Seven Cleopatra Hill - Bigfoot, Ghosts, Demons Oh My!
I want to start off this review by saying I now know Justin Holley is a much smarter and more capable writer than I will ever be. If Holley had pitched me his newest book, Seven Cleopatra Hill, I would have said there was no way he could pull it off. It has so many moving parts it should either be a 1,000 page doorstop or have the density of Proust. Seven Cleopatra Hill shouldn’t work, but it does. In fact, it is pure yummy buttered popcorn and I couldn’t get enough.
Mr. Holley takes us to the seemingly quiet town of Jerome, nestled in the mountains of Arizona. On top of the mountain nearest to the town is the Jerome Grand Hotel, which at the start of the story is getting ready to host a convention of romance authors. All is well until the weather service reports a winter storm the likes of which has not been seen for 30 years. The town comes to a near standstill. Those convention goers who refused to leave are snowbound in the old historic mountaintop lodge.
That’s when things turn bad. While the town is crippled by bad weather, prominent citizens attempt to go on a murder spree in service to a cult. (I hate it when that happens!) This turns out to be tied to a legend (but is it just a legend?) about a beast that comes back every 30 years under cover of a snow storm to kill unless it’s eager cult serves it a plate of sacrificial death. In some of this it is hard not to see echoes of Stephen King’s The Shining and IT, intentional or not. Snowy lodges of death populated by writers and ghosts plus a beastly thing that comes around once every 30 years or so… well, that just can’t be an accident. Right?
The thing that stands out the most about Seven Cleopatra Hill is just how many factors Justin Holley is able to keep in play. In the course of just 262 pages, you're confronted with ghosts, demons, bigfoot, cultists, magic, Native American lore and mysticism, psychic kids, possession, and the hidden history of a small town without ever getting bogged down. In fact, the plotting is so well managed that it never seems overwhelming. For me, it wasn’t until I put the novel down and started to take stock that I realized just how much the main characters (and I, by extension) had just dealt with.
My other favorite aspect of this novel is the characters. Holley utilizes the “ragtag group of people caught in a bad situation banding together to get through it all” archetype extremely well. There’s the police chief Robbie with his knowledge of and care for the town that’s matched only by his bravado. Robbie is backed by his able deputy Angela who finds herself in the middle of all this chaos just as she finds new love in the beautiful Em. There’s Vic, the romance writer caught up in this whole situation with her husband James, who had mostly been looking forward to a leisurely weekend at the Grand Lodge and a lot of sex. Perhaps my favorite two characters were the kids. There’s the psychic little girl Janey with an unsettling predilection for “the c-word” and her 14 year old brother Miles who is wise well beyond his years. Each character is well constructed. They live and breathe. You actually care about what happened to them and if they will make it in the end.
Once again, what stands out most for me is that Holley manages to ably handle a cast of seven protagonists in addition to all the above mentioned story elements without getting the whole thing muddled or needing 1,000 pages. I think that’s some first class writing to be honest.
I recommend this book. It’s a lot of fun. Has Mr. Holley written a timeless classic for the ages which will be taught in English Departments throughout the world? Okay. Probably not. But I don’t think he was ever aiming for that target. I think he was going for a first rate beach read or something to spook you out at night before you drift off to sweet oblivion. On that score, he does admirably. Honestly, I think you’ll enjoy nearly every moment of this book.
Don’t want to miss anything on the site? Sign up for our newsletter HERE
Want more spooky reads? Just search below:
