Rhiannon
Water Horror? I let the lake in and I’m so happy I did!
This is my first Hessenauer book and what a great way to start. I love a good ocean/lake/water horror and this one was that, in spades. And it’s a hybrid epistolary structure with film footage, transcripts, interviews, and video diary entries, which is one of my favourite story structures.
We have a documentary film crew exploring a near 100-year-old mysterious ship wreck 🛳️ at the bottom of Lake Superior (an actual shipwreck relocated from Lake Charlevoix for the purposes of this story, which actually adds to the remoteness and jeopardy to good effect), along with a possible red algae bloom, maybe ghosts, superstitions, hallucinations, murder, and definitely people losing their minds.
Hessenauer sets up the story by immediately diving (pardon the pun 😉) into video transcripts of a doctor-patient interview with an apparent survivor of an incident that occurred out on Lake Superior (which, as a 70s 🇨🇦 kid is extra spooky – thanks Gordon Lightfoot.) It gives us just enough to get a good sense of something horrific – through the patient’s actions and reluctance to talk – but just enough to know that at least someone has survived this horror, at least in a fashion. The mystery is immediately apparent by the second chapter when we learn that a doc crew has gone to investigate a sunken ship mystery, and that ghostly mood builds perfectly to the end.
There’s a lot of factors playing into the horror and the atmosphere is made genuinely ominous through the use of the description of diving footage 🤿. There’s also the added bonus of a red algae bloom which, in this tale, is reminiscent of mycelium horror, another horror sub-genre I love.
This is a great take on that, and by having it water-based adds the extra element of ‘shipwreck ghost story’ to it, along with the eerie depths of the lake, which the author conveys perfectly – the murkiness of the water’s depths, the isolation on the water, the strange way water messes with sound and vision… and the main characters are interesting and complex to boot, so there’s a vested interest in their fates.
An excellent, creepy story! I’m definitely checking out more of this author’s work.
My thanks to the author for the complimentary copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily; all opinions are my own.
Originally posted at www.instagram.com.
Water Horror? I let the lake in and I’m so happy I did!
This is my first Hessenauer book and what a great way to start. I love a good ocean/lake/water horror and this one was that, in spades. And it’s a hybrid epistolary structure with film footage, transcripts, interviews, and video diary entries, which is one of my favourite story structures.
We have a documentary film crew exploring a near 100-year-old mysterious ship wreck 🛳️ at the bottom of Lake Superior (an actual shipwreck relocated from Lake Charlevoix for the purposes of this story, which actually adds to the remoteness and jeopardy to good effect), along with a possible red algae bloom, maybe ghosts, superstitions, hallucinations, murder, and definitely people losing their minds.
Hessenauer sets up the story by immediately diving (pardon the pun 😉) into video transcripts of a doctor-patient interview with an apparent survivor of an incident that occurred out on Lake Superior (which, as a 70s 🇨🇦 kid is extra spooky – thanks Gordon Lightfoot.) It gives us just enough to get a good sense of something horrific – through the patient’s actions and reluctance to talk – but just enough to know that at least someone has survived this horror, at least in a fashion. The mystery is immediately apparent by the second chapter when we learn that a doc crew has gone to investigate a sunken ship mystery, and that ghostly mood builds perfectly to the end.
There’s a lot of factors playing into the horror and the atmosphere is made genuinely ominous through the use of the description of diving footage 🤿. There’s also the added bonus of a red algae bloom which, in this tale, is reminiscent of mycelium horror, another horror sub-genre I love.
This is a great take on that, and by having it water-based adds the extra element of ‘shipwreck ghost story’ to it, along with the eerie depths of the lake, which the author conveys perfectly – the murkiness of the water’s depths, the isolation on the water, the strange way water messes with sound and vision… and the main characters are interesting and complex to boot, so there’s a vested interest in their fates.
An excellent, creepy story! I’m definitely checking out more of this author’s work.
My thanks to the author for the complimentary copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily; all opinions are my own.
Originally posted at www.instagram.com.