On his 59th birthday, Tyson Parks, a famous but fading horror writer, receives a desk from his partner. It’s hoped that the piece will get his creative juices flowing again, and rekindle his passion for his work. And it seems to be working. His agent is more excited than Tyson has seen him in years, and the offers are pouring in. But the writing is darker than it used to be, more disturbing. And, it seems, Tyson might be changing too.
Meanwhile, Diana searches for a lost artefact from her family’s past. An object so powerful and so evil that she’s willing to pay any price to get it back and ensure its locked away for good. She has eyes everywhere, and a hired private detective in New York thinks he might have found it…
Philip Fracassi‘s Gothic is a deliciously dark play on the mad writer trope, fit to burst with jump scares, body horror, and gore galore. From the moment Tyson’s partner Sarah takes ownership of the desk – a brutal affair in its own right – Gothic barrels merrily along to its macabre conclusion, with Tyson all too willing to bow to the power of this terrifying piece of furniture if there’s a chance it will resurrect his career. The mysterious Diana is right there too, closing in on her prize; enigmatic and with a power all her own, she offers an interesting aside to an already twisted page-turner, filled with mounting dread and increasing violence.
That said, there’s perhaps one too many POVs at play. As well as Tyson and Diana, we hear consistently from Sarah, Tyson’s daughter Violet, and private detective Ben, alongside one or two minor side characters and a brief historical interlude exploring the desk’s origins. Whilst done in service of both exploring plot and seeing the impact of Tyson’s descent on the people around him, it does mean we don’t spend as much time with anyone as we’d like. There’s also a few side threads that could have done with a little more airtime or perhaps could have been cut altogether.
When diving into a horror novel, readers likely expect a lot of uncomfortable content – and it’s clear that Gothic is full of it. But, it’s worth noting that, relatively early on, Tyson’s loss of control does manifest in sexual assault. Likely intended as a way to show how the desk preys on Tyson’s already fragile ego and to rouse Sarah’s suspicions, it just felt a little too early in the book for something quite so traumatic – if, indeed, it needed to be there at all. Perhaps a bit too “real-life” horror in a novel that is at its best when its scares lean towards disembodied voices, horrifying visions, and blood.
Overall, Gothic is a satisfyingly dark read, weaving together well-worn tropes, character archetypes, and gory goings-on into an original story that hits plenty of horror high notes. It might have benefited from a hundred pages in either direction; depending on whether you’d want certain parts fleshed out, or the fat trimmed off entirely. But once it gets going, it’s a wonderfully twisted novel, marking Fracassi as an exciting voice in the genre.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Philip Fracassi’s Gothic is out now through Cemetery Dance Publications. Grab yourself a copy from Booktopia HERE
Review copy supplied through NetGalley.
