I would like to thank Orbit for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher - Orbit
Published - Out Now
Price - £10.99 paperback £2.99 ebook
Newly trained child psychologist Mina has little experience. In a field full of experts, she's been unable to find work, instead aimlessly spending her days stuck in the stifling heat wave sweeping across Britain. So it feels like a welcome reprieve when journalist Sam Hunter approaches her with a proposition.
Alice Webber is a thirteen-year-old girl who claims she's being haunted by a witch. Living with her family in the remote Cornish village of Banathel, Alice's symptoms are increasingly disturbing. Taking this job will give Mina some experience, Sam will get the scoop of a lifetime, and Alice will get better - Mina is sure of it.
But as Alice's behaviour becomes increasingly inexplicable and intense, the dark cracks in Banathel begin to show. The village has a deep history of superstition and witchcraft. They believe there is evil in the world, and they have ways of . . . dealing with it. Mina is desperate to understand how deep their sinister traditions go - and how her own past may be the biggest threat of all.
The power of belief in strong the idea of wanting to believe may be stronger and not just give a tv show a good motto and t shirt design. To know there is more than this life is enticing but it can push us to extremes and perhaps make us not notice what is going on around us where the true horrors may be lurking. These are the themes explored in Daisy Pearce’s very atmospheric horror novel Something In the Walls which offers a well balanced but chilling tale of desperation.
Mina thought she wanted to marry Oscar rational and ordered fiancé. Live in a normal house and live the life of a professional couple in the Britain of 1989. But Mina is also troubled by the death of her younger brother Eddie and thinking she has seen him in a recent picture sends her to a support group. She bonds with an equally troubled journalist Sam who upon realising Mina is a recently qualified child psychologist offers her to help him investigate a case of a young teenager who may be able to channel ghosts. A trip to a remote village in Cornwall staying either this troubled family makes Mina reappraise all she knows.
I really enjoyed this story. Pearce uses Mina in first person to tell the story and does a great job at creating a sympathetic main character who soon realises this case is not just a piece of work but also her dealing with her own path. A chance not to go down the traditional route she appears to have gone on.
The actual location is very well handled. Alice is a 13 year old girl in a very working class family and location where everyone knows everyone. For Alice to suddenly claim she talks to the dead brings out the believers and those keen to mock her and both groups are themselves disturbing. Around Alice strange things happen, secrets get known and Mina has to work through is this possession or a very troubled child. Pearce skilfully melds this with the folklore of witches and the local history of the village which has not a great history of tolerance for witches.
What really impressed me is the story makes many things frightening. Yes we get the traditional very spooky occurrences but Pearce is very versatile . Walking into a deserted cottage, a troubled man describing life working in an abattoir and the various locals can seem off. What Pearce for me does well is show there may be rational explanations and indeed terrifying ones without any supernatural forces but add those in and things get even creepier. that ambiguity is a really skilled balancing act largely pulled off.
For me the book’s finale perhaps goes too large. Suddenly things move into more classic folk horror and there is a reveal that seemingly comes out of nowhere explaining this location. It felt unlikely even with a 1989 setting. Despite that there is great satisfaction with some parts of they ending and it also keeps up the ambiguity over what will happen next.
Something In the Walls is a fine and effective take of belief and how even the most normal of durations can go bump in the night. I think a very suitable tale for the season and highly recommend it.