Josh Malerman: Unbury Carol (2018)
362 pages
English language
Published Jan. 21, 2018
"The Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Bird Box returns with a haunting tale of love, redemption, and murder. Carol Evers is a woman with a dark secret. She has died many times. but her many deaths are not final: They are comas,a waking slumber indistinguishable from death, each lasting days. Only two people know of Carol's eerie condition. One is her husband, Dwight, who married Carol for her fortune, and--when she lapses into another coma--plots to seize it by proclaiming her dead and quickly burying her. alive. The other is her lost love, the infamous outlaw James Moxie. When word of Carol's dreadful fate reaches him, Moxie rides the Trail again to save his beloved from an early, unnatural grave. And all the while, awake and aware, Carol fights to free herself from the crippling darkness that binds her--summoning her own fierce will to survive. As the players in this …
"The Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Bird Box returns with a haunting tale of love, redemption, and murder. Carol Evers is a woman with a dark secret. She has died many times. but her many deaths are not final: They are comas,a waking slumber indistinguishable from death, each lasting days. Only two people know of Carol's eerie condition. One is her husband, Dwight, who married Carol for her fortune, and--when she lapses into another coma--plots to seize it by proclaiming her dead and quickly burying her. alive. The other is her lost love, the infamous outlaw James Moxie. When word of Carol's dreadful fate reaches him, Moxie rides the Trail again to save his beloved from an early, unnatural grave. And all the while, awake and aware, Carol fights to free herself from the crippling darkness that binds her--summoning her own fierce will to survive. As the players in this drama of life and death fight to decide her fate, Carol must in the end battle to save herself. The haunting story of a woman literally bringing herself back from the dead, Unbury Carol is a twisted take on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale that will stay with you long after you've turned the final page. Advance praise for Unbury Carol "Unbury Carolis a Poe story set in the weird west we all carry inside us, and it not only hits the ground running, it digs into that ground, too. About six wonderful feet."--Stephen Graham Jones, author of Mongrels "With vivid prose and characters that leap off the page, guns a-blazing, Unbury Carol creates its own lingering legend, dragging you along like an obstinate horse toward a righteous storm of an ending."--Delilah S. Dawson, New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Phasma "Bleakly lyrical la Cormac McCarthy and Flannery O'Connor."--Library Journal (starred review) "This one haunts you for reasons you can't quite put your finger on. Malerman is too fierce an original to allow anyone else's visions to intrude on his. [He] defies categories and comparisons with other writers."-- Kirkus Reviews "Breathtaking and menacing. [Unbury Carol is] an intricately plotted, lyrical page turner about love, betrayal, revenge, and the primal fear of being buried alive."--Booklist (starred review)"--
"Carol Evers is a woman with a dark secret. You see, every so often Carol descends into a death-like coma that she calls the Black Place. For two to four days her heartbeat slows way down, her breathing all but stops, and to the eyes of all she would appear dead as a doornail. Only two people know of her condition: her husband Dwight, and her former lover James Moxie--the most legendary outlaw the Trail has ever seen. Just before Carol can share her secret with a friend, she falls into the Black Place once again, only this time, Dwight begins preparations for her funeral two days hence, hoping to inherit her fortune. When a telegram arrives for Moxie, notifying him of the upcoming burial of his lost love, he rides out of retirement and hits the Trail once again, desperate to save Carol from a premature burial. Hot on Moxie's heels are threats both human and...other"--
Buoyed by compelling characters, the book nevertheless fails to take its bizarre premise to its macabre potential, creating an overall disappointing experience.
