BOOK REVIEW – BONE HARVEST BY JAMES BROGDEN

9/11/2020

An ancient cult invests in a village allotment!

I had previously read two other strong novels by James Brogden; however, Bone Harvest blew those other efforts out of the water and even though it was a meaty 500-pager, it really whizzed past. Neither was it a fast-paced novel, but that is no criticism, as it had a certain easy-going style which genuinely absorbed me into the action. After I had eaten up the first 100-pages I was suddenly struck by how much I was enjoying this dark and meandering story. The experience was heightened by the fact that I knew very little about the plot in advance, so to avoid spoilers, I am going to remain vague and refer to some of the plot shifts out of context. It is a brilliant book which is fiendishly well structured, and if you are into ancient cults, conspiracies, and gardening this might be a book for you.

Gardening. Yes, you read that right. Bizarrely, a lot of the story is set around a plot of village allotments and you may wonder whether it is possible to build a horror novel around potato, cabbage, and tomato patches? It sounds impossible, but somehow James Brogden pulls it off and there are some bizarre scenes as the mystery deepens around a dodgy garden shed which hides a nasty secret. On a couple of occasions, I almost expected Inspector Barnaby from Midsummer Murders to appear and take over the investigation!

In the pivotal allotment storyline Dennie Keeling leads a quiet life and spends most of her time on her plot, suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s, on occasions she even sleeps in her shed and is accompanied by her huge Great Dane hound. Dennie is a prickly character, a busybody who knows the business of everybody and the story begins to develop when she suspects the new allotment tenants, an otherwise friendly young couple, are up to no good. She is particularly suspicious of them because they are renting a ram-shackled and overgrown allotment patch with a history none of the locals like to talk about. Dennie’s Alzheimer’s worsens as the story progresses, fused with her guilt for another matter, result in some of the strongest scenes in the book. Even the dog Viggo was a great character.

Although the Dennie Keeling story takes place in 2020, it takes its time reaching that point. Beginning in the trenches of the First World War, with a British deserter, turned cannibal, who is told by a fellow soldier to seek out a tiny English hamlet which follows an ancient cult, which is as far away from Christianity as you can get. This man embraces this new way of life with both hands and before long is adopted by the strange group as one of their own. Written in the third person, the cult plays a big part of the story and is incredibly well drawn, making a bizarre contrast with the pottering around on the village allotments.

The cult is so well developed and cleverly presented it was truly fascinating and spread over a century the reader gets a genuine sense of how it grew, moved with the times with the various time jumps throughout the 20th century leading us to 2020. James Brodgen obviously spent a lot of time researching and creation a believable alternative pre-Christianity type of religion, which had survived so long because it deliberately flew under the radar and was very selective with who it recruited. This was a major strength of the book, but to avoid spoilers you can discover exactly how the cult works by reading it yourself. You will not be disappointed.

I came very close to giving this 5/5 stars, however, the reason it dropped half a star was because it lacked scares and because the reader spends so much time in the company of the cult I did not dislike them in the way that I probably should have. Actually, I rather liked both cult leaders and the youngster they later recruited also. Perhaps I was meant to feel that way as the cult was only doing what it did in order to survive for another generation. Much of this moved into dark fantasy, along with horror, and the cult fascinated me rather than give me the shivers. For comparison, this was not the case with Last Days and The Reddening, both by Adam Nevill, which featured cults which scared the crap out of me. This group was rather different, and the above comment should not be taken as a criticism as it was brought to life incredibly well.

After about 400-pages Bone Harvest really begins to motor and the Deenie Keeling story is superbly linked with the cult, beyond being a nosey neighbour. This was an outstanding development and played a big part in what was a highly entertaining ending. I would highly recommend this novel, which is a brilliant package of horror, dark fantasy and an ancient belief system which is so clever it is worth reading just for that. And gardening. And strawberries which taste like human flesh. Yuck.

4.5/5

Review by Tony Jones

From the critically acclaimed author of Hekla's Children comes a dark and haunting tale of an ancient cult wreaking bloody havoc on the modern world.

YOU SHALL REAP WHAT YOU SOW

Struggling with the effects of early-onset Alzheimer's, Dennie Keeling leads a quiet life. Her husband is dead, her children are grown, and her best friend, Sarah, was convicted of murdering her abusive husband. All Dennie wants now is to be left to work her allotment in peace.

But when three strangers take the allotment next to hers, Dennie starts to notice strange things. Plants are flowering well before their time, shadowy figures prowl at night, and she hears strange noises coming from the newcomers' shed. Dennie soon realises that she is face to face with an ancient evil - but with her Alzheimer's steadily getting worse, who is going to believe her?

Further Reading

HORROR FICTION REVIEW: HEKLA'S CHILDREN BY JAMES BROGDEN FIVE MINUTES WITH JAMES BROGDEN
BOOK REVIEW: THE HOLLOW TREE BY JAMES BROGDEN
THE HOLLOW TREE BY JAMES BROGDEN
THE PLAGUE STONES BY JAMES BROGDEN - BOOK REVIEW (AND A GIVEAWAY )