Doubleday Canada, April 25, 2017.
Four Stars
The only other book I’ve read by McMahon is The Night Sister, which was more of a
traditional thriller, although it too had paranormal elements. Burntown is more complex, but it is
somehow also more subtle. It is a horror novel, but the characters have a depth
that isn’t always found in the genre. It begins in suburbia in the 1970s, but
develops into a contemporary, industrial caper through gritty city streets and crumbling
abandoned buildings.
As a young child, Miles witnessed his mother being
murdered by a man wearing a chicken mask. Despite Miles’ testimony, his father
becomes the main suspect and eventually commits suicide – or so everyone
thinks. Miles is removed from life as he knows it, and grows up to marry his
childhood sweetheart, Lily. Their daughter Eva’s best memories are of watching
her father invent strange new things, such as dolls with hidden compartments
for her to explore. However, Miles’ most important invention is a machine that
allows people to speak to their deceased loved ones – the machine was based on
blueprints left behind by Miles’ father, and supposedly designed by Thomas
Edison.
One night, a terrible storm destroys Miles and Lily’s
idyllic farmhouse – the river overruns its banks, and Eva wakes up on the shore
with a head injury that has affected her memories. Her mother tells her that
her father and brother are dead, and that they are being pursued by an evil
man. Eva’s name is changed to Necco – after her favourite candy – and she and
Lily go off the grid and into hiding on the streets of the city. Necco adapts
to her life on the run, and she is even happy in her naïve way – until her
mother is killed and her boyfriend is murdered while he sleeps beside her.
Suddenly, Necco knows her past has come back to haunt her.
With Necco’s face plastered all over the news, wanted
for the murder of her boyfriend, she connects with two unlikely friends – both women
who are on quests of their own – and the three of them work together, following
the clues to piece Necco’s past together. They meet the “fire-eating” women who
live on the riverbank, and end up staging their own enchanted circus.
The “chicken man” is on a search for vengeance, but
the paranormal fears he inspires are not as outright frightening as in The Night Sister. Although slow in
parts, the novel is suspenseful – it is more thoughtful, like a puzzle to be
pieced together. The story is surreal, imaginative and even whimsical at times,
yet it is also dark and stormy. Like Necco, we cannot see who is good and who
is evil until it is almost too late. There are influences of Alice Hoffman’s
magic realism and Stephen King’s horror – although my initial comparison was to
Lauren Beukes’ urban fantasy novels. Altogether, this novel was odd and
unusual, but surprisingly captivating. I highly recommend this to any fans of
McMahon or of unconventional horror novels with intriguing characters.
I received this book from Doubleday Canada and
Goodreads First Reads in exchange for an honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment