Wild Spaces by S L Coney
I would like to thank Titan for an advance copy of this novella in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher - Titan
Published - Out Now
Price - £9.99 hardcover £7.99 Kindle eBook
A young boy’s life is upended after the arrival of his grandfather, who is hiding a terrifying secret in this sweltering southern gothic horror, perfect for fans of Cassandra Khaw and John Langan.
An eleven-year-old boy lives an idyllic childhood exploring the remote coastal plains and wetlands of South Carolina alongside his parents and his dog Teach. But when the boy’s eerie and estranged grandfather shows up one day with no warning, cracks begin to form as hidden secrets resurface that his parents refuse to explain.
The longer his grandfather outstays his welcome and the greater the tension between the adults grows, the more the boy feels something within him changing―physically―into something his grandfather welcomes and his mother fears. Something abyssal. Something monstrous.
The world through the eyes of a child is a mystifying place. The secrets rules of adults and slowly finding out the truth is never straightforward is a hard learning curve. Understandably many horror tales focus on the innocent child thrown into a terrifying situation be it a strange hotel or battling ghosts. In S L Coney’s evocative horror novella Wild Spaces we have a haunting tale of a family where the past finally catches up with them and wrecks a terrible revenge.
A nameless boy and his parents are surprised and worried when their house on the coast is visited by his maternal grandfather. A man who fills the atmosphere just by his personality and invites himself to stay with them.
The family feel the sudden strain of a man who loves salt, judges his daughter’s husband and shows a growing fascination for the boy’s upbringing. A man who loved to go into the sea even when there is a storm playing out. Slowly the boy realises the interloper is not seeking a family reunion but his own grisly satisfaction.
This is a powerful and spellbinding novella that while in some ways adopts the form of a fairytale - no one is ever named, it’s all primarily viewed with a focus on the boy this is an adult tale. Coney has forced us to watch at a distance and so we are the silent witness to the family drama playing out. We slowly interpret what the boy is incapable of understanding and that makes us on guard a lot faster than the child - that’s a lot more terrifying when we find this man does not like his daughter or her husband and something has clearly happened in the past that made her run from this man.
Coney’s writing is beautifully atmospheric with a focus on the natural atmosphere. The writing has a sense of quiet power. Like the sea outside the boy’s house this is a gathering storm of a tale. The kind of story people whisper when the lights fail to hold an audience’s attention. it was a pleasure to read how scenes unfurled and a simple beach scene oozes with tension and danger. Coney is not afraid for bad things to happen to this family and I also stress their pet. We gradually realise the grandfather is not quite human which casts questions over exactly why is he so interested in the boy.
The finale is a bewitching combination of heartbreak, terror and just a dash of hope. Bad things will happen to good people but just perhaps good in some form will triumph. Coney doesn’t explain everything and the tale is not nearly tied up. That I think helps our sense of horror we have to put the pieces together and we know the future ahead will be hard. Not everyone lives happily ever after forever.
Wild Spaces is a beautiful and suspenseful horror tale that pulled me in to reading it in one sitting. I loved the storytelling and dark lyrical language that made the story come alive. Highly recommended!
