Book Review: Island Life by William Meikle (Monsters in the Mist)

Meikle beautifully captures the image of an isolated, Scottish island and the quiet pace of life before the peace is so harshly interrupted.   

Marine biologist Duncan is staying on the island carrying out research and hoping to begin a relationship with the local pub owners’ daughter Meg.  Old Tom, the island’s superstitious lighthouse keeper warns his young trainee Dick to stay indoors out of the mist.  Is he senile or should the islanders take heed of his warning?  Archaeology students working in the area have uncovered a burial mound and unwittingly unleash hell on the island.  As the mist moves in, the body count rises and it is up to Duncan and his band of unlikely warriors to deal with the creatures attacking them from the mist.

The story starts off slow at first, introducing us to the characters and is told from multiple points of view, including Sam, an ageing sheepdog.  Such a focus on characters is reminiscent of Stephen King.  One of King’s best attributes as a writer is his ability to portray the people in his stories so vividly.  Meikle has the same talent.  Once the attacks begin the story really gets going and we read on with trepidation, hoping for Anne’s rescue and old Tom’s safety.

What exactly are these loathsome, deformed monsters and what have they been doing deep inside the mound?  The book delves back thousands of years into the past to explain their origin.

An enjoyable read with likeable characters, not to be taken too seriously.  ***

Check it out on Amazon HERE

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TV Review: American Horror Story: One word ‘Disturbing’

The first episode of American Horror Story left me feeling uncomfortable.  Was it enjoyable or not?  I can’t honestly tell but it did keep me hooked for the hour.  It had its freaky moments, which isn’t surprising given it’s from team Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk who brought us Nip/Tuck, a show that liked to push the boundaries of taste. Oddly enough these guys are also behind Glee

Husband and wife Ben (Dylan McDermott) and Vivien Harmon (Connie Britton) move to the west coast, running from Ben’s infidelity and the trauma of a miscarriage.   They choose a seriously looking creepy, Victorian house whose former owners died in a murder suicide.  This little tidbit about the house’s history is what seals teenage daughter Violet’s (Taissa Farmiga) approval.   She’s a self-harmer and seems to have modelled herself on Winona Ryder’s misfit character Lydia in Beetlejuice.  We soon meet the housekeeper who appears as a young temptress to the father but an older maid (Frances Conroy from Six Feet Under) to everyone else.   The nosy neighbour Constance is played by Jessica Lange, an ageing Southern Belle whose performance had me wondering if she had just stepped out of an insane asylum.  Is she evil or crazy or both?  Adelaide (Jamie Brewer), her daughter who has Down’s Syndrome has a strange affinity to the house.  Despite all the past horror that occurred in it, the building has never harmed her.

This show definitely has the shock factor going for it.  Sex scene with a ghost? Check.   Female masturbation? Check.  Male masturbation? Check.

The second episode settled down thankfully and got to the story telling.  I still have no respect for Ben who lies to his wife yet again while he goes off to Boston to stay with the student he knocked up while she prepares for an abortion.  The united mother and daughter front presented by Vivien and Violet against the home invasion was impressive.  Constance locking Adelaide in a closet where all four walls are lined with mirrors was horrible to watch and underlines her perverse personality.

This tv show is not for the faint-hearted.  It kept my interest and I’ll be tuning into episode three.  ***

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