The Elementals

My first taste of Michael McDowell but not my last. The deep south setting with the terrible heat, the oppressive humidity, the ocean and of course the sand is as much a character in the story as are the humans. The writing is simply superb. Creepy and eerie are really tough atmospheres to create but this story has both in abundance. And that's what really makes this book stand out. The atmosphere created with magnificent writing. I don't go into plots in reviews because it's unfair but I'd urge readers of good books, not just horror genre to read this.

The Elementals is a fabulous short novel. Character driven it is not. The story is about place and atmosphere, both of which are described with a beautiful and thoughtful richness that renders the human characters pale in comparison. The story is spooky, but not chilling (you are almost suffocated by the heat that reflects off every page). The pace is perfect. The dreamlike reality of Beldame is claustrophobic. The characters are sketched out as silhouettes against the power of the sand, the air, the lagoon and the Third House, but even for a reader like me, who prefers character driven stories, that works. It works really well. It means the reader can project themselves onto any character outline and experience the horror first hand, the erosion of place and sanity, the creeping, draining horror.

Disclaimer here: I’m one of those annoying people who writes my own ending before getting to the real one, and is then unreasonably disappointed when everything doesn’t go the way I’d planned. Still, I had hoped for something a bit more surprising; something that wrapped up and made more of the various hints dropped, which I in hindsight now view as rather cheap. The good, though: It was very well-written. The blinding white sands of this book’s setting are an unusual, but entirely hypnotic choice from Michael McDowell. After all, if the monsters that live under your bed (or indeed, in the unrelentingly creepy old house across the beach from you) will come out to get you even during daylight hours… Enough said, for fear of spoilers (among the scariest real-life monsters of the internet age). Suffice it to say, I’d recommend the book as a good read; a scary read; one to enjoy with the lights ON. But I’d go in for the journey, more than the destination.

In my continuous search for new talented authors, I get pointed in the right direction by other readers and then research the novel's product page as well as the reviewers' ratings. "The Elementals" appealed to my sensibilities based on the information placed on the Amazon product page. After all, a Southern gothic horror novel set not only in the Deep South (Alabama) but also on the shores of the Gulf Of Mexico. Since we live on the Gulf in Southwest Florida, we're familiar with the winds and storms, heat and humidity, and the tides and shifting sands. The thought of gothic horror brought to mind the short story "the Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs published in 1902. However "The Monkey's Paw" brought horror to the doorstep of a home while "The Elementals" draws you into the horrors dwelling in an old mansion. Another major difference is that Mr. Jacob's short story has a plot similar to Stephen King's "Pet Sematary" and the horor brought to those two films was highly visible and very hard hitting. The novel penned by Michael McDowell more closely relates to Mr. King's novel "The Shining". In both cases the supernatural entities are housed in older structures and have been there for generations. While I enjoyed Mr. McDowell's novel, his story moved quite slowly and cautiously until all the characters were firmly in place. And even then I felt let down by the lack of apprehension and the steady tension necessary to build up to a hearty scare and an appreciable effect on the reader. It felt like something was missing here, either a stronger visual or a better explanation of why the mansion was populated by rather benign spirits. This whole story had the potential to be more fully developed but it was interesting just the same.

For at least 3/4 of the book, I was intrigued and even enthralled by the story, the characters, and the rich atmosphere. As someone who has lived in the American South for quite a few years, I have to say that this is one of the few novels that I've read in which the Southern culture, way of life, and even accents are depicted accurately. The characters and family dynamics of the Savages and McCrays are richly drawn - there is Dauphin, the very sweet young husband of Leigh, who is definitely pampered and somewhat spoiled, yet not in such a way as to make her unlikable; Big Barbara is the matriach, with a larger than life personality and drinking problem; Odessa is the longtime family housekeeper on whom everyone depends and who has insights into the goings-on in the spirit world. Then there is Luker and his teenage daughter India - their father/daughter relationship is definitely a bit unusual, with their mutual love of expletives, alcohol, and photography. There is a great ease to their relationship, and while it's somewhat atypical, there is no doubt that there is a lot of love and even mutual respect between them. McDowell allows the characters' shared pasts to be revealed in such a way that, while there is a great deal of exposition, it never interferes with the flow of the novel, and the various stories told are never boring or unnecessary. The characters all have their strong points and foibles, and there is also a great deal of (unexpected) snark and humor (mainly courtesy of Luker and India) that makes it a pleasure to learn about and follow them as they experience the events at their summer homes at Beldame. As for Beldame itself, the atmosphere of the location is immediately foreboding, even though nothing overtly disturbing occurs for awhile after the arrival of the characters. Everything unfolds at a languid (but, again, never boring) pace, as slowly but surely, past horrific events at Beldame are relayed to India, who begins to have disturbing experiences of her own. There are unexplained noises and footsteps, apparitions, and the certainty that the hauntings are only going to increase in terms of their frequency and intensity. Plus, without going into detail, let's just say that, after reading this book, you'll never look at sand the same way again. For a vast majority of the book, the horror and suspense are largely psychological, in nature, and truly creepy. Near the end of the novel, though, gore rears its head, as several gruesome events take place. This is just a matter of personal preference, but I was a bit disappointed in that, because I was hoping that the truly scary aspects of the book would continue in the psychological vein, instead of lapsing into gore. However, that gruesomeness was not without purpose, and certainly added a new dimension to the disturbing atmosphere. All in all, then, t...