Book Review: "A Haunting in the Arctic" by C.J Cooke

The man was covered in seaween, gnarles fronds covering him like garlands. He was fully clothed and curled up by his bed, but his face had been gnawed to the bone, and the bloodied scratches on the wood of the door matched his missing fingernails. The two coastguard officers shared a long look. They circled the body slowly before crouching to inspect what had become of his legs. Beneath the town fabric of his trousers, they could see that the flesh had swollen and blackened. The mottled bare feet had split in two, no sign of the toenails, his toes lengthened to flaps of meat that had fused strangely together in a clean bisection. Like grotesque fish tails.

C.J Cooke is one of the most intruging authors of the 21st century so far, creating gothic novels that stay with the reader for a long time. To be perfectly honest with you, I cannot seem to forget her novel The Nesting even though it has been a pretty long time since I actually read it. Novels like The Lighthouse Witches and The Ghost Woods have proven to be huge hits with the modern gothic reading public and her newest book, A Haunting in the Arctic is just as much fun. At atmospheric gothic horror set in icy climes becomes part and parcel to the almost folkloric subgenre that brings us back to a world similar to The Nesting.

In 1901, Nicky is attacked and then wakes aboard a ship that is setting sail for whaling. There's no land for miles and Nicky has no idea where she is or what she is doing there. The only truth is that she is not necessarily safe. In the next one hundred years, the wreckage of the ship has washed up on the coast of Iceland. The urban explorer supporting character, Dominique, wants to research exactly what happened to it for it to be washed up so close to her as even those who have been aboard the wreckage have met with strange and terrible ends. As she boards the shipwreck, she sees clues and weird entities that lead her to believe that all was not well on the ship and that murder may have been involved at least. The one problem Dominque will have though is realising that aboard the shipwreck, she is not alone. Not for a second.

One thing that I love about C.J Cooke's novels is what I also love about this new one - her ability to create lovely picturesque and yet gothic descriptions of the Nordic areas from a blend of the realistic and the folkloric magic of them. Eerie and beautiful, often even sublime, the descriptions are filled with mood and tone intonation as the writer weaves them into the storyline which more than often is complete with gore and terror.

Another thing I loved was the opening. We get the body that is found aboard the ship and yet, everyone else who was there has mysteriously vanished without a trace. There is a lot of mystery that surrounds it yes, but the very description of the dead body is a clever act of misdirection by the author to turn you attention away from the fact that nobody else was found. The quotation I have included above is the description of that body and of course, this is going to be all you can think about for a while, even when you do realise there's nobody else around.

Another thing is the side-stories. When you find out who Nicky is, it becomes a terrifying thing to realise and think about. Then, when Dominique meets the explorers who have those strange agendas, it becomes even more multi-layered. The plot builds its layers like it builds it atmosphere - as you go through there are even more turns and traps, it is a brilliant half-crime half-horror novel.

All in all, I think that this might be one of C.J Cooke's better novels, alongside The Nesting this is definitely one of my favourite ones and I am looking forward to see whatever she writes next. She is quickly becoming one of my favourite writers of the modern era. And I can assure you that this is a fantastic book that is worth every penny you pay for it.