The Siren of Groves Peak by Glenn Rolfe
I would like to thank Flame Tree press for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Flame Tree Press
Published - Out Now
Price – £20 hardback £5:99 ebook
Groves Peak, Maine is home to a dark secret. The successful lobstering community is ready for summer, but a murder at sea changes everything. People are dying in the small coastal town, and the lobstermen are on edge.
Only one man knows the truth. His closet of skeletons is about to open, and no one is safe. Not even his daughter or her best friend. As a supernatural fury, homegrown dangers, and buried secrets coalesce into a series of real-life nightmares, friendships are tested, and heroes will fall. The Siren of Groves Peak reveals the true monsters in us all.
A small town is a key part of many a horror story. They’re isolated communities by nature so perfect for evil to decide to strike. Good authors also make those communities come alive as a series of feuds, love stories and family secrets all need to be revealed. So Glenn Rolfe’s horror novel The Siren of Groves fits neatly into this group of stories but I think pays a little too much homage to the past.
The fishermen of Groves Peak are rarely lacking a successful catch. It has brought wealth for many years. However, this relies on a secret that no one is willing to share to outsiders or those too young. Few knows how high the price has been and what damage it has caused the community. But one of the community has decided to take some revenge themselves and that unleashes the dark side of the Siren that lives hear the town. She wants to pay the town back and no one will stand in her way
On the one hand if you want an inventive bloody monster of the novel story then this delivers exactly what it says on the tin. Our Siren can transform from a beautiful woman into a much more dangerous form and at that point whoever she has seduced will soon die. Men may cross their legs at some parts of this book! A refreshing aspect of this story is the majority of victims are men. One theme I enjoyed was how the men’s desire for wealth has put many of their families and in particular the women of the town in second place so there is a reading of this story exploring how men often feel they can act out their desires without any real consideration for others.
But I’ve a few issues with this tale. Small town horror set in Maine that sounds familiar and here you may indeed get a strange dislocation as Rolfe I think is paying too much homage it really does feel like a 1980s tale with crusty fisherman, bars, a lot of 80s rock mentions and yet its all supposedly in the modern day. There are weirdly some flashback s but they too feel like the same period. Beyond that reversal to have men in danger I felt this story would have been better set back in the day and perhaps interrogate the time better. My other main issue is there are very few interesting characters everyone fills a plot point and even the notional two young women who may be needed to end things I felt lacked any inner life bar a love of 80s music and jokes. For a horror story where few survive it is fast enough this isn’t too jarring but a bit more depth I think would have really helped the story fly
The Siren of Groves Peak is an effective horror novel that knows what it is doing but seasoned readers may recognise the many nods to the past it gives and find that isn’t quite as effective as it could have been. But if you like the ideas of hapless men being taught a lesson then its entertaining!
