John Llewellyn Probert

*Thanks to Netgalley for letting me read the book in exchange for a honest review*

So folks, I really, really, really wanted to love this book, especially since I am a big fan of Lovecraft and his universe. At the risk of sounding like a total dweeb (although I may have already failed because who says dweeb nowadays?) I even played the Call of Cthulhu table top game because I love Lovecraft horror so much. The beginning of the book shows two teenage boys breaking into a construction site, H.G. Wells old home to find some treasure. My mind played it out like a movie and I loved that, Probert has such an amazing way with words and horror writing in general that when those creepy parts came up I actually cringed at it as if I was seeing it in real life. While this book did not give me nightmares (that would take a lot to do), anyone who was not used to horror genre may have trouble.

The beginning of the book had such great pacing, it seemed as if things would settle down, then it would come back, settle down again and take you for another ride. The story itself was great, the setup, the backstory, the creepiness of the church. I loved that he used characters I knew of to set the history. I even recommended that my husband read it and I don't ever do that. The newspaper articles, the scribbled notes, the transcripts from news shows added major depth to a already great written book.

While I loved the story, and Probert's writing, his characters just didn't do it for me. When the story would turn it's focus to a character I hated it. I didn't like anyone of them. Honestly if they all died I think it would have made the story for me. Karen and Chambers the two main characters annoyed the hell out of me, their emerging romance, their dialogue, Their actions just made me scoff as well as want to just skip pages. I couldn't connect to them in anyway that made me root for them. I really wanted to like Chambers considering he is a forensic pathologist a field I want to get into, but I just still couldn't like him.

Anything thing that bothered me was even though this book is the first in it's series I felt as if I was missing a book, as if this was not the first but the second in a ongoing series. The characters would mention a person or a event that had occurred and I wondered if I have accidentally skipped something, I even made a search just to double check that this was the first book. It didn't give me the setup or backstory I needed, maybe that's why I couldn't connect to the characters because I felt like I was missing something.
… (meer)

I really enjoyed these stories, even stayed up past my bedtime reading them, which was probably unwise given the horror genre.
Now, I’m fairly new to horror, so the foreword was a bit over my head and I have to admit I skimmed a lot of it to get to the actual stories faster.
Once I got there, the book took the form of a frame story about amnesiac Robert, who travels through Wales trying to find a way to regain his memory, while being told stories at every turn. I was invested in Robert, as well as the various protagonists of the stories within the story. I think my favourite of these was ‘The Church With Bleeding Windows’, which combined a bit of gore with humour. I also loved the deliciously creepy “By Any Other Name”. I’d recommend this to any horror fan.… (meer)

First of all, the introduction by Ramsay Campbell doesn't do the book a favor.
I thought it annoying, very patronizing & condescending in tone and even a bit spoiler-y. So much so it nearly put me off reading the book, which would have been a pity. If it must be included, it would fit much better at the end of the book as an afterword; when it doesn't spoil you anymore and you've come to your own feelings and insights.

That being said, the novel itself is a portmanteau book. In the story which forms the framework we meet Robert, who seems to suffer from amnesia, at the Welsh border and follow him on his increasingly strange journey/road trip through Wales as he searches for his lost memory, identity and purpose.
Most of the book consists of previously published short stories, woven together by the background story and their common topics of Welsh heritage, ancient wisdom of the land, religion, surrealism, horror, pulp, terror and a sense of dread.

I must say I liked the first stories of the book, where the horror was more abstract and psychological, more than the later ones that became more gruesome and explicit in terms of torture and pulp. The framework narrative I felt was also stronger at the beginning between the first chapters and got more vague towards the ending. The conclusion of the book which tied all the stories together, however, was very satisfying again.
And the short stories which make up the main part of the book? Regardless of whether I enjoyed them a lot (the more psychological ones) or not as much (torture and body horror just isn't my jam); they are well-written myth-steeped pieces full of terror and suspense, very Lovecraftian in style. They are going to stick with you. Even if you are an avid reader of stories dark and grim, I bet you won't forget about most of the stories anytime soon.
I can also honestly say I never before read a book of such Welshness. 'wink'...
If you like myths, pulp, surrealism, road trips, Wales, suspense, folktales and/or classic horror, this is good stuff.

I received this eARC via LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program - Thanks, LT! - in exchange for an honest review.… (meer)