Book Review: "The Artist" by Inigo Mort

I had this weird urge to read horror novels again and so, I sought out the Kindle Unlimited section of Amazon. I found a few that I'd like to read, but I don't think it is just me who is having a small issue with Amazon at the moment so please tell me if you feel the same. When seeking out horror novels, I seem to be getting tons of 'sponsored ads' for books. Some of these are horror novels, others are not. Quite literally, half of the page of results would be sponsored ads. I got rather annoyed but hey - at least I found some books.

The Artist starts with a strange prologue set in a body of water but then, moves back to a group of people who run a start-up about art trading who go on holiday together. They go to a cabin that used to be owned by an artist who was known as a wholesome almost 'Bob Ross' kind of character from the 90s. The only problem was, one day, this guy simply vanished into thin air. Inigo Mort definitely peaks our interest by starting off with a group of people, a storyline which feels simple and easy to push yourself into as the reader. There's not too much back-and-forth at the start and so, we can definitely feel like there must be something creeping, something wrong.

As the story moves along, we see the friends become stressed and pained. Charlotte - the only girl in the group, wants to leave the company for good after having problems with another friend she's been romantically entangled with named Ryan. Our main character, Drew, is taking the brunt of the emotional labour - often being a shoulder to cry on and ultimately takes Charlotte on a walk to calm her down and speak to her. Developer friend, Grey, sits in his room as coding is his special place. He is the most important person in the company and never goes outside. So, when one of them winds up dead on the porch, the other three have to lock in. But when their only mode of transport - an SUV - is lost to a lake, they realise that they might not be able to get out. Oh and someone has recently painted Grey into one of the paintings. Spooky stuff...

Inigo Mort manages to capture the reader's imagination of what it would be like if you saw something you couldn't quite put your finger on, only to witness some strange happenings related to it later. There's something qutie disturbing about the fast-paced nature of the text as well. We expect long-drawn out atmosphere, but everything happens as though it was designed to happen, which makes it even creepier. Mort doesn't hone in on details, instead there are barely more than a few lines dedicated to important events in a 'blink-and-you'll-miss-it' style. It all feels as though it was meant to happen.

As we get more of the story, we learn that there's a certain Faustian pact involved with the paintings, which is why they could never be sold. And yet, it doesn't really end there. Some of the characters have quite intense secrets that they aren't sharing with others, some of them concerning the paintings themselves. This is one of the things that links us back to the prologue. It's weird because at first, you don't really think that the prologue means anything until they start telling the story in the midst of the narrative concerning the artists who were filming expressive dance routines with the paintings whilst in the forest. The way different things in the narrative link together definitely feels more engaging than just a straight story.

All in all, by the end of this book, I definitely felt like I had read something that was a blend between survival horror and folk horror. It felt very monster-esque whilst also keeping a contemporary pacing. The writer definitely gave us a lot to think about and used some tropes of old to bring out some of the more dangerous and supernatural themes in the narrative. Even though I've not heard of this author before, I can say that I'll probably be checking out more of their works soon.