Apocalyptic fiction is becoming one of my favorite sub-genres in horror, and its novels like The Hell Season that are feeding my most recent (and delightful) end-of-the-world reading obsession. Occasionally, you can tell right away after reading the first few pages of a novel that you are going to love the heck out of it. In the case of The Hell Season, some decent characterization and the mere promise of a great plot had me hooked from its beginning.
Thomas Wright wakes up one morning to discover that his wife, Julia, and his two children are nowhere to be found. What’s disturbing is that his wife’s lingerie is lying flat next to him on the bed and the kids night clothes are also in their beds. While looking for them he discovers the T.V. won’t work, nor the radio. Outside he sees no one except for a woman neighbor who appears to be looking for her husband. Eventually they roam the town looking for others and, while they find a few people, almost everyone else has also disappeared. It doesn’t take the two of them long to wonder if the Rapture has occurred and they were left behind. Then things really start to get weird.
Millions of bugs descend on the town, bent on eating everything in sight. Afterward a plague of snakes arrives, biting some of the remaining people and turning them into snakes. Then they discover that a huge hole has appeared in the middle of town and it becomes obvious that the bugs and the snakes have originated from the hole. Even more bizarre, some of the remaining people who were left behind and have died since, are emerging from the hole alive, and they are not only younger looking, but perfectly healthy without any of the afflictions they had before their deaths.
Then, a gigantic worm crawls from the hole – and there are things inside it.
The Hell Season is one heck of a wild story, often times hallucinogenic, especially during scenes of transformations and the war play between good and evil. Though the novel zips along, I wouldn’t call it fast paced. The prose for the most part is easy on eyes but the narrative is a bit different. The story is written in both third and first person, often segueing into the thoughts of the main character for exposition and clarification, and in case you are wondering, yes, it does work.
Though the The Hell Season uses Christian and biblical theology as its core, the novel is anything but spiritual. The story is chock full of biblical references such as demon’s, angel’s, plagues, and even crucifixion, but If I had to use any word to describe the tale I would say it tended toward the existential. My take on the novel’s message is that we must judge our past only in relation to where we are now and, to what might come. We can lose love and our loved ones, our faith, material objects, and our comfort at any time. What’s important is that we take lessons from our losses and employ what we’ve learned so we can handle (or battle in the novel’s case) any shit-storm that comes down the pike. And in The Hell Season, Thomas Wright is hit with one shit-storm after another.
If you are the kind of reader who enjoys a little thought play in between scenes of mayhem and blood lust, The Hell Season is the perfect novel to delve into. Hell, even if you are the kind of reader who just wants to escape from reality by devouring tales or horror and the supernatural, The Hell Season should more than satisfy that hunger. No matter what type of horror reader you are, I highly recommend The Hell Season.
- Inflictions - April 11, 2015
- The Equinox - April 2, 2015
- The Nightmare Girl - March 9, 2015
- Intruder - February 12, 2015
- The Only Red Is Blood - February 12, 2015
- Insanity Tales - February 3, 2015
- Qualia Nous - January 28, 2015
- Once Upon An Apocalypse - November 25, 2014
- The Janus Demon - November 17, 2014
- Case White - November 7, 2014
