The Watchers: A. M. Shine

A lot of people seem not to have liked this because of a seeming lack of action and some verbosity. Interestingly, those are the exact reasons why I enjoyed it so much. So many modern horror novels rely on the quick horror-fixes, gory set-ups, overused and cliched tropes. I’m rarely tempted beyond the ‘read inside’ for the preponderance of repeat images or the inability to find a decent verb. Shine’s debut passed that test in spades.

I was hooked from the start by the quality of the writing. Yes … at times it could do with fewer similes, blah-de-blah maybe, but overall this is a very well-crafted novel, the narrative easing you into an intense and claustrophobic situation during which the tiny ensemble of characters battle for their survival against an horrific enemy.

Throughout I had questions: how did the coop get there? Who built it? How, given the circumstances of the forest? They were, of course all anticipated and answered, the plot slowly revealing itself and unfolding into a perilous escape. I genuinely didn’t see the twist in the tale, for which I thank the author. Horror is in my bones so its been a while since I’ve not been able to predict an ending.

I thought the mythical element was interesting – if expositionary, which was a shame. A device had to be used to reveal it, but that’s okay, it was logically integrated into the plot but it would have been nice to have had more of that angle. All the characters were Irish, so there would have been scope to explore the mysticism through one of them too, perhaps? But… not my story, so … overall, really well done. Would recommend this to anyone and am really looking forward to the film.