I would like to thank the author for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Phantasmagoria Books
Published – Out Now
Price – £9.99 paperback £3.99 ebook
A healthy diet. Exercise. Sleep. Things to arm yourself with to promote good health and longevity.
But no one goes through life unscathed when accidents, sickness and disease can happen. Still, you have the chance to fight back with treatment, medicine and rest. And with these things on your side, the odds of winning are good. You may even make a full recovery.
Unless you go where the roaches are . . .
Of course, hospitals are really wonderful – they heal the sick but let’s face it we don’t enjoy going to them. It means we are sick and that reminds us we are mortal. On top of that they’re places more for function than form. Endless looping corridors, bright lights and even in the dead of night you’ll hear things. There are many reasons hospitals get a disquieting reputation. In CC Adams’ excellent horror novella Where The Roaches Are we get a skilfully told tale of a hospital in the 1980s that will raise chills not just about the supernatural but the more human horrors than can be just as terrifying.
The story tells us a day and night in the life of St James’ Hospital in Southwest London back in 1988. A young and nervous nurse named Jocelyn is about to discover a hospital visitor dead on the floor. Her neck broken by 180 degrees and covered with cockroaches. This will set up a series of escalating encounters for the staff and patients. St James’ is not and never will be a safe place.
This is a brilliant piece of storytelling where Adams creates a mosaic novel using a set cast and timeline to tell a much bigger story. This is very much achieved in the first section where we meet the young Jocelyn and Adams very powerfully creates a 1980s hospital ward in the days of a Thatcher underfunded NHS. You can smell the antiseptic, the concrete and the not-so-great food. This section introduces the main characters and also the tensions in the hospital the rude patients, the kind and very hostile staff and for Jocelyn dealing with the everyday racism and bullying that was not something people even seemed to feel they needed to hide (the more things change, eh?). Jocelyn’s story is a wonderful set piece making her such a sympathetic and very easy to know humane character that Adams then shifts markedly and creates an impact across all the other tales the story has in store for us. Horror can be brutal even to the kindest souls.
We then follow a number of other stories that intersect with Jocelyn’s. A tired and stressed Dr Moorcock who perhaps is trying to hide too much from his mind that secrets will end up revealing themselves in unexpected ways. Then we have the unpleasant Mr Shin Chan who is immobile and rages at the world but hides his own shame and despair that is just too enticing for someone (or something) to ignore. There is a fascinating confrontation looming between the kindly but very ethereal Luke a patient who perhaps sees too much and the cruel and imperious Sister Alicia who feels she can bully anyone especially if they are not white.
Adams really makes each character we meet complex and layered that their story unpeels what goes on behind their hospital manners. We get to understand their fears, motivations and histories and it never feels like clunky exposition. As the cast intersect with each other’s tales, we get to see how others perceive them and then also see what was going on in their heads at the same time. Just as much as there is the supernatural in a variety of forms, we also get a study in the social issues of the tie that feels still relevant now. It’s a very skilful piece of storytelling that is delightfully lean and pacy yet constantly feeds the story. Strange things build on in each story and cockroaches get even more sinister than usual. Adams does have an expiation for what is going on but doesn’t overplay it and that sense of immense mystery still lingers across the story. The finale feels a very suitable clash of characters and perhaps someone trying to stop this force. But the thing about horror is that it really doesn’t often care if you’re naughty or nice. It’s a very impactful finale that suggest this story is never going to quite be over.
Halloween itself may be over but for horror fans we keep this on our hearts, and I think as the days and nights get colder this is a perfect slice of horror to keep you entertained. I strongly recommend it!
