Synopsis:
Every small town has ghosts. King’s Branch has Marla.
A reclusive young woman who lives with her mother in a creepy Gothic house, Marla Gorman is the stuff of urban legends. Some believe she’s a prisoner. Others claim she’s a witch.
The evening of the first murder, Detective Carl Lancaster sees Marla leering at him from her bedroom window. He sees her again at the exact moment a second man is killed. And though Marla was nowhere near either murder site, Carl is convinced she’s connected to the crimes.
To Carl, Marla is a menace. To social worker Annie Frost, Marla bears a bizarre connection to her past. To Dylan Ellison, a struggling college student, Marla might be the companion for whom he’s been longing.
But none of them understands Marla’s true nature. She’s about to plunge them–and everyone in King’s Branch–into an unspeakable nightmare. And teach them the true meaning of terror.
Review:
A novel that has become almost as much of an urban legend as its title character, I’m not exaggerating when I tell you “Marla,” by Jonathan Janz is a novel I have been yearning for since its limited release in 2022. I was beginning to think it never existed to begin with, but at long last, “Marla,” is back, dragging with it a procession of impossible murders and a cardiac arrest’s worth of what can only be described as literary jumpscares. The creepiest detective story I ever did read, with a little (but only a little) “Carrie,” thrown in for good measure, this one is so genuinely frightening that it will burst the blood vessels in your eyes and dislocate your jaw- the character of Marla Gorman, and her cold-eyed stare depicted on the cover, not things you will soon forget. Once again available, this time from Blackstone, from August 18th, “Marla,” is a must.
Detective Carl Lancaster and his partner RJ Williams have been called to a couple of rather strange crime scenes now. Jim Haddon was introduced to the ground headfirst, javelin style, and Jason Karr’s blood redecorated his 12ft high ceiling. It’s a mystery, and the killings, of which there are plenty more to come, objectively don’t have a lot in common aside from bloodshot eyes, a horrified expression and their creative brutality. Carl Lancaster might though, just might, despite what his logic and his colleagues tell him, have a fraying string to follow. Just before each call, just before another body turns up, he finds himself driving past the elusive Gorman house, and leered at by King’s Branch’s very own recluse, turned urban legend, Marla.
I have said before that for me the very best elements of Janz’s storytelling are his characters and his pacing, and this remains the case in “Marla.” Carl is a wonderful character who we find ourselves rooting for instinctively and fiercely. He is a great friend and partner, and channels all of the love he has left into his puppy Elle, following the sudden and tragic deaths of his wife and daughter. RJ again, is pretty unwaveringly decent, if not married to his work and irking his wife a little, and has the cosmic, comic relief of a fellow who knows when things are getting just a little too grim, which is heroic in its own way. Marla herself is a living, breathing question mark who may as well come with her own fog machine. It’s a procedural as hard-boiled as they come, heavy on the horror, with an intriguing mystery at its core, alongside a very well-deserved romance. I could not put it down. I also enjoyed the writing itself, with a couple of lines that really had me cracking up, and more often visceral passages of horror that I’m still thinking about. If I were to nitpick, I would say, as a compliment to Janz’s more recent work as opposed to a real criticism of this one, that I could see the evolution in Janz’s style and quality of prose when stacked against say, his most recently written “Veil,” but that evolution is something that is to be expected, that I am mighty glad to see and that Janz should be proud of.
I love a small town and Janz’s King’s Branch, one of those wink wink nod nods to his influences that I love stumbling across in his work, is pretty spot on. It’s one of those places where news travels fast because everyone knows everyone, and not only Janz’s characters, but the interactions between them, their messy relationships, grudges and troubles, all feel fully fleshed-out- I felt I had well and truly met the neighbours and that is mighty impressive. The Gorman House in particular, which you’ll learn for yourself is terrifying inside as well as out, has a palpable sense of wrongness surrounding it, it broods and leers- with Jonathan clearly leaning into his gothic instincts there and the result being a masterclass in atmosphere.
A worth the wait novel, “Marla,” is a twisty, turny story of real terror that didn’t just leave me guessing but was actively delighted to watch me get it wrong and wrong again. Grab-you-by-the-collar horror- ominous and gruesome, this is one I’m thrilled to add to my growing Janz wing.
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