Summer of the Monsters Review: Easy Horror Read, but It Spoils Itself Too Soon
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Set somewhere in the times of Walkmans and CD players, the horror novel Summer of the Monsters by David Sodergren follows the nightmarish misadventures of 16-year-old Lucy Brannigan in a new town inhabited by bloodthirsty monsters.
One thing that author David does in the introductory chapter is both a big advantage and a disadvantage to the plotline, depending on the kind of reader you are. If you easily get anxious due to suspense and prolonged violent scenes, you’d be happy to know that while the story is about teen Lucy’s experiences in a hellish town crawling with creepy, human-eating creatures, the novel begins with Lucy as a 40-something woman reminiscing about the worst summer of her life. But for readers who love to be on the edge of their seats (or beds, or wherever it is that you like to read), it’s a bummer, since we know that no matter what happens, Lucy is going to survive.
So, the novel unfolds in flashbacks as we meet teen Lucy, who isn’t thrilled about moving from the big city to a secluded farmhouse in an obscure little town called Helsbridge with her widowed author dad, where there’s nothing to do and no friends to spend the summer with. But within the very first week of her stay in Helsbridge, Lucy makes an unlikely new friend, gets horribly bullied, and learns of grotesque, human-eating monsters that try to kill her in the woods near her new home. Helsbridge is basically like a literal bridge between the human world and hell, and the town is rife with myths and legends about the monsters. Lucy’s dad being completely broke makes it even harder for them to leave, and with potential romantic prospects emerging for both father and daughter, they find more reasons to stay.
Lucy has multiple near-death experiences, but each time she is surrounded by monsters, I would tell myself, “Oh yeah, she isn’t going to die.” But despite that lack of significant tension, what I liked best about this horror novel is how the author keeps things moving, even though you have the usual primary teen plot of awkward new girl in a town where almost everybody is mean to her or ignores her. The only ‘real friend’ Lucy makes is a creature in the woods near her house, a character that reminded me of Buckbeak from the Harry Potter books. The friendship felt a little contrived, but I’m pretty sure a lot of readers might find it endearing. The asocial teen who befriends an animal is a well-established ‘cute’ trope.
There are plenty of deaths, more than I expected, and the ending is full of hate, violence, and betrayal. The pace tends to be choppy, and the monsters are described as crab-like creatures with hideous body parts, reminiscent of several other ‘monsters’ in many horror stories. But the novel is an easy read, and the disappointment over the predictable parts of Summer of the Monsters is washed over by a tense climax where lots of people die gory deaths. And that’s how horror novels should be.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars. Summer of the Monsters is also available on Kindle Unlimited.
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