Echo

This is the most conflicted I've felt over a book in a long while: the good bits were really good, and the bad bits were really bad. But I guess if we're measuring success on the metric of "made the reader feel opinionated about the work," this was a A+.

This book was written in English, but by an author who does not speak English as a native language and it shows. I'm not saying this was originally in some other tongue and was then translated into English, I mean someone wrote an entire book in a language they learned later in life. Which is super commendable! And damned if the Dutch don't have flawless English (at least all the ones I met when I was in the Netherlands, where I bought this book). But that does result in some tells and oddities that stuck out to me. Every instance of "second" was instead rendered as "sec", even outside of dialogue tags. Ditto for "diff" instead of "difference", "cuz" instead of "because", "coupla" instead of "couple of", etc. It's just not a way real people speak in my experience, let alone write prose.

While the syntax may have been distracting, the underlying themes had me in a choke hold. Vanity and the loss of physical beauty (especially in the context of super-vain parts of the gay community) is not something I recall ever seeing explored in other recent media I've come across. And setting that aside for the direct horror content, this was one of the most unique haunting/possession stories I've ever read because the source of the supernatural elements was something I never even considered to be a possibility in fiction - until now.

But you only get to all that if you manage to get past the worst opening chapter I've ever read; I almost quit this book in the first ten pages (like I did with Hex, another book by this same author...). It was super confusing to come out of the gate with a scene from the story's climax before I know any of the characters or what the hell I'm even supposed to be afraid of.

But then again this book had one of the creepiest horror scenes I've read in a long while (medical/hospital horror is a whole other level of fucked up). But then again, there are a lot of references to other, more famous works of horror fiction that feel ham-fisted and in your face. But then again, the gay representation was done really well. But then again...

I'm just gonna cut my losses here and split this one down the middle.

Review first posted at: www.curiositykilledthebookworm.net/2022/01/echo/

Nick and Sam would always joke about what would they do if one of them was horrifically injured beyond recognition, would they stay? They never expected it to happen. When Nick is rescued from a remote are in the Swiss Alps, he claims not to remember what happened, his climbing partner is missing presumed dead, and Nick’s injuries leave him unable to speak, wrapped up in bandages and a stranger to those who love him.

Echo has one of the creepiest openings ever, and it really got under my skin. It starts with Julia alone in a cabin, waiting for Sam to drive through a snow storm to reach her. But she’s not alone…what happens to her you have to wait until the end to find out. I loved HEX, so I was intrigued to see if Thomas Olde Huevelt could scare me a second time, and he certainly managed that.

The horror genre has not always been kind to disfigurement. At first Sam can’t cope, he was drawn to Nick for his good looks and he feels like that person is lost. It must be a shock for all involved, and the narrative gives him time to realise he’s being a dick and you do see a loving relationship between them. The passages from Nick’s perspective shows that he both understands but is scared and alone, fearing what is underneath the bandages. At first you think that’s a metaphor, but in time you find out what his mask is holding in.

The chapters all start with a quote from a horror story, and in parts the journal style entries are reminiscent of classic horror. Nick himself has a trauma from the past, a cabin fire and his own demons to face, which mix up in his feelings of Sam and the Maudit. It’s pointed out on one occasion that if their French was better, the name of the mountain might have been a hint.

The pacing does struggle somewhat, a saggy middle which makes you wonder what else is there to tell. Nick’s account of what happened on that fateful expedition takes too much time going into technical details, like what rope he’s using. All the while they are aware of some malevolent supernatural force, yet descriptions of the terrain take precedence in his writings.

I did think the whole idea of a mountain possession was an interesting and unusual one. In the second half there are more accounts of the medical effects, and I liked the mix of modern science with the Gothic haunting elements.

The alpine choughs are depicted as death birds, come to peck out the souls of those lost to the mountain. I wasn’t quite sure about how they were kept in the village considering how it all plays out. Maybe there were just a few too many ideas mixed in.

Overall, I’m glad I read Echo, even if I was left feeling like there were creepy people standing on the stairs…