When sixteen-year-old Naomi Levinson’s boyfriend, Toby, dies tragically in a fire, her life is put on an emotional hold. Many years pass, but she can never resign herself to the loss of her first love. As an adult, while filming documentaries about demon possession and other paranormal activities, she finds herself suddenly haunted by Toby’s ghost who promises, “We can be together again.” But her pursuit of this promise, combined with the unorthodox profession which she has dedicated herself to, leads her and the people close to her down a deadly and terrifying path from which they may never return. Naomi believes that she wants to see what is on the other side, but she doesn’t realize that it’s the other side that wants to see what is inside of her….
Regarding horror aspects, the book starts surprisingly slow—sprinkling in a few particularly unsettling scenes here and there, but not pushing the macabre envelop overly much. Halfway through the book, readers might even find themselves rather disappointed because it seems, excepting those few scenes, relatively toned down. And then…boom! Suddenly the pace picks up and picks up fast!
Dillon incorporates some of the classic elements that catapulted films like “The Exorcist” and “Rosemary’s Baby” into horror history, but he does so with a series of modern, technological twists. With surprising ease, when the complete set-up of the plot finally reveals itself, Dillon’s take on these beloved scream queen tropes turns them into something wholly original.
Critically, it must be noted that the book did contain some editorial glitches regarding religion. In addition, multiple characters being introduced in rapid succession in the beginning did make it difficult to follow in places. One also questions whether the bittersweet ending truly is an ending at all or whether Dillon might have a sequel dancing around in his head. (Readers would likely welcome this scenario.) These things to the side, this was a well-done book and will not leave fans of Dillon’s previous works, such as “The Spectre of Springwell Forest,” “The Birds Began to Sing,” and “Children of the Folded Valley” disappointed.
