HuckleBuck411
This book is for those who enjoy location-based horror centered around a strange, isolated village. Withered Hill is such an English village, encircled by a dense forest in which ancient supernatural forces reside. The residents within Withered Hill follow pagan practices and commune with what resides in the forest forming a bond that provides them with natural bounty as long as they follow certain practices. The chapters in the book weave back and forth as we follow the main character Sophie Wickham's life before and after she enters Withered Hill. Thirty-two-year-old Sophie prior to Withered Hill leads a feckless life, her parents dead from a car accident and having lost her partying girlfriends to marriage, jobs and location changes. She could be considered an alcoholic, consuming two bottles of wine a night, low on money and having just broken up with an abusive boyfriend. Unsettling occurrences at different points throughout Sophie's life are related as the book progresses and increase after Sophie is offered a job as a data entry worker for an odd company. Eventually Sophie finds herself waking up within Withered Hill's forest naked, covered in mud and scratches and with no memory of how she got there and of her life before entering Withered Hill. The villagers are friendly and help her but let her know that while she is not a prisoner, she cannot leave the village until she realizes how she can leave. Often trying to escape, Sophie soon learns that she cannot pass the village's boundaries and so begins her life among the pagan residents of Withered Hill.
Do not think this synopsis gives away much of the story that is filled with sexual overtones, many strange and horrific events and with twists and turns leaving the reader guessing until the end what is truly going on.
This book is for those who enjoy location-based horror centered around a strange, isolated village. Withered Hill is such an English village, encircled by a dense forest in which ancient supernatural forces reside. The residents within Withered Hill follow pagan practices and commune with what resides in the forest forming a bond that provides them with natural bounty as long as they follow certain practices. The chapters in the book weave back and forth as we follow the main character Sophie Wickham's life before and after she enters Withered Hill. Thirty-two-year-old Sophie prior to Withered Hill leads a feckless life, her parents dead from a car accident and having lost her partying girlfriends to marriage, jobs and location changes. She could be considered an alcoholic, consuming two bottles of wine a night, low on money and having just broken up with an abusive boyfriend. Unsettling occurrences at different points throughout Sophie's life are related as the book progresses and increase after Sophie is offered a job as a data entry worker for an odd company. Eventually Sophie finds herself waking up within Withered Hill's forest naked, covered in mud and scratches and with no memory of how she got there and of her life before entering Withered Hill. The villagers are friendly and help her but let her know that while she is not a prisoner, she cannot leave the village until she realizes how she can leave. Often trying to escape, Sophie soon learns that she cannot pass the village's boundaries and so begins her life among the pagan residents of Withered Hill.
Do not think this synopsis gives away much of the story that is filled with sexual overtones, many strange and horrific events and with twists and turns leaving the reader guessing until the end what is truly going on.
This is not a fun science fiction read. It's a story told and then retold by Cormac Easton, a reporter sent as part of the crew of the Ishiguro on a doomed deep space mission. On the surface the reason for the DARPA mission is to try and reignite interest in manned space missions by sending the ship and its crew farther into space than anyone had gone before. It was to be a go out there and turn around and come back mission. The reader learns from the beginning that Easton is the only member of the seven-person crew to survive. The first telling of the story goes through the tragic mission and the unfortunate deaths of each of the other crew members one by one, but something strange occurs that allows Easton to relive the mission and secrets about what happened to the crew and the real goal of the mission are slowly revealed. This is a grim and depressing read in which the reader follows Easton as he goes through every step of the doomed mission twice but also follows the details around the destruction of his marriage.
This is not a fun science fiction read. It's a story told and then retold by Cormac Easton, a reporter sent as part of the crew of the Ishiguro on a doomed deep space mission. On the surface the reason for the DARPA mission is to try and reignite interest in manned space missions by sending the ship and its crew farther into space than anyone had gone before. It was to be a go out there and turn around and come back mission. The reader learns from the beginning that Easton is the only member of the seven-person crew to survive. The first telling of the story goes through the tragic mission and the unfortunate deaths of each of the other crew members one by one, but something strange occurs that allows Easton to relive the mission and secrets about what happened to the crew and the real goal of the mission are slowly revealed. This is a grim and depressing read in which the reader follows Easton as he goes through every step of the doomed mission twice but also follows the details around the destruction of his marriage.
