Synopsis:
“In the spring of 1912, American writer Arthur Pearce is reeling from the wounds inflicted by a disastrous marriage and the public humiliation that ensued. But his plans to travel abroad, write a new novel, and forget his ex-wife are interrupted by a lovely young woman he encounters on a London-bound train. Her name is Sarah Coyle, and the tale she tells him chills his blood.
According to Sarah, her younger sister Violet has been entranced by a local count, a man whose attractiveness and charisma are rivaled only by his shady reputation. Whispers of bizarre religious rites and experimental medicine surround Count Richard Dunning, though no wrongdoing has ever been proven. Sarah’s family views the Count as a philanthropist and a perfect match for young Violet, but Sarah believes her sister is soon to become a subject in Count Dunning’s hideous ceremonies.
Smitten by Sarah and moved to gallantry by her plight, Arthur agrees to travel to Altarbrook, Sarah’s rural ancestral home, in order to prevent Violet from falling into ruin. He soon learns, however, that his meeting with Sarah on the train was no accident. And his arrival at Altarbrook represents a crucial but ghastly step in the Count’s monstrous plot.
Review:
Two days ago I decided that I was going to read a book a day for the entirety of this week, for the content, for the reading challenge, and so that logically, I can buy myself 7 more books, plus extra as a reward for my tireless work. If I was going to find the ambition and effort (deep, deep within myself) I knew that on day 1, I needed something short, from an author I trust. Well, Jonathan Janz is quickly becoming one of my favourite contemporary writers, and I genuinely believe that there could be no better starting point than his lush and romantic, but gory and twisted historical horror “The Dismembered.” Naturally, I read it not just in a day, but in a sitting… and it’s sensational. This one is intense and reads like Poe, with a healthy dose of body horror, a shot of adrenaline, and a little less purple prose. With sweat-inducing action scenes (that serve as a reminder that Janz is the legend behind “The Children of the Dark,” books) in addition to double, triple and quadruple crossings, during “The Dismembered,” I was bruised and beaten, slightly concussed, and I am currently suffering from whiplash. The best start to what I’m forecasting will be a long but brilliant week, Jonathan has demonstrated that irrespective of whether he’s writing a creature-feature coming of age story, or a dark and brooding historical gothic piece, he excels, and I’m already lining up for my next fix.
It’s 1912 and Arthur Pearce, an American author, has just come out of a spectacularly messy divorce. He is on a train when he hears what can only be described as a kerfuffle from the adjoining carriage, and steps in to save Sarah Coyle from the brute accosting her. They spend the rest of the journey in one another’s company, and Sarah opens up about her troubles, which are more dramatic than his own. Her sister Violet is engaged to Count Dunning, a man Sarah claims to be a violent murderer. Arthur agrees to visit the Coyle estate, Altarbrook, and finds Sarah’s family to be a strange and dysfunctional, but friendly bunch. However, some of the staff don’t quite seem trust-worthy, Violet herself is outraged at Arthur’s intrusion into her home and relationship, so is determined to make his stay a grim one, and what he discovers about her suitor… is beyond belief.
Janz’s penchant for Grand Guignol excess is on full display here. The motivations and intricacies of Count Dunning are ones that I refuse to expose, you’ll have to read for yourself, but what I will tell you is that he’s superbly written. He is so operatically unsettling in nature, he practically comes with his own thunder-clap. A menacing villain is of course just one of the hallmarks that Janz includes in this blood and tear soaked love-letter to the gothic, amongst a melancholic protagonist, a foreboding castle and a noble family with dark secrets. As I said, Janz is conversing with the greats, Stoker, Shelley, Poe, Walpole, the Brontё’s, but he does so on his own depraved terms. What begins as a solid gothic mystery, quickly escalates into what can only be described as full-throttle and brutal.
Dark and mysterious until it erupts into a hot, bloody mess (a compliment of course) “The Dismembered,” is a novella to be devoured, preferably in one sitting… by candlelight… with a storm rattling the windows if you can manage. Scandalous, grotesque and so extravagantly macabre that it would likely kill off the average reader in 1912, from its beautiful cover to its glorious contents, “The Dismembered,” is gothic horror at its most unhinged. I gasped, I gushed, I swooned and suffice to say, I will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Leave a Reply