I would have given this four stars, but halfway through some thoroughly unnecessary and misleading foreshadowing started kicking in and implying various fates that never seemed to come true. It interfered with my enjoyment of the book a little. Still, the premise is interesting, and the fact that the author mixes the real with the constructed in terms of art and history and art history is right up my alley. ( )

Outstanding creep novel of a higher type. We still have cosmic forces trying to worm their way into our universe via... Well, that would be telling. Leave it to say that hapless (by her own estimation) film critic Lois Cairns's life takes a turn for the even worse when she becomes obsessed with documenting the life of a little known pioneer of cinema (not just Canada here, we're talking world); a thing she feels may make her career again. Everyone seems bent on derailing her project or stealing her work. It's no help that at the same time she's trying to do the best she can with her autistic son. As she digs deeper into her "grant" it starts to feel like there is more to celluloid than meets the eye, or maybe not.

The minutiae of Canadian film history was lost on me although I would probably be keenly interested if I was from the Great White North myself. One thing I know Canada has some fine horror writers and Files is one of them based on this novel and the stories I've read.

Having read some pretty weak "Lovecraftian" fare recently by the likes of [a:Pete Rawlik|4912242|Pete Rawlik|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] it's a breath of charnel air that somebody can still write a novel about cosmic horrors without name checking Innsmouth or mentioning a tentacle. ( )

Think The Ring The Curse (another Japanese horror flick icydk) Begotten (a crazy German... experimental film) The Blair Witch Project.

One of the best horror novels I've ever had the pleasure of reading. A great mix of film history/technology and Slavic folklore. So glad I went ahead and bought this with Files' other book "We Will All Go Down Together" because this is slow-burn horror at its finest.

*shiver* ( )

I liked a lot about the book (Lois was great, the Canadian Film stuff was excellent, and I'm a sucker for creepy folk legends) but I couldn't muster up much interest in the actual plot. I just didn't click. It's nicely written but feels a little densely packed at times and that's great when the subject is something I was interested in but otherwise it just felt dry. This one might not have been for me but I'm excited to check our some of Files' other work. ( )

En mi caso, falla como novela de terror cuando encuentro mucho más interesantes las escenas de vida cotidiana con Simon y Clark (especialmente éste último) o las conversaciones con la madre. El principio es un poco 'Historia del cine canadiense' que aunque resulta ameno de leer, no es lo que esperaba encontrar tampoco en una novela de 'terror'. No está mal, pero no la recomendaría. ( )