Gothic - You won't be able to stop reading this one
I’ve always been a fan of Philip Fracassi’s work. I’ve enjoyed everything that I’ve read by him. So while I was looking forward to his new novel Gothic, I had no idea how much I would enjoy it. I‘ve never written it down, but there is a list in my head of all of my favorite books on it. There are maybe 15 or 20 books on it out of the thousands I’ve read in my life that I consider to be all time favorites. It’s really hard for a book to get on that list. Gothic is on the list and I knew it would be there at about the halfway mark. It’s that good.
For his birthday, famous writer Tyson Parks receives as a gift from his longtime girlfriend, Sarah, an antique desk. Tyson has been struggling to write a good novel and Sarah hopes the new deal will spark some new creativity in him. What neither Sarah nor Tyson realize is that the desk is haunted. From there—as they usually do in horror novels—things devolve.
I don’t want to give too much away because I think it’s better to go into this book knowing very little about the plot. I knew next to nothing other than that there was a haunted desk. One of the things I did like about this book was the character of Tyson. While I’m not yet a NY Times bestselling author with an agent receiving advances on my books, I do understand what it’s like to be a working writer day in and day out. I think Fracassi nailed Tyson perfectly. From the very beginning I could understand and empathize with Tyson and his motivations at the beginning of the book. As the story goes on…not so much.
Another thing Fracassi does as well as any writer out there is drag the reader through the story. There is something happening in every chapter of Gothic. As a reader, you don’t have to read two or three chapters to get into the book. You’re right there, engrossed in the book from the first chapter and you don’t want to put it down until you’ve finished because each chapter makes you want to keep on reading. There is the sense of exhilaration when you’re turning the page to see what happens and there is something even darker and more horrific on the next page. There are other writers that do this very well, right now, after having read A Child Alone with Strangers and now Gothic I can say Fracassi does it better than most.
If you’re a fan of fast-paced ghost stories with a new twist, this book is definitely for you.
