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Aletheia
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The remote lake town of Little Ridge has a memory problem. There is an island out on the lake somewhere, but no one can remember exactly where it is - and what it has to do with the disappearance of the eccentric Frankie Harpur or the seven-year-old son of a local artist, Lee Montour.
When Thettie Harpur brings her family home to find Frankie, she faces opposition from all ...more
When Thettie Harpur brings her family home to find Frankie, she faces opposition from all ...more
Kindle Edition, 387 pages
Published
March 10th 2017
by Crystal Lake Publishing
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‘Aletheia’ is a very dense novel and a sizeable book to boot. There is a murky essence to this story of a family returning home after a lengthy absence, but does it buckle under its own weight?
Certainly not. Crystal Lake Publishing doesn’t release books they don’t heartily believe in. My TBR pile meant that I had to pass up on an early review copy of this and I was kicking myself. I haven’t read anything by JS Breukelaar before, but the word is she is a fine, fine wordsmith, capable of blending ...more
Certainly not. Crystal Lake Publishing doesn’t release books they don’t heartily believe in. My TBR pile meant that I had to pass up on an early review copy of this and I was kicking myself. I haven’t read anything by JS Breukelaar before, but the word is she is a fine, fine wordsmith, capable of blending ...more
Aletheia, in the Greek language, means truth. In life we use the word truth to drill down to the essence of who and what we are, and what the world means to us. Truth, even when used to depict the absolute nature of things is still as subjective as the person who interprets it. Truth is in the eye of the beholder, and even that perception can change over time.
Such is the case for Thettie Harpur, who returns to Little Ridge after a lengthy absence, apparently to seek out and make peace with her c ...more
Such is the case for Thettie Harpur, who returns to Little Ridge after a lengthy absence, apparently to seek out and make peace with her c ...more
A well-written, engaging, and intriguing story of grief and loss. Aletheia is a novel that gets under your skin and, just when you think you have it figured out, changes on a dime. In particular something happens just towards the end of the first part that genuinely shocked me and made it impossible to put the book down due to the need to find out what was going to happen next. Highly recommended.
I'll have a full review of this coming to Hellnotes soon, but I want to leave this here in the meantime. In Aletheia, J.S. Breukelaar has created a novel like nothing you've read before. No matter what you expect going into it, you're certain to be surprised. But be prepared for a very emotional ride. This thing has laugh out loud moments, scare the hell out of you moments, and break your heart moments so do bring a box of tissues with you when you sit down to read this. The only reason I gave t
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Aletheia is a seriously heavy book and to be completely honest, I think I would have to read it another time or two before I felt comfortable saying I had completely wrapped my head around it. So if you are up for a seriously involved narrative journey, definitely give this one a go.
I think what I liked the most about this is how Breukelaar managed to strike an atmosphere of melancholy and sadness without going over the top with a ton of shoehorned exposition. The progression of the story felt ...more
I think what I liked the most about this is how Breukelaar managed to strike an atmosphere of melancholy and sadness without going over the top with a ton of shoehorned exposition. The progression of the story felt ...more
Thettie Harpur was going home, after 10 years away, wanting to make peace with her cousin Frankie. Going back to Little Ridge, brings back memories and even though the town has changed, people’s views of the Harpur clan hasn’t. Running the clan now was Doc Murphy, a man with a dangerous past who was not one to share his secrets. On arriving Thettie meets up with a local artist who is still haunted by the disappearance of his son and the death of his wife. His only friend is Vernon, a Gila Monste
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Reading Aletheia is like going on a transcendental journey through the life and times of one Thettie Harpur. You can read my full review here...
https://horrornovelreviews.com/2017/0... ...more
https://horrornovelreviews.com/2017/0... ...more
Immersive and mind-twisting, both at the same time--if you can imagine that. Breukelaar's talent is immense, and if you're willing to hop on this weirdbeautifulstunning ride, then, by all means, please do. I can only encourage you thricefold, hell, infinitefold. And that lizard, man. Just for that, I'd read it, and that's only a very, very, tiny, tiny, tiny part of the surprises waiting for you as you crack open your copy. Go ahead! Bend the e-spine of this wonder of a book and delve into the en
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Read for Australian Shadows Awards judging.
Aletheia: the Greek spelling which means disclosure or “Truth”.
Author, J.S. Breukelaar wove a very deep, emotional, and sorrowful tale. In fact, I was crying at the end when the pieces of the puzzle all fell into place. First, it’s a combination of crime/mystery and love story, then you get around to the very complex ghost story. Yet, at the very core, all everyone is looking for is the “Truth”. The symbolism “Truth” weighs heavy throughout the story-line and comes with the price of long-term m ...more
Author, J.S. Breukelaar wove a very deep, emotional, and sorrowful tale. In fact, I was crying at the end when the pieces of the puzzle all fell into place. First, it’s a combination of crime/mystery and love story, then you get around to the very complex ghost story. Yet, at the very core, all everyone is looking for is the “Truth”. The symbolism “Truth” weighs heavy throughout the story-line and comes with the price of long-term m ...more
(Note: I received an ARC from the publisher for review purposes.)
With ALETHEIA, I have one thing to say first: read this book with time on your hands. It's dense and complex and needs to be well-chewed.
Thettie Harpur and her large extended family have come back to Little Ridge: the place they were driven from, the place that doesn't want them, the place that has changed vastly in their absence. But the meat of this story isn't the characters (complex and gritty and wonderful as they are); it's n ...more
With ALETHEIA, I have one thing to say first: read this book with time on your hands. It's dense and complex and needs to be well-chewed.
Thettie Harpur and her large extended family have come back to Little Ridge: the place they were driven from, the place that doesn't want them, the place that has changed vastly in their absence. But the meat of this story isn't the characters (complex and gritty and wonderful as they are); it's n ...more
A hard book to get into at first, it is well worth it. Don't expect to get anything else done when you're reading it because you can't put it down.
A genuinely spooky book. ...more
A genuinely spooky book. ...more
Being a fan of the books from independent publisher, Crystal Lake Publishing, I was delighted to receive an ARC of Aletheia, but it was a mixed bag for me.
It took me a while to get into the book, the language of the characters took me a while to get used to.
The story focuses mainly on two characters Thettie and Lee. For that reason, I felt the story was a bit disjointed at times. This is definitely a well developed, slow burner of a story. The pace is quite slow, but speeds up toward the last th ...more
It took me a while to get into the book, the language of the characters took me a while to get used to.
The story focuses mainly on two characters Thettie and Lee. For that reason, I felt the story was a bit disjointed at times. This is definitely a well developed, slow burner of a story. The pace is quite slow, but speeds up toward the last th ...more
This is an outstanding book, mesmerizing, beautifully written, and terrifying. Like a steam-train, it gathers momentum in the telling, and while the first chapters draw you into the world of the story, allowing you to get to know the characters, everything soon takes a turn I did not see coming. And towards the end, the story is just edge-of-your-seat GRIPPING. Horror and landscape mix with memory and desire in a way that is riveting.
I loved Thettie and her boys, I loved Lee, and Bryce, and the ...more
I loved Thettie and her boys, I loved Lee, and Bryce, and the ...more
This is an excellent, and rare novel. The author has managed to create a world with a multitude of paths both to horror and redemption. Excellent characterization and well-drawn relationships. This book has an interesting mix of human interest, research, and imagination, written in a stream of consciousness prose that leans into poetry. A different view of horror, and of the supernatural.
Gritty, down to earth horror, with well-defined characters.
Loved the shock twist mid-way - a powerful, unexpected punch, and the rest of the book continues to deliver with action and character building.
Creepy!
Loved the shock twist mid-way - a powerful, unexpected punch, and the rest of the book continues to deliver with action and character building.
Creepy!
A mind-bending, sense-altering novel that plunges us into a lake community under shifting fog where we can smell and almost taste the rot beneath the surface. The truth of the title is tantalising and constantly elusive, shown as moving shadows from one perspective and then another, like the mysterious island that appears and disappears in mist. The characters are so grittily real we can see the pores of their skin and feel their grimy desperation; from a missing venomous gila monster by the nam
...more
ALETHEIA is a complex, beautiful and terribly frightening maze of both psychological and supernatural horror. It is also pushing the notion of genre, as the whole story and setting are indirect references to older myths and legends (Greek in particular). If you love highly crafted stories and impeccable style, then this is the book for you, especially if you enjoy authors such as King, Koontz and Straub at their best. JS Breukelaar is definitely up there - and even, in my eyes, sometimes even hi
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Little Ridge is an odd little town, there is an island somewhere off the coast but no one seems to remember where it is. It all started when a couple of the town’s residents started to disappear. One day Thettie Harper and her family discover one of the missing people it causes problems within the whole town. Thettie’s one ally is Lee and it’s up to them to find answers.
What really might be causing the problems in the town is the lake itself. There is something evil in that lake below the island ...more
What really might be causing the problems in the town is the lake itself. There is something evil in that lake below the island ...more
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J.S. Breukelaar is the author of the Aurealis Award-nominated novel Aletheia, and American Monster, a Wonderland Award finalist. Collision, her new collection from Meerkat Press, drops in Feb 19. She has stories, essays and poetry published in Unnerving Mag, Black Static, Gamut Magazine, Lamplight and elsewhere. She is an instructor and columnist at LitReactor.com and lives in Sydney, Australia wi
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