My Five Word TL:DR Review: This is One Wild Ride

This really is a relentlessly fast paced, horror soaked road trip from hell. I don’t think Maggie Wise quite realised, when she asked her son to make sure her body was taken home and buried there, just how difficult a task it would be. Or maybe she did. I mean, come on woman, at least chuck your son a bone here – a few clues might have enabled him to prepare better at least. Although I’m not sure just how well you can be prepared against such monsters.

Anyway, Maggie wise, by all accounts an incredibly selfish woman, not to mention a witch if you listen to the local children who have created their very own rhyme in her honor, has one final wish, that her son Malcolm will take her body back and bury it in her original birthplace. Of course Malcolm readily agrees. It won’t particularly be a pleasant journey, traveling with a coffin (that he must stay with at all times) in a freight car, in very cold weather for a couple of days, but, it was her dying wish and he’s agreed, so no point in crying over spilt milk now. Plus, it all seemed so urgent that he felt he had little choice. His sister in law Violet insists on accompanying him, in the absence of her husband she feels like Maggie is the closest to family that she has (and aside from that Violet and Malcolm have a growing attraction to each other).

So, things start to take a creepy turn. Unmentionable monsters seem to be stirring in the earth and outside Maggie’s window a strange man seems to be waiting for her to pass away. Upon Maggie’s demise the action immediately cranks up with a race like scenario to get to the train station without being stopped or attacked.

I’ll leave it there in terms of what I’ll say about the story.

What I enjoyed about this. Yes, as I mentioned above the pace is fast. The action gets off to an almost immediate start and there is no let up after that until the last page. This is creepy, brutal, bloody and shocking – in that I really didn’t know how things would turn out and I certainly didn’t expect the type of monsters that we find in this story. I confess that I had the odd moment where I thought ‘come on, give me (and these characters) a moment’s peace will you.

I really enjoyed the different point of views and jumping back and forth. This might not be for everyone but it usually works well for me, I enjoy having a different perspective and provided the voices are well written ti gives you a much better view of proceedings. We don’t only have Malcolm and Violet in this tale. We have one particular monster accompanied by a young boy. We also have two of Malcolm’s siblings who make unexpected appearances with different shades of helpfulness! Even Maggie, who is dead, still manages to interject moments of strange terror and creepiness not to mention have her very own grand finale.

I’m not going to deny that this book might be too much for some readers. There is violence here and a lot of death but the stakes are high, if Maggie isn’t laid to rest in the way she has asked, well, things will get a whole lot worse. Just be warned that this is definitely a brutal and sometimes emotionally wrenching tale.

And, did I mention high stakes. This is the sort of story where you start to feel somewhat wrecked, you begin to think it simply isn’t possible and that is quite seriously a feeling that lasts until the conclusion.

In conclusion. This was a compelling read. I started off, in the dark, mildly curious about what was going on, I moved on to that tickling feeling of dread and then I full on descended into outright disbelief and horror (a feeling that I can assure you the MCs also shared). This isn’t a particularly long book (I think just over 300 pages) but the author manages to fit a lot in here, particularly in terms of getting across the complicated family dynamic. And, then, a slightly bittersweet ending. A road trip with a difference. A difficult journey and a destination that feels impossible to reach.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

My rating 4.5 of 5 stars