deadytom #horror #horrornovel #horrorcommunity” username=”theboldmom”]

Author

Martin Berman Gorvine

Website

Author of the four-book “Days of Ascension” horror novel series--All Souls Day (2016), Day of Vengeance (2017), Day of Atonement (2018), and Judgment Day (2020)--all published by Silver Leaf Books.
He is also the author of six science fiction novels, many with an alternate history theme: the Sidewise Award-winning The Severed Wing (as Martin Gidron) (Livingston Press, 2002); 36 (Livingston Press, 2012); Seven Against Mars (Wildside Press, 2013); Save the Dragons! (Wildside Press, 2013), which was a finalist for the Prometheus Award; Heroes of Earth (Wildside Press, 2015); and Monsters of Venus (Wildside Press, 2017). 