Happy Goat Horror

The latest ‘Chiller’ from award-winning author, Paul O’Neill.

Dottie Matheson is a selfish mother who has been granted the supernatural power to resurrect her son, Harold, whenever he dies. He uses this ability to shock audiences around Scotland by killing himself on stage over and over again, attracting fame and fortune.

As his Circus Nightmare act takes the world by storm, his adoration attracts a demon who wishes to use Harold’s power to re-enter the world. Will they stop the demon on time? Will Dottie redeem her selfish ways before it’s too late?

Described by readers as a ‘Chiller’ (horror novel with the pace and action of a thriller), Mother Death is a gritty, dark exploration of death, magic, and redemption set in fictional small towns of Fife, Scotland.

Dark bleatings, my beautiful tribe. This week, we’re talking about Mother Death, a horror novel that I loved. Harold is the star of a circus act in which he offs himself onstage in some hideous way, only to reappear the next night, perfectly alive and well, and ready to do it all over again. The audience marvels at how he creates such an illusion, but it isn’t an illusion. Night after night, he dies, and his mother resurrects him. But (there’s always a “but” with something like this, isn’t there?) each time he dies, he goes somewhere else, somewhere where something uses each of these opportunities to forge a bond with him…. something that wants out of the in-between place and gradually gets a foothold in the land of the living.

This, to me, is the ultimate tale of co-dependency. Dottie, Harold’s mother, absolutely hates using her gift to bring Harold back, because that does mean that she has to suffer his death over and over. Pretty harrowing for any parent, I can imagine. However, she can’t put her foot down about this and refuse to do it, because her side of her relationship with Harold is mostly running on guilt. For most of his life, she wasn’t a great mum. In fact, she was quite a poor one at times, and now she finds herself unable to refuse anything he wants. It’s a frustrating dynamic, but a competently and effectively handled relationship. It’s realistic and very “real world”. Dottie’s circumstances are extreme, but the basic coping strategy of over-correcting to make amends is very common. I thought the author did a great job with this mother/son relationship, across the board.

And then there’s the scary horror aspect – the green girl. She’s lurking in this netherworld, the place where Harold goes between death and being brought back to life. Each time Dottie resurrects him, it takes him a little longer to “come back to himself”. The green girl is latching on in the hope that Harold will bring her back over with him. It’s nightmare fuel, frankly.

I personally thought this story was great. It’s well-written, engaging, and has an interesting premise. And, as you might have guessed, great character work. I do feel the need to caution people who have a sensitivity to self-harm and suicide though, because this book is extremely heavy with it. Beyond Harold’s stage deaths, there are some other deeply upsetting details, so just proceed with caution of this kind of subject matter bothers you a lot.

I’d recommend this to general horror fans. If you’d like to check out the book or the author, I have popped some links below for you:

MOTHER DEATH

PAUL O’NEILL

Bleeeeat!