Captain Hal Stirling is a bomb disposal expert. Flown home to recuperate after being hurt by an IED in Afganistan, he begins the journey to the ancestral pile, Stirling Towers and his sick mother, for Christmas. Stopping on the way, he spends a little time with his mistress, Sumiko and her daughter, attempting to persuade Sumiko to spend Christmas with him at his home.
Already I'm a bit confused. The author tells the reader that Hal hates his home and so does Sumiko. His childhood was unhappy, both he and Sumiko believe the house is creepy in the extreme and Sumiko's daughter is positively frightened of the place. Moreover, Sumiko is married. Yet she say's she will consider it, which Hal believe's to be a 'yes'. Huh?
On arrival home, Hal meets 2 'nurses' who have cared for his mother. We learn that she has died and been hastily buried according, we are told, to her wishes. Creepy things begin to happen fast and furiously and it's difficult, and at times impossible, to tell whether Hal is suffering from delusions brought about by the post-traumatic stress of his Afgan experience, whether he's being drugged or whether there really is something supernatural going on. It makes for very disjointed reading.
Whenever I read a story like this, or see a film of a similar kind of story, I find my common sense kicking in. Why stay when you don't have to? OK, so a bond disposal expert is a danger-junky, I get that, but a bomb and the supernatural are exactly the same kind of thing. I love fiction, and am no stranger to suspending disbelief, but this tale was told in a disjointed, confused fashion that was really hard to follow. Very short chapters, unexplained quotations, flashbacks to scenes with no context; it all made for hard work.
Not a very satisfying experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment