[BOOK REVIEW] BOYS IN THE VALLEY BY PHILIP FRACASSI

7/9/2021

HORROR FICTION REVIEW BOYS IN THE VALLEY BY PHILIP FRACASSI

Boys in the Valley can be read as a good versus evil story and is a rollicking good yarn, which is built around a great range of well-drawn characters of which even the most brutal garner sympathy.

Evil visits an isolated Pennsylvanian orphanage

If you looking to snag a copy of Philip Fracassi’s latest work Boys in the Valley then I suggest you move fast as the 500 signed/numbered hardbacks being released by Earthling Publications around Halloween time are dwindling, and I imagine will all be snagged via pre-orders. This is much too entertaining a novel to keep hidden away from the general public and one hopes it will resurface as a trade paperback and ebook further down the line, picking up a wider audience.

I approached this book with considerable interest as I have read the majority (and reviewed several) of Fracassi’s other works and was particularly keen to see how he made the jump to a full novel. If you have never read him, simply put, Fracassi is an absolute master of the short story and novella and has the back catalogue to prove it. He can weave literary magic over the 100-page format and few can nail a sentence to the page better than he, but could he pull the rabbit from the magic hat over 320 pages? Indeed, he can.

Before we look at Boys in the Valley in more detail, if you are new to Fracassi here are some of my personal favourites you can check out to get a feel of his earlier works should you find it difficult securing a copy of this limited release. Both Behold the Void (2017) and the recent Beneath a Pale Sky (2021) are sublime short story collections and my favourite novellas are Fragile Dreams (2016), Sacculina (2017) and Shiloh (2018). There is also a brand-new novella, Commodore, which has not yet appeared as an ebook and I am looking forward to snagging that as soon as it comes available.

One of the major strengths of Fracassi’s short work is the fact that his stories have absolutely no flab and not a word is wasted and he carries this forward into Boys in the Valley which had a tight story, told over four distinct parts, which hangs together nicely having me on the hook for the entire duration. I am a prolific and fussy reader but sped through this gripping and excellently paced novel over three evenings as events quickly spiralled from bad to worse. One wonders whether this story started life as a novella and then the author realised there was just too much going on to squeeze it into his usual 100-pages? If that was the case Fracassi did the right thing, expanding it into a fuller and richer work where the pain and fear of the little boys literally bleeds from the pages.

The action takes place in St. Vincent's Orphanage for Boys, which is located in a remote Pennsylvanian valley, where the nearest town is over twenty miles away. Set in 1905, thirty orphan boys live, work and worship under the tutelage of a small group of priests. This is a very harsh, cruel and hungry life, the boys farm much of their meagre crops and the painful pangs of starvation are never far away. Fracassi sets the scene beautifully, this is not a choice of faith, the boys are there simply because they have nowhere else to go and as orphans are unwanted and unloved. Punishments are cruel and unwashed hands can lead to missing a meal or overnight stays in an underground hole similar to something you might find in a prison chain-gang. However, most have accepted their lot in life and make the most of this very tough existence, dreaming of escape when they come of age.

Boys in the Valley is told from several points of view, both boys and priests. Interestingly, Peter Barlow who is the main character and takes up the most page time, has his story told in the first person, whilst all the others are in the third person. Peter is the most fleshed out, given the most comprehensive backstory and nudges the plot into the realms of a coming-of-age story. At sixteen, not only is Peter the oldest of the boys he is also contemplating life as a priest and is encouraged by Father Andrew who acts as his mentor. However, Peter is conflicted as he is attracted to a local farm girl, from where the orphanage trades goods and writes letters to her. This was an engaging part of the story as Peter’s inner voice and his turmoil surrounding his faith and temptations which could be compared to the bigger picture of what is about to play out in the orphanage.

Early in proceedings, late one night a group of men arrive, one of which is badly wounded. Amongst the group is the sheriff from the local town who has the injured man tied up. Seeking sanctuary, the orphanage takes in the man whose body is covered with strange symbols carved into his flesh. At this point the story is seen from the point of view of Father Andrew, who believes the man to be possessed and after violent death, it soon becomes clear that he has brought some sort of evil into the orphanage that infests St. Vincent's and the children within.

I do not want to say too much more about the plot except that things take a dark turn and it happens relatively quickly. Events kicks off beautifully and with some intensity, one boy is unexpectantly defiant to the priests in dinner (something which is unheard of) and is sent to the hole and quickly boys begin to act differently, taking groups and sides. Younger boys are suddenly confrontational to their elders and the atmosphere in the sleeping dormitory darkens and can be cut with a knife. Fracassi builds this threatening tension beautifully and Peter worries something unnatural is at work.

Boys in the Valley can be read as a good versus evil story and is a rollicking good yarn, which is built around a great range of well-drawn characters of which even the most brutal garner sympathy. Once the plot shifts through the gears there is a great deal of violence and some horrific imagery with Fracassi’s lean and brutal prose spilling into the bloodletting as things spiral out of control and the smallest instruments are used as weapons of attack and defence. Strangely, something of the isolated snowbound reminded me of John Carpenter’s The Thing, in that at certain points of the story it was difficult to tell which side some of the boys were on.

Fracassi recently announced he was taking a break from his day job to concentrate on his writing and I hope this bold move takes his fiction to a wider audience. His existing fans will lap up Boys in the Valley and its eventual wider availability should bring in plenty of new readers also. To make a living as a successful horror writer, novels are the key to the big time and Fracassi most definitely has the literary juice to mix with the big boys. His website already lists A Child Alone With Strangers (2022) and Don’t Let Them Get You Down (2022) for release, an announcement which should excite the horror world.

Tony Jones

Boys in the Valley
by Philip Fracassi

St. Vincent's Orphanage for Boys.

Turn of the century, in a remote valley in Pennsylvania.

Here, under the watchful eyes of several priests, 30 boys work and learn and worship. They live their lives in a methodical way and get along despite different personalities and pasts. Peter Barlow, orphaned by a nighttime murder at his childhood home, has made a new life here. As he approaches adulthood, he has friends, a future … a family.

Then, late one stormy night, a group of men arrive at their door, one of whom is badly wounded, his body covered with occult symbols carved into his flesh. Upon his death, an ancient evil is released that infests St. Vincent's and the children within. Soon, boys begin acting differently, forming groups. Taking sides.

Others turn up dead.

Now Peter and those dear to him must choose sides of their own, each of them knowing their lives — and perhaps their eternal souls — are at risk.

Purchase a copy direct from Earthling Publications

http://www.earthlingpub.com/pf_boysinthevalley.htm