A psychological ghost story with a message for all on mental health and well being.
Jack Heron must venture back to his childhood home, where he must confront the apparitions that dwell inside the old Heron House and tortured him as a child. It is time for Jack to face his fears.
Ah, what to say about this slim novel?
Well, the first thing I’ll say is, the amount of horrors and creepiness that Barnes packs into a couple of hundred pages is actually astounding. This isn’t a basic McDonald’s hamburger of horror, this is a big ol’ Grand Big Mac…with extra bacon.
I can honestly say that, through the bulk of this novel, I kept thinking, Goddamn, this would make a fantastic movie. And that’s also a testament to Barnes’s writing, in that he’s a very visual writer. Some describe actions well—and Barnes does—some do great dialogue—and Barnes does—but I don’t find as many authors can describe a setting or room in a way that’s not tedious, and still puts you right in the middle of it. Barnes does.
But I digress. So, there’s horrors galore, but what about the story?
Barnes does a great thing here: he takes a very simple, very common horror trope—a family member dies and drags the protagonist back home unwillingly to settle things—but he twists and bends it into new shapes. The story’s familiar, but the stuff that goes on in the house are wonderfully envisioned.
I don’t want to delve too much into the story, because to do so enters into spoiler territory. But I will say, the ending was a surprise, and the author’s afterword was both heartbreaking and inspiring.
It’s an independently published book—and seriously, check him out, because he’s prolific and varied and has brilliant ideas—and there are a few minor spelling and grammatical errors, but nothing egregious.
Seriously though, come for the scares, stay for the insights.
Well done.
