The August Derleth Award is the British Fantasy Award for Best Horror Novel, and The Hollows has been shortlisted for it. I decided to read the other shortlisted novels and post my thoughts about them, so here goes. Today the final spotlight falls on Sarah Gailey's Just Like Home.
Just Like Home is a darkly gothic thriller from nationally bestselling author Sarah Gailey, perfect for fans of Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House.
Going home is always hard.
For Vera, going home means returning to the notorious Crowder House where her serial killer father murdered his victims and buried their bodies beneath.
Then notes start to appear in Vera's father's handwriting - but they can't be from him. He has been dead for years.
Vera thought that the house had given up all its secrets but now she must uncover how deep the rot goes.
Disclaimer: It should, of course, go without saying, but this is my personal opinion and nothing more. Yours may be different, and that's cool.
Daniel's thoughts:
This book blew me away.
I’ve read a couple of things by Gailey before – notably River of Teeth, an alternate-history sort-of-Western with hippos. Which sounds absurd, but… trust me. Read it.
Just Like Home is something else, though. Just Like Home is a major work. It may even be a classic of the horror genre. And I do not say that lightly.
The actual writing is amazing. A calm, understated voice, not showy or extravagant, but that brings the setting and the characters to life, making the final revelations even more devastating. I was drawn in from the word go, and couldn’t look away.
Yes, there are twists and turns in the plot as well. We think we know who these people are, but no one in this book is quite what they seem, least of all Vera herself. I loved as well the complexity of the family relationships. Vera’s father was a serial killer, but adored her, cared for and protected her and she still loves the memory of him deeply. Gailey doesn’t go the route many writers would of demonising Francis Crowder or making Vera’s fond memories of him a lie, and the story and the characters are all the more unsettling, and effective, because of that.
There are monsters in this book, and they’re not always where – or who, or what – you expect them to be.
I’m still, a week or two after reading it, trying to process my feelings about Just Like Home fully. If I was on this year’s awards jury, this is the one I’d have voted for – against very stiff competition, I might add. As I said, this is a book that I think will be read for years to come, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s held up, in any future we may have, as an actual classic.
And now, I think, I need to go and read some more Sarah Gailey.
The winner of the 2023 August Derleth Award will be announced on Saturday 16th September, at the British Fantasy Awards ceremony at Fantasycon. Good luck to all of us: Tim Mendees, Catriona Ward, Gemma Amor, Sarah Gailey... and even, I guess, Daniel Church. :)
You can buy Just Like Home here.
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