You can’t always go home…

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The Homecoming was released in 2019

It’s funny.

I’m writing these retrospectives during a global pandemic and the premise of ‘The Homecoming’ is almost topical, to a degree.

A family get’s thrust into a mysterious mansion in the Pacific Northwest. They are told that if they stay here, together for a certain amount of time, with no outside contact, they’ll each collect a portion of a massive inheritance.

But that’s where the similarities to any memes end and Pyper makes sure nothing is as it seems.

I really started to wiggle my way into the larger horror world in 2018. I’d released a few books at that point, but didn’t really take the time to interact too much on Twitter or Instagram, and had really been just posting on Facebook. After making a number of connections and relationships on Twitter, I saw that Andrew Pyper had a new book coming out.

As a super fan – I was over the moon.

I saw it was available on Netgalley, but I decided to wait. I didn’t request it. I pre-ordered the ebook and then when it loaded onto my Kindle even my wife mentioned my smile was intense!

You see, ‘The Homecoming’ was my very first Pyper that I owned (in some format) on day one. It was like a band you loved but had always missed release date.

Maybe a week after the release date, my wife and I were walking in our local Shopper’s Drugmart and she noticed that the book was there and it was 25% off.

“Get it,” she said, “I know you’ll be begging for it anyways.”

“But Amanda,” I replied, “I have all his other books!”

She probably grabbed it with a mocking eye-roll, but I didn’t care – it was in my possession. And, amazingly, I sent it to Andrew and got it signed.

‘The Homecoming’ to me is a book that really showcases how Andrew is the most ‘vicious-commercial’ writer out there. Don’t believe me? Read this and tell me differently after the ending. I can guarantee you, the two part ending, or two act ending, depending on how you want to categorize it, will be something you never see coming. Ever.

And when I use the word ‘commercial’ I don’t mean it in a negative way. No, I mean it in a visible way. Much like King, Crichton, Gaiman, Hill, Koontz, and even Malerman now, Pyper is one of the rare horror author’s whose books you’ll find in Walmart, Costco and grocery stores.

When you read a book like ‘The Homecoming,’ you become engrossed. I’ve often talked of Andrew’s writing voice and his use of setting as a character. Both of these are on full display here. With simple, concise descriptions, you get the entire layout and it becomes ingrained in your mind. The estate is known simply as Belfontain. It has a fence, an impressive main living house/mansion and throughout the woods around it, guest houses or work houses. But it’s those things beyond the edge of the forest, that still reside in the fenced property that Andrew uses to the detriment of the reader.

In my review, I mentioned how much it reminded me of a mansion on the outskirts of Nelson, BC. Blaylock Mansion was always a mystery to me, a place that I’ve longed to visit and take a tour but also one I want to never go on, just so that it stays a mystery to me, if that makes sense. You can find out more about this mansion here: https://www.blaylock.ca/

Growing up, whenever we’d drive by it, my head would snap over and I’d watch it pass by, wondering just what was behind those windows, those doors. Much the same as Pyper brings you into this imagined location and once we get the expected ‘bump in the night,’ he never let’s his foot off the gas.

Andrew has a number of writing trait’s or trademarks, but to me, the one that I enjoy the most is the way he writes. It never changes but always progresses. He has become a more refined writer and has excelled at the craft with each and every release, but as I’ve found out by just recently reading two of his earlier releases, the Pyper that resides in a Pyper book has never wavered, never changed.

For that we can all be thankful for.

When I finished this book, I did feel crushed. A new Pyper book had come and gone, and at the time, nothing had been completely announced yet for 2020’s ‘The Residence.’

But, ‘The Homecoming’ is a book I’ve found, that doesn’t get read and stored away. No, it stays alive within the reader for long after. When you drive through the mountains it makes you wonder. What’s at the end of the driveway? What is beyond that fence? Where do you go when that gate opens?

All of these questions will go through your head while reading the story. They’ll be questions you re-ask yourself time and time again, months and years after having read this book.

That’s just what Pyper does.