Review: Truly exceptional
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 1, 2014
I received a free advanced copy of this book in exchangefor my fair and honest review.Bill and Karen Andersen are married, not entirely happily so, but nonetheless in a union which has borne them two young daughters, Sophie and Terri.After circumstances result in Bill losing his employment, he is forced to uproot the whole family and shift them far from the existence they are accustomed to, essentially seeking some chance to start things over.On the upside, the passing of an aunt of Bill’s has left him with an inheritance in the shape of an old house located on Mateguas Island, a remote community off the coast of Maine, so the Anderson family aren’t about to be left homeless in the wake of the job loss.They may well have preferred the jobless option after their relocation to the timeworn residence.As things begin to unravel in Bill and Karen’s relationship, each of them flirting with different levels of infidelity with other island residents; in Karen’s case, the dashing Dexter Pierce, in Bill’s the feisty redheaded schoolteacher Maggie, other disturbing events and stories come to light, and eventually the whole family learns of something dark, ancient and evil sharing this island with them all.Linda Watkins ‘Mateguas Island’ makes for a mesmerising read, well-crafted and deftly woven through with Native American folklore, poignancy and drama as well as a constant undercurrent of suspense, which hums throughout the whole sequence of events the Andersen family find themselves embroiled in.Watkins has a fine grasp on character development and all of these are wonderfully realised creations, fallible and prone to indiscretions, but that is what makes them so real and so human, easy with the reader to identify with them and even understand why they make some of the decisions they do.In ways while reading this and remaining deeply engrossed, I was reminded of the likes of John Saul and Joe Donnelly, the former for the creepy often psychological elements and suitably chilling atmospheres dredged up through the words of Watkins, the latter because of the frequent exquisitely detailed passages with the ability to place the reader right among the thick of things.The tension escalates, the drama builds and moments of horror are adroitly leeched into the mix and that’s where I will wrap it up without revealing too much of this stunningly executed suspense horror that will stay embedded in your mind long after you’ve finished reading.This is no visceral or affronting horror looking to brutalise you into realms of terror, this is a creeping slow-burn that deliberately ensnares you with layer upon layer, before turning the screws and applying the pressure, catapulting you into the situations the characters must endure.A truly exceptional book.