I know I said in my last post that I would focus on reading the Slow Horses series closer together, but it is currently spooky season, so…

It’s time for some spooky readings!

I had no idea what to expect going into HEX, only that I wanted to find a horror book that would have me sitting on the edge of my seat as a film of the same genre does. I was looking for something that would stay with me and that would play on my mind and make me think twice about what might be lurking in the darkest shadows of my home.

HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt turned out to be just what I was looking for!

Set in the modern town of Black Spring, where the residents live in wary coexistence with a 17th century witch, HEX was filled with such intrigue and unexpected twists that I felt as though I was always kept guessing. Although a familiar trope, I always find it quite haunting to learn that in these types of stories, the people involved are forcibly unable to leave the place that they reside. The way the townspeople are trapped in HEX, however, I thought was quite unique – and downright macabre in nature. The people living in Black Spring are trapped, not by bonds or an invisible wall surrounding the town limits or anything like that, but by a compulsion to end their own lives if they stray from the area for any length of time. Short absences are inconsequential, but anything longer than that sees the individual experiencing suicidal feelings. These thoughts are so overwhelming that, unless they are able to return to the town in time, they inevitably end up taking their own lives. New residents who move in suffer the same fate and are unable to leave the town for any length of time also.

With such a horrific supernatural consequence in place, I was surprised to learn that the scary witch that haunts the residents is simply a part of everyday life in Black Spring. An eerie woman with her mouth and eyes sewn shut, the witch walks the town’s streets and forested paths, sometimes even appearing suddenly within the houses themselves. She seems to have abilities not unlike that of a ghost: able to show up at any house, at any moment, entirely unannounced. She makes herself at home in spare chairs or by lurking in corners, silent, but always there.

It stands to reason, then, that the townsfolk would have procedures in place for their own protection. But what I wasn’t expecting going into this story, were the strikingly modern ways that the residents deal with her. I’m not sure why, but having gone in blind, I was completely caught off guard by the merging of something so gothic in nature with today’s modern technology. But I thoroughly enjoyed, what I found to be, the incredibly unique twist. It only made the book stand out all the more (and also made me want to find more books that do something similar).

The townspeople used cameras, sensors and monitors to keep track of where the witch was at any given moment, observing her movements and becoming anxious for any ‘out of the norm’ activity from her. The witch has a pretty routine pattern that she follows, and when that started to change, I felt just as on edge (although I was within the comforts of my own home) as I’m sure the people living in the town must have felt.

Heuvelt is excellent at messing with your head and there were many moments in this book where I felt the hairs on my skin stand on end in anticipation of something going awry. To me, in more ways than one, the aching suspense of the build up is so much worse than reading the actual outcome. The tension in the book is a steady thing, gradually growing and becoming all encompassing. It flares at just the right moments and kept my attention gripped on the book throughout. I think the word ‘constant’ would be a good way to describe just how endless the building anxiety was, especially as the suffering experienced by the characters only grew with each chapter.

What I appreciated so much, and that Heuvelt does so well in his writing, is suggest the idea of fear to his readers.

Heuvelt winds through his storytelling a subtle thread that constantly links back to the observation of human nature. A lot of what gets the heart pumping in this book, is the sheer atrocious way that humanity can treat each other.

But to avoid any spoilers, I will just say that I did not at all anticipate how the book eventually ended; something that I normally manage to pick up pretty quickly and that is often a point of pride for myself. The twists and turns were entirely unexpected and they genuinely left me thinking after each one. Heuvelt managed to create such a tense atmosphere early on and it only grew more oppressive as the story progressed. I really would recommend this book for those who want to sit for a moment in their thoughts and contemplate the perplexing existence of humankind.

And to, perhaps, examine that word ‘humankind’ for a moment and consider just when, in recent years, that one word got separated into two, and wonder, just where, the ‘kind’ got lost along the way.

I don’t mean to be too eccentric, of course; but I do feel that we are all at each other’s throats right now, and I find that to be just a tad bit concerning.