Desolation Leisure Horror Horror Book Review

Cain grew up in an environment that was far from desirable…being raised in isolation and experimented upon by his father, he never understood why his catcher cared more about Pure Sight than about loving and caring for his son and he’s much more comfortable alone than he is with other people.  When he was 16 his father died and he went to Afresh where he spent years in therapy trying to understand and recover from what happened to him.  After 6 years Cain is finally ready to leave Afresh, and as we join the story he’s just moving into a half-way house (13 Endless Crescent) where the residents are a bit odd themselves…or so Peter (the landlord) tells him upon arrival. 


Billed as a horror story, there is surprisingly little of it…there is a bit of gore, but mostly this is a slow paced (occasionally tedious), atmospheric, and chock full of characters with no redeeming qualities.  Luckily, while there really isn’t a “good guy” in this book, the characters are all quirky and interesting (for what little we learn about them).  I suspect, should the author want to, he could make a book out of each one, the back story, which is only hinted at in Desolation, sounded a great deal more interesting than most of this one.  The bulk of the premise here is predicated on a “race” of people who find “the way” though psychic ability (which manifests differently for each person) and that here is a society of these people who feel and act as if the rules of society don’t apply to them…there seems to be an emphasis that they aren’t better, just different, but really, in the end, that’s how it felt.  These characters are better (more) than mere humans and that shines through, and though they are better, they aren’t benevolent or “good” by any stretch of the imagination. 


In the end, this is the kind of book that hooks you from the start and about halfway through you wonder why you’re still reading it, but you find you can’t stop or look away.  Desolation is slow, bleak, and almost entirely depressing, yet it still manages to be interesting and entertaining.  This probably isn’t a horror novel for everyone, as it’s not your usual gore fest, nor is it action packed.  This is, in my opinion, great late night reading!  I give it three stars, the idea has promise, but the delivery is a lot slower and more tedious than I would have liked. I give it kudos for making me really feel like I was inside Cain’s head, feeling how he felt and the pace matched his own capacity to process what happened in the past and what is happing in the here and now.  That’s something that you just don’t get very often!