Accompanied by an unsuspecting target, an aspiring serial killer journeys to a remote mountainous location at the same time as a woman looking to bury evidence of a heinous crime walks the same trail. A sudden unnatural storm transports them to a mist-shrouded field that rolls on for countless miles in all directions. A towering skyscraper stands at the centre that they both must enter – a plaque on the door reads simply, MONSTROUS, a hint of the surreal cosmic horrors lurking inside.
Have they been delivered to this strange place for a chance at redemption, or for some ultimate form of punishment not available to earthly forces? Will they ever know the truth?
Dark bleatings, my monster-hunting tribe! I’m here to talk about a brand new novel today, one that I might not have picked up on my own but I’m really happy to have received an ARC from the publisher (thank you, Flame Tree!) because I really enjoyed it.
We begin with two separate but, it seems, equally dodgy characters; a man that is quite set on doing a murder, and a woman who is quite set on burying the evidence of something heinous. Something happens and they both end up in the same building (though they don’t run into each other), unaware of why they’re there, how to get out, or what to do. This is no ordinary building for it is empty but, at the same time, full of weirdness. Our guy and gal experience different but almost (but not quite) equally disturbing things. Are they being punished? Will they ever escape? And even if they do, will the wider world know what they were up to prior to being locked inside this tower of madness?
I initially assumed that the entire story would take place in this building but was pleasantly surprised to find that it doesn’t (though I won’t tell you why). Liminal spaces aren’t really my cup of tea and so I worried that my personal setting preference might hinder my enjoyment of the overall story, but the author did something much more creative with the direction things go in than I am used to seeing.
This is a weird story that requires some imagination on the reader’s part, though isn’t that why we read? I found it a slow burn at the beginning, though the initial set up and the characters definitely kept my attention and kept me reading. That said, and this is the way I always like to phrase this, things did go balls out as we progress through the story. Lots of mania, lots of curveballs, lots of moral questioning, and a little bit of enjoyment and seeing someone getting what they deserve. Okay, a lot of enjoyment, actually.
This is certainly a novel for those who enjoy liminal space horror, and I’d also recommend it to people like me who don’t necessarily enjoy that as a setting, but very much enjoy peculiarities, weirdness, and great character exploration.
If you’d like to check out the book or the author, I’ve popped some links below for you:
Bleeeeat!
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