Lee Allen's Blog - Posts Tagged "paul-tremblay"

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A tale of demonic possession and the frenzy in its wake.

Author Rachel Neville interviews Merry Barrett about events that befell her family fifteen years earlier, when her older sister Marjorie began to display signs of schizophrenia, taking Merry back to the darkest chapter in her family's history.

The psychiatrists prove unable to help, while Marjorie’s symptoms grow increasingly severe and her behaviour more concerning. Turning to the Church for help, the family become convinced that Marjorie is the victim of demonic possession.

As cameras for reality TV show “The Possession” follow every development and broadcast their terror to the world, the family prepare for the exorcism, something from which none of them may ever be able to recover.

‘A Head Full of Ghosts’ is Paul Tremblay’s first horror novel, following two detective novels and several horror short stories. The multi-layered plot is narrated from the perspective of Merry, the younger sister of the possessed teenager, both in retrospect as an adult and through her memories as a child. Tremblay captures Merry's young voice incredibly well and through her eyes a portrait of her family evolves throughout. Moving backwards and forwards in time, the events surrounding Marjorie’s possession are unveiled, a suspenseful escalation towards the exorcism and its aftermath.

With some characters believing in Marjorie’s possession and others skeptical, the novel captures the dual approach from both the perspective of belief in demons and the traditional Catholic exorcism and a disbelief in there being any supernatural or preternatural influence, instead the human characters themselves perpetuating the events and becoming caught up in a frenzy, akin to the moral panics of history. This is as much a social and psychological drama as it is a possession story, combining to form a horror thriller as subtle as it is blatant in its themes, this duality proving highly effective.

There is a distinctly modern edge through the lens of both the reality TV show and the blog which retrospectively analyses the show. As we so often experience in the media and through social media, the scrutiny of others only seems to contribute to the chaos surrounding the turmoil and the feeling of inevitability over what is to come.

‘A Head Full of Ghosts’ spins a captivating, enjoyable and thought-provoking tale. The first book I’ve read by Paul Tremblay, it leaves me eager to delve into the horrors presented in more of his work.



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Disappearance at Devil's Rock by Paul Tremblay

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


An eerie chiller exploring a teenager's mysterious disappearance.

Elizabeth receives a late night phone call that plunges her into every parent's worst nightmare - her son, Tommy, is missing.

Tommy and his friends, at a sleepover, had gone out into the woodland to their favourite hangout spot - christened Devil's Rock.

As Elizabeth anxiously awaits news from police, strange occurrences are afoot – someone, or something, is trying to communicate with her, leading her down a murky path to the dark truth behind Tommy's disappearance.

'Disappearance at Devil's Rock' is the second horror novel by Paul Tremblay, following 'A Head Full of Ghosts' and multiple short stories, plus two crime novels, a sci-fi novel, and a co-written young adult fantasy. A blend of horror, crime and suspense thriller, the story unfolds from multiple character perspectives in an emotional excavation of the aftermath of a child's disappearance, as all those it touches become undone, with suggestions of supernatural phenomena entwined within an emotive and captivating mystery.

We are introduced to each of the key players in the ensuing tragedy, the relationships between these groups of characters driving the narrative: in the aftermath of Tommy’s disappearance, through three generations of his family - his mother Elizabeth, sister Kate and grandmother Janice; and in the events leading up to the fateful night through his relationship with his two friends, Josh and Luis, and the change in dynamic as the sinister Arnold inserts himself within their group. Tremblay explores the interplay between the teenage characters and how slightly unsettled each of them feels in their friendships as they navigate this boundary between childhood and adulthood.

Throughout, we experience the power of human suggestibility, both through one's personal desire and the manipulation of another, how potent that can be when its influence is felt by a group of people and the devastating impact this can have. We are confronted by sheer despair and the ongoing battle between grief and desperate hope, and, ultimately, the twisted psychopathology of a predator. With an infusion of folklore, and a partial epistolary style and plot structure producing the vibe of a 'true crime' narrative, Tremblay has crafted a slow-burning and suspenseful horror thriller that delves deep into the psychological minefield the characters are treading.



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The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A gripping thriller of psychological horror and apocalyptic dread.

Eric, Andrew and their daughter Wen are holidaying in a remote cabin in the New Hampshire wilderness.

Their idyllic lakeside retreat is soon ensnared by terror when a group of strangers arrives, prophesising cataclysmic events if the family don’t comply with their entreaties.

With the fate of their family in peril amidst the strangers' insistence that their fate is entwined with that of the entire world, the nightmare is only just beginning.

'The Cabin at the End of the World' is a psychological horror novel by Paul Tremblay, a riveting suspense thriller that begins on a glorious summer’s day, as we are introduced to a young girl, Wen, playing with grasshoppers outside the cabin in calm, picturesque isolation. A stranger appears, Leonard, caring and friendly on the surface; unease creeping in before everything begins to spiral into the unexpected. Primarily told from the perspectives of Wen, Eric and Andrew, with additional insights from the perspectives of the strangers as more of what led them to the cabin is revealed, we witness the unfolding horror for everyone trapped within the confines of this cabin far from civilisation.

Tremblay weaves a deeply psychological narrative, a riveting home invasion thriller that quickly escalates as the family are faced with an impossible choice. The mystery at the novel’s heart surrounds the mysterious strangers, perhaps members of a cult of evangelical radicals, repeating their rhetoric like a mantra, appearing convinced in their beliefs and calling for the family to make a sacrifice in a desperate attempt to save the world. But there are cracks, even the strangers themselves struggling to know what to believe as their mission unravels. The novel delves into themes of religion and spirituality, in particular related to the Christian prophesy of end times as foretold in the Book of Revelation.

Constantly questioning and philosophising, this is rich, character-driven story, brimming with tension and bursts of violence and brutality, delving into the characters’ beliefs, emotions and memories; a slow trickling of unease and paranoia, indoctrination and manipulation, an abuse of faith and fear as events spiral and tragedy becomes inescapable. So artfully done is the ever-present underlying question as to what the truth may be - whether this is indeed a microcosm of apocalyptic doom, or simply the crazed delusions of a group of criminals?

Engrossing and thought-provoking, ‘The Cabin at the End of the World’ is relentlessly gripping, slow-burning suspense.

The novel was adapted for the screen by M. Night Shyamalan as 'Knock at the Cabin' in 2023, becoming the first of Tremblay’s works to receive a screen version.



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