Violet

I know what every parent is thinking. If you were suddenly left widowed and your only child were morose, depressed, and struggling to cope with life, the first thing, the VERY first thing that you would do, would be to go back to your crumbling, desiccated childhood lake house, and force that child to help you clean it up and make it habitable. Because THAT would be just the thing to force your kid to feel better, right?

This novel had me doubting the premise from the beginning. No mother worth her salt would EVER bring her kid into this situation. Seriously, I can’t give the author a drubbing for the writing quality; let me make this quite clear. Scott Thomas can WRITE; the prose is elegant and the descriptions are clear. We get a marvelous view into our protagonist’s background and interior life, but somehow these glimpses aren’t enough. The whole store doesn’t gel like it should. Some of the threads are dropped, and it feels like this should have been a rounder story, and perhaps one with a more drawn-out and complex horror narrative, but it never gets there.

Let’s begin with our protagonist, Kris, and her questionable choice to bring her daughter, Sadie, to the sad, neglected, rather foreboding husk of a house that she remembers as a quiet, idyllic spot from her childhood. Look: she knows that the realtor handling the house doesn’t want her staying in the house—it’s obvious from his waffling on the phone–but she insists. Why doesn’t he just TEXT her some pictures of this shambling wreck? It’s set in modern times! There’s no reason that she should be so shocked at the crumbling condition. And, once knowing what a momentous job she has in front of her, why would she stay with her traumatized young daughter? First of all, the job cleaning this house sounds like it would be too difficult for the two of them (as it’s described by the author). Also, any house in this bad of a condition could be a deathtrap for a child–ruined stairs, rotting timbers, dangerous wiring. I mean, Kris think that hard work will heal her daughter’s’ psychological and emotional trauma, but electrocuting her won’t do her any favors.

Then: townspeople are clearly freakishly worried about Sadie being in the house. Why would Kris ignore them? Why does Kris ignore the fact that Sadie is clearly undergoing something strange? True, Kris finally takes her to a psychologist, but it seems it’s a small step that she doesn’t really take that seriously. There’s a mysterious bookseller who speaks darkly about darkness and light, angels and demons. This narrative thread is never followed through.

And finally: the actual haunting. Now, many authors try to pose a metaphor about life and the supernatural–heck, Stephen King has made it his life’s work. The possibility that grief may make way for an opening into a world that isn’t exactly the world that we are familiar with…it’s been done before. Growing up brings on monstrous entities…facing them down is a parallel for stepping into adolescence/young adulthood. These are elements of literature we’ve seen before. So it doesn’t bother me that the entity that Scott Thomas brings in is a child that is supposed to be a symbol of grieving that is brought to the surface of a lake that covers a drowned town.

But…she’s not entirely terrifying and the reveal as to where she came from and what her purpose serves is kind of a yawn.

Scott Thomas can write, but his cerebral approach to horror robs the genre of its teeth and in his zeal to try to find a story, saps the verisimilitude by placing his characters in unbelievable situations. Would a caring mother even try to convince herself that her plan to “cure” Sadie by staying in this house, in this town of secrets, was a good idea? I couldn’t even conceive of it. Would a child psychologist let any of these situations slide? Probably not? Does any of this make for a fascinating read?

I can’t recommend it.

VIOLET is the second full length novel I have read by author Scott Thomas. This is most definitely a character driven novel, with emotional attachment that you can feel from the start. The atmosphere is already building from the very first page, as well as the intense characterization.

Kris Barlow and her young daughter, Sadie, have just suffered the traumatic loss of their husband/father in an accident. While Kris’ feelings are understandably and realistically torn between her own emotions, finances, and adjustment, she also has to shoulder the grief of her daughter. This is the most challenging, as Sadie lapses into a near-silent, joyless existence–no longer the carefree, fun-loving child she used to be.

“. . . once you went into the darkness, you never came out . . . Like the hole in the ground . . . that daddy lived in now.”

Kris makes the decision to move them to a summer home, that was left to her by her father, called “River’s End”, near Lost Lake, in Kansas. Thinking a complete change of scenery will help her daughter to heal, she recalls fond memories of her own youthful summers spent there.

“She had first glimpsed the sparkling ripples playing across the lake’s surface when she was four . . . in 1982 . . . the town had been a quaint lakeside resort for over two decades. That was the Pacington she remembered.”

However, the decades between her last summer there, and their current visit, have not been so kind to the dying town.

“The house looked like a crumbling headstone on a forgotten grave . . .”

I’m not even sure where to begin with how well written, and all consuming this novel was. Thomas shows us the personalities and feelings of our main characters not all at once, but with a gradual progression through each and every page. There is nothing “forced” upon the reader. Rather, I found myself magnetized by the simple, everyday things that Kris and Sadie did–whether it was cleaning up the neglected lakeside house, or merely shopping for supplies. Each detail meant something to me, and revealed a bit more of our characters’ mindsets at a leisurely pace.

“. . . Sometimes it is easier not to know. Life is happier lived in ignorance . . . ”

That is not to say that the story felt “slow”, as each minute spent reading had me more invested in the Barlow’s “new life” and healing process.

A process that was multi-layered and more complex than I had first expected.

Even as Kris tried to keep the unpleasant memories of her past mentally buried, it’s felt through all of her thoughts, words, and actions. The town she recalls from her youth has changed, and yet it’s like a psychological puzzle that she no longer has all the pieces to.

“. . . That town, it’s real. But what you’ve got in your head, the way you remember it when you were ten, the town you haven’t let change . . . ”

The town itself is almost a character in its own right. Outwardly separate from Kris’ healing intentions, it is nonetheless tethered to her by invisible strings that are never overtly shown. Even the knowledge of some unfortunate happenings in the years since she had last been there, don’t seem to reel her in. Although the fact that others have had their share of suffering, does bring her closer to accepting that she is not alone when it comes to grief.

“. . . There was something comforting in knowing that you were not the only one being unfairly punished by fate . . . ”

As the novel progresses, and simple things begin feeling somehow more . . . wrong . . . the pacing continues to feel natural, despite the mounting unease. In a case like this, I would normally find myself frantic for the action–and answers–to pick up, yet in this tale, I was so completely “one” with the narrative, that I couldn’t have thought of changing anything if I tried. Thomas had me fully immersed in the world he had created.

“. . . a puzzle from her past was falling into place whether she liked it or not.”

Even as things with young Sadie began to rapidly change, I was in no hurry to get to the end of the book. I merely wanted to continue gliding along with the flow.

“There are some things that are meant to be left buried . . . ”

Overall, I felt that while this was indisputably a horror novel, there were so many elements of sub-genres included that I felt I was getting a taste of everything. I connected strongly with the psychological aspects, the mystery, deepening suspense, emotional upheavals, memory repression, danger, and acceptance.

“. . . The pieces had fallen into place, even the ones she had tried so hard to hide from herself . . . ”

This was a novel of discovery in a myriad of forms; of the response to grief, guilt, and so many more complex combinations of emotions.

“People heal in different ways.”

From the dramatic, yet leisurely beginning, to the jaw-dropping revelations and questions brought to the foreground near the end, I was completely entranced by this novel each and every page of the journey. This is a book that you simply have to read for yourself to full appreciate.

“. . . the hardest truth life has to offer: happiness is not guaranteed . . . ”

Highly recommended!

I loved the whole thing. Clear, constant and compelling. It will not disappoint. I can’t wait for the next book.

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