Maryneal 1962 by Abigail F Taylor

I would like to thank the author for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Wild Ink Publishing

Published – 24/6

Price – £13.99 paperback £3.63 ebook

NB – A proportion of pre-order Sales will be going to The Family Place an organisation that helps people escape domestic violence

Warned by a soothsayer at a traveling fair that something evil is about to come to Maryneal, sixteen-year-old Delah Nix chalks it up to carnie theatrics and ignores the woman's suggestion to leave before dark. But then her sister is savagely attacked on their way home, and her murder leaves the small farming community stunned. The authorities scramble to place the blame on a deranged man, the carnival workers, and even the nearby Indigenous community.

Delah, however, starts to suspect that something supernatural is afoot when a childhood friend, bitten in an attempt to save Delah's sister, gains powers and a thirst for the county's livestock. As much as he is enjoying his super speed and perfect hearing, Delah senses there will come a point of no return and begins to desperately search for a way to save her friend before he hurts himself or the girl they both love. With the full moon approaching and no salvation in sight, Delah is faced with an unconscionable decision: If she can't find a cure, she'll have to kill the boy next door.

History is supposed to be set in stone but as any good fan of time travel will tell you its also relative and in someways always changing. Our understanding of any period often evolves with greater research and also people realising that these perspectives are written often by the winning demographic. Even supposedly staid periods can be more varied than we think. In Abigail F Taylor’s engrossing Maryneal 1962 we are visiting a seemingly peaceful small US town that is about to be visited by horror and at the same time excellent character work pulls us into a town that very quickly feels incredibly real.

Sixteen year old Delah Nix lives in the town of Maryneal and is excited that for the first time her father is allowing her unchaperoned to the travelling fair. Taking her sister Kitty they sense adventure and a chance to meet their friends. But tragedy strikes when they are attacked by a strange beast who seems to be one of the fairground staff. Delah’s friend Manny gets involved and injured. When the town think at last the culprit has been found strange incidents start suggesting something else is now going on. Delah fears she and her friends are in danger especially as Hardy seems to have new strength, improved senses plus changes in his personality and may be a danger to everyone he loves.

So many stories like to just plunge us into the action but Taylor’s story really works thanks to the characters they creates especially Delah who is our narrator. Delah really captures the family dynamics of a young woman on the cusp of adulthood starting to think less like a child. We see her very authentic sisterly relationship with Kitty, her friendships and the interactions when groups of boys meet girls. You can smell the popcorn, hear the rides and barkers shouting. It’s an incredibly real feeling of Americana we can see in many classic tales and then Taylor smashes it up with horror.

One of the highlights of this story and a reminder that this is a 21st century tale is that when horror comes it delivered sharp. The tragic attack on Kitty is really well handled and I also have to say Taylor does amazing work on the immediate aftermath. You can feel a community and also a family hit hard by grief. The story allows us to breathe, feel the pain and watch dynamics shift as Delah suddenly tries to process this. Often horror focused on the attacks but we also should see consequences as the tonal changes in Delah underline how hurt she is.

A fan of horror should by now have noticed the classic signs of which type of story this may be. Full moon, beasts that may be men and someone injured saving someone. Yes you’re right but Taylor gives the classic a very well paced character focused set of tales. After the death of Kitty we get a slow build of incidents all suggesting this is not over and at the heart is Kitty’s friend Hardy.

Another part of the story that impressed me is how Delah starts to realise that while Hardy is clearly interested in her she is actually finding herself quite interested in her friend Barbie. It’s small town American in 1962 and here we have a tale of a young woman discovering her sexuality. This is really well handled again. We feel Delah’s confusion, her attempts to date boys and also people she feels comfortable enough to talk to. In 1962 this is not easy and up to them Delah was very much a woman going to be welded to Maryneal and yet now she is aware her world may be very different. It’s a really beautiful bit of character work and helps us sympathise with Delah not just having to process her sister’s death but also her own life. Indeed as we meet the young of Maryneal they all feel well drawn characters some have issues of their own and with Hardy we see a young man being balanced between two natures and making his own choices.

This all leads to an excellent final act as Delah and Hardy collide and the horror that erupts is powerfully delivered and on a large scale. Maryneal once again will be rocked hard by what is about to happen. This time though Delah is aware of what is going on and is ready to act.

Maryneal 1962 is a great engrossing horror novel that works because of that balance between character and horror. The period setting reminds us that people have always been complicated and that people coming to term switch their speciality also is not a recent event. I highly recommend this to horror fans.