Review: This horror novel is gripping from the outset ...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 26, 2013
This horror novel is gripping from the outset. The opening scene is not only compelling but the writing is sharp and simple as well. It is easy for a writer to belabor setting, especially when trying to muster up a specific ambience, but A. R. Wise is able to skip the doldrums of backdrop and bring his reader right in medias res.The horror genre is a difficult one to do well. It is easy to get into the gratuitously macabre by using well-known and stale tropes. Horror often runs the risk of being cliché. But A. R. Wise has written a work of horror that defies those dangers and even begs being considered a captivating depiction of trauma and abuse. Even the grotesque, which Wise balances well between subtleties and grand exhibits, is artistically rendered for the sake of the plot.The demon he has created is unique and frightening, and though I will not spoil any of the details, I will say that the haunting of 314 is reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "Berenice." Poe brings the horror of teeth to life in his short, while Wise picks them up and takes their haunting one step further. You will remember the chattering of teeth, if not the teeth themselves.The characters of 314 are well drawn and realistic, the dialogue is believable, and the action is evenly paced. And though the mystery presented to the reader is resolved by the end of this novel, Wise has written another installment. This is fortunate for his readers because the first book leaves you wanting to know more about the strange happenings in Widowsfield, as well as the fate of Alma's future.An added bonus to the work is Wise's elegant Author's Note at the end of the book. In it, he explains his inspiration for 314 and elaborates on his use of symbology in the story. He aptly shares a writer's intimacy with his reader, and this, I think, is a generosity that should never go unremarked.