Don't go driving into the Okenfenokee Swamp when it's dark. That was the first mistake that Titus and Melanie Bell made. Not paying attention and turning around when things get a unfamiliar and weird was their second. As a result, Melanie goes missing and Titus winds up in the town of Staywater, filled with odd folks that don't always give him a straight answer. Two of the odd folks are a pair of spinster grandmothers and their godson Cameron. It all makes for a great set up for a creepy Southern Gothic horror story.

Cherie Priest knows creepy and she keeps ramping up that factor, with a friendly ghost in the local bar, an abandoned house full of dolls and a other oddities. But the story feels too rambly and repetative and lacks tension. It's mostly Titus not getting any answers and Cameron puzzling about his lot in life. Either the book should be shorter or the various back and side stories need expansion and depth. When everyone finally starts taking action toward the end, it finally feels like a real story and comes to a reasonable finish.

I found this to be an easy, entertaining, but a little frustrating read.

Disclosure: Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Books for providing a free copy of this book in return for my honest review. ( )

To be honest, a cabin holiday in a Florida swamp sounds like a terrible idea for a honeymoon. On their way to the Okenfenokee Swamp, newly-married couple Titus and Davina Bell are already having pesky arguments, mainly about this weird choice of holiday which Titus insisted upon. If only they knew what was coming for them…

The Bells are driving across a strange and ancient one-lane bridge when the young husband loses consciousness at the wheel. He wakes up to find himself lying in the middle of the road. The engine is still running but Davina seems to have disappeared into thin air. The local Police, though sympathetic, sound quite sceptical. But Titus is quite sure that they are keeping something back from him. And he is right. In the nearby town of Staywater, this mysterious disappearance raises disturbing memories of a mysterious being which lives under the bridge: an entity supposedly slain years before by the now elderly cousins Claire and Daisy, but which seems to have returned to extract its toll…

The Toll is a fun horror book which taps into several different streams of Southern Gothic. There is the “grotesque” element as represented by the eccentric, if not downright crazy, characters who live in the tiny settlement of Staywater. There is an underlying sense of danger coming from the hostile environment: the treacherous swamps, the roaming giant alligators. But above all, the novel exudes a sense of supernatural dread – it is haunted not only by the presence of the malevolent entity, but also by other weird goings-on such as a house full of possessed dolls, and ghosts who roam the town and chat matter-of-factly with its inhabitants. All these ingredients are moulded into a novel which is, at its best, spine-tinglingly scary.

If I must criticise the book, it’s because sometimes it has the feel of an unfinished draft. Some passages of dialogue sound repetitive and could do with some judicious editing. The attempts at humour sometimes fall flat, especially during key set-pieces in the final chapters which would have had greater impact had they been conveyed as unadulterated horror. Several plot elements remain unexplained or unresolved – I kept hoping, for instance, that there would be some backstory concerning the family of Cameron, Claire and Daisy’s ward.

Despite these reservations, The Toll remains an interesting and entertaining addition to the Southern Gothic canon. I also feel that its coming-of-age elements (courtesy of Cameron, one of the main – and most likeable - characters) could make it appeal to the YA market as well.

http://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2019/05/cherie-priest-the-toll.html ( )

I always have fun reading Cherie Priest's stories ( )

Between Fargo, Georgia and the Okefenokee Swamp runs State Road 117 alongside the Suwannee River. If you drive the road from east to west will you cross six bridges, however, if you instead drive from west to east you might find seven bridges. You just pray to God that you don't find seven bridges.

Titus and Melanie Bell were not so lucky.

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION! ( )

Between Fargo, Georgia and the Okefenokee Swamp runs State Road 117 alongside the Suwannee River. If you drive the road from east to west will you cross six bridges, however, if you instead drive from west to east you might find seven bridges. You just pray to God that you don't find seven bridges.

Titus and Melanie Bell were not so lucky.

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION! ( )