Book Review: "Summer of the Monsters" by David Sodergren

I am back reading David Sodergren novels. In the past, I have enjoyed The Haar and The Forgotten Island and honestly, nothing has topped that first one as of yet but some have been pretty close. I've often praised David Sodergren's novels for being more than just meaningless gore. Instead, they have this weird extended metaphor that runs beneath them, the gore simply adding a layer to the horrors of all that is happening. Sodergren's novels are written often in atmospheric and quite fun ways - often creating whole backstories to characters and situations in a novel that also doesn't overwhelm the reader with information. Let's take a look at this one then, entitled Summer of the Monsters...

At the beginning of the novel, Lucy Brannigan is in her forties. She visits a farmhouse from her youth. According to the story, this is the very worst summer of her whole life and she's very reluctant to do this. David Sodergren definitely opens the sense of dread with this question that goes through the character's mind: how did I survive all those years ago? It is probably an expected trope, but the author manages to make it really interesting by having the main character physically move to the location and also describe those revisited emotions, keeping the pace of the emotional trauma quite constant and the language very atmospheric.

Relocating from Edinburgh to Helsbridge were 16-year-old Lucy and her father, a struggling writer named Brian. There's a definitely folk horror atmosphere. It's a small town surrounded by woods and ominous looking stuff like scarecrows. I'm pretty sure the landscape was probably inspired in part by 'The Wicker Man' and if it wasn't, I am very surprised at how well it has been formed. A folk horror atmosphere is very difficult to do well and make as deep as physically possible.

Lucy is bullied at school and at night, it gets even worse. There's ominous and strange things happening around the town. There are screams during the night, the scarecrows smile in the darkness in otherworldly ways and Lucy definitely notices that things aren't quite right around the area. She increasingly becomes more and more confused and afraid. She ultimately befriends a creature named Sammo. Sammo is rumoured to be a violent creature but Lucy finds him to be quite kind. David Sodergren definitely makes Lucy's loneliness and isolation the centre of the whole story, part and parcel is the extended metaphor of grief that underlines the entire text.

Lucy's bully is a girl named Isobel and yet, she befriends Isobel's brother - Rab. At this time as well, Helsbridge is being attacked by malevolent forces as monsters begin to emerge in the nighttime. They look kind of like crab-like entites and they want to eat humans - it is actually terrifying. Brian is still struggling with grief and yet, he begins to change after meeting Lucy's art teacher. This is the small glimmer of hope within the dangerous horrors of the novel.

One thing I often love about David Sodergren's writing is the fact that he doesn't do just one thing at a time. There's often a few storylines that come together to make the whole novel. This keeps the novel interesting to read whilst also scaring the hell out of the reader. I think he does this on purpose: get the reader invested in the characters and stories going on, add some absolute terror within and the reader, who cannot stop reading, must endure the horrors. It is a fantastic way to engage the reader, but it is also a great way to keep the novel filled with everything - not just the random acts of violence and gore.

All in all, this was another great novel by David Sodergren. A fantastic novel that feels filled with a folk horror atmosphere, Sodergren gives us another scary, chilling story that weaves together different storylines, has characters that often feel real because of their relatable issues and has deep and meaningful themes such as isolation, alienation and grief which are all explored in a great amount of ways. If you haven't read a David Sodergren novel then I definitely recommend that you begin. Even if horror does frighten you a bit. Do it. You won't regret it.