Synopsis
1983: Three students from a small college embark on a week-long road trip to film a documentary on roadside memorials for their American Studies class. The project starts out as a fun adventure with long stretches of empty road and nightly campfires where they begin to open up with one another.
But as they venture deeper into the Appalachian backwoods, the atmosphere begins to darken. They notice more and more of the memorials feature a strange, unsettling symbol hinting at a sinister secret. Paranoia sets in when it appears they are being followed. Their vehicle is tampered with overnight and some of the locals appear to be anything but welcoming. Before long, the students can’t help but wonder if these roadside deaths were really random accidents…or is something terrifying at work here?
Review
A huge thanks to the author for sending an ARC my way!
A conspiracy of horrors, Memorials by Richard Chizmar is one hell of a road trip gone wrong. Set in the 80s, three college kids hit the Appalachian roads in search of roadside memorials to document as part of a class project. Their goal is to tell the stories of those who have passed on these roadways, particularly one of their own. Billy Anderson, one of the three students, has been deeply affected by loss in this exact way as his parents both died in a tragic car accident. With this personal level of investment, the trio approaches these memorials with respect, but soon, something makes itself overly apparent. From strange encounters with locals to downright frightening things caught on film, this once-exciting endeavor turns into a trip from hell with unfathomable consequences.
In reading Memorials, so many influences came to mind such as The Blair Witch Project, Peter Straub’s Ghost Story, and even King’s Christine. Chizmar’s writing style has that “slice-of-life,” horrors of growing up, kind of tone to it which works so well within the parameters of the plot he crafts. Billy, Melony, and Troy, the three college students on this trip, all have suffered a loss in one shape or another. There’s a strong sense of found family amongst the trio, the kinds of bonds that are established effortlessly and work a long way in forming emotional attachments. Of course, this is a horror novel, so these ties that bind are always at stake. It’s through all this love and sense of family that Chizmar crafts perhaps his most wicked story yet as no one appears to be safe.
Perhaps what is most impressive of all concerning this novel is the propulsion, not only created, but sustained for nearly 500 pages. Memorials is an undoubtedly gripping novel that felt impossible to put down for so many reasons. From the first few pages, feelings of doom linger over this group of friends, an ominous, foreboding tone imparted from Billy’s point of view as he reflects on the events that unfold. And rightfully so. The turns that this novel takes are truly hard to predict and packed with tension, suspense, and pure horror. In his previous books, Chasing the Boogeyman and Becoming the Boogeyman, Chizmar has flirted with this kind of horror, hinting at an unabashed, sheer force of the otherworldly inflicting its will. In Memorials, Chizmar shows no hesitation in “going there,” elevating all of this into a different stratosphere altogether.
Compulsive, heart-breaking, and genuinely filled with fright, Memorials by Richard Chizmar harkens back to the horror door-stoppers of days past without losing any focus or momentum along the way. His personable, loveable characters drive this thing home (pardon the pun), and the threats to their safety kick this whole ordeal into high gear. It’s a twisting, winding road in which this story is paved, one marked with blood, anguish, and primal fear. Most of all, it’s Richard Chizmar at his most unhinged, and I simply want more.
Memorials by Richard Chizmar releases TOMORROW (10/22) from Gallery Press Books!
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