Crimson

In the 1950's, the small town of Dunnville was shocked by an unspeakable crime. Jacob Harrison, a well-liked man butchered his entire family. Even more disgusting was the revelation that he had cannibalized their remains. Jacob hung himself in an upstairs room but when the police went to remove his body, all that was left was the noose and Harrison's body was never found. Cut ahead some twenty years later and a single mom and her son have moved into the old Harrison home. Johnny soon makes friends with other local boys and when they are searching the Harrison farm to find a spot to build a clubhouse, they uncover an old stairway and an underground room. They release a frightening evil entity that haunts their nights and terrifies them during the day. Is this Jacob Harrison? Or something worse? Crimson calls up comparisons to Stephen King's "It". Like that book, we have a slice of small town life thrown into chaos by pure evil. If anything, Rollo's story is much more visceral than "It" and it's opening prelude is disturbing to say the least. I love these kind of small town horrors because life there can be so claustrophobic that it adds to the terror. And then Rollo starts in with the leeches...I hate leeches, and Crimson is filled with them to the point of nausea. What is also effective about the story is the fact that you don't know what the group of boys is dealing with. Is this really Old Man Harrison, somehow surviving being hung? Or is this the force which drove him to murder and devour his family. The fun is in the discovery!

I have read both of Gord Rollo's books and he is a really good writer. His books flow and are hard to put down. I can't wait for his next book.

This is one of the books that seemed to change a little during the course of reading it. At times the story and character progress was being pulled in directions that I didn't see coming, and for those reasons I was very pleased and happy. What started out as an entertaining coming of age horror story turned into a suspenseful race to the end of two (three) of it's characters. I still feel sorry for David.

When I was still relatively new to horror fiction, I had an assumption that every horror writer needed to write a kids vs. a monster story. Stephen King did it with It (among other stories) and Dan Simmons did it with Summer of Night. Of course, there is no such requirement, and most authors have not written such a book. Gord Rollo, however, has given it a shot with Crimson, a book that owes at least a little to It. In a small Canadian town called Dunnville, Mary Page and her ten-year-old son Johnny have moved into the notorious Harrison house, where decades earlier, the patriarch did some horrible things to his family. The evil thing that sparked this murderous rampage is now sleeping in a well, but the Pages' presence has reawakened it. When Johnny has some friends over, the monster torments them all, occupying their nightmares and threatening their waking world as well. Soon enough, one boy will be dead, and one will strike an unholy bargain with the monster. Crimson is divided into three parts, following the characters as pre-teens, nineteen year olds and as adults. Between the parts, the monster lies dormant, plotting its next moves. In the second part, it will initiate a serial killing spree, and in the third part, its full plan will become known. While Rollo has stuck to horror for his second novel, Crimson is quite different from his previous book, The Jigsaw Man. It's the sign of a good writer when he shows true variety in story. While generally good, however, Crimson has its flaws, primarily in the final section, where there is a lot of exposition to explain what the monster truly is, which both slows the pace down and overly complicates things. Overall, however, Crimson is entertaining and shows that Rollo is someone to watch in the world of horror.

Last year, Gord Rollo debuted with his first novel "The Jigsaw Man" and established himself as a premier voice in horror fiction. Though his follow-up effort "Crimson" lacks some of "Jigsaw's" emotional punch, it's still a frightening ride. His voice is strong and he continues to frighten and entertain. The novel begins with a jolt: an unthinkable, bloody act, and then settles into a haunting tale that ends with a twist. From the moment Johnny moved to Dunnville, he and Pete, Tommy and David were best of friends. They hung out, talked about "guy stuff" and did things that boys do. The only problem? Johnny and his mother moved into Old Man Harrison's place; an old house haunted by the legend of a man who murdered his whole family. They avoid playing there for awhile, but a Saturday afternoon outing there is inevitable. What they find is unspeakable evil. A being of incalculable malice has slept in an old well since the horrible day of Old Man Harrison's slaughter. All this time it's been waiting for new flesh to play with. When Johnny and his friends accidentally disturb its underwater sleep, they're exposed to an evil that will torment them for the rest of their days. In many ways, "Crimson" displays Gordo's versatility. While "The Jigsaw Man" offered wrenching questions about quality of life, "Crimson" is a classic tale that never looses its strength: how timeless evil follows unfortunate souls and dominates their destiny. His characterization of four boys faced with a horror their parents dismiss is authentic, and he doesn't take this novel to its expected "childhood friends band together to destroy evil" conclusion. A few reviews may be overly enthusiastic, however. One claims "Crimson is (Stephen King's) It's superior in every possible way." This isn't quite accurate, because "Crimson" doesn't have the same depth as It...but then again, what recent novel does? Aside from that, Gord Rollo's second outing is perfect to curl up with on late, cold winter nights. It'll make you wonder what's hiding at the bottom of your well.