Reading this novel made me recall the first time that I encountered Japanese horror films. Movies so genuinely creepy that they were scary, even while reading subtitles. Think back to the first time that you saw ‘Ju-on (The Grunge)’ and ‘Ringu (The Ring).’ The foreign setting, moodiness, and unique imagery of something as simple as a girl with long black hair, concealing her features; all combined to take you somewhere new and unexpected.
Mike Jones accomplishes something very similar in his ‘gothic horror’ novel, THE MOTHERS. The action moves from Liverpool, England in 1880 to an ocean journey that ends abruptly in a shipwreck and rescue on a mysterious island. Jones’ writing is vivid—like nightmare fragments that you clearly remember upon waking.
Readers will find themselves in an atmosphere of dread where monsters as shocking as the Grudge Girl or Pinhead are depicted. Like rats, on this remote island, strange, unnatural children scamper in the walls at night. Their fingers scratch at the plaster, bony hands poke through holes. Their eyes are flat and white, their skin pale. The heroine is told not to leave her room after dark, but she will, as she is deeply compelled to uncover who and what are these children. This novel is the first in ‘The Transgression Cycle’ series--two other books are currently available. I can’t wait to read them all!
Mike Jones accomplishes something very similar in his ‘gothic horror’ novel, THE MOTHERS. The action moves from Liverpool, England in 1880 to an ocean journey that ends abruptly in a shipwreck and rescue on a mysterious island. Jones’ writing is vivid—like nightmare fragments that you clearly remember upon waking.
Readers will find themselves in an atmosphere of dread where monsters as shocking as the Grudge Girl or Pinhead are depicted. Like rats, on this remote island, strange, unnatural children scamper in the walls at night. Their fingers scratch at the plaster, bony hands poke through holes. Their eyes are flat and white, their skin pale. The heroine is told not to leave her room after dark, but she will, as she is deeply compelled to uncover who and what are these children. This novel is the first in ‘The Transgression Cycle’ series--two other books are currently available. I can’t wait to read them all!
