BOOK REVIEW: HOPE ISLAND BY TIM MAJOR

You would think that living with the mighty Cthella® would mean that I was totally inured to any horror story that revolved around strange and scary children. Well you'd be wrong, perhaps it's there is some projection of the powers, abilities and actions of the kids onto my daughter or possibly having spent almost 12 years living with the human manifestation of an Elder God has left me tattered and broken. Either way, Hope Island by Tim Major is does nothing to alleviate the constant dread I have towards children.  


When overworked TV producer Nina Scaife takes her daughter Laurie to Hope Island, after her partner and fat|
her to Laurie, Rob walks out on them both. However, the island is home to Rob's parents who are wary of Nina, and to make matters worse the locals are acting very strange (to fair locals are always stranger to outsiders, add in a recently unearthed archaeological site, a dead body on the beach, and ever increasingly terrifying silent island children, this is not going to be the getaway that they thought it was going to be.  


Before we go any further, let's get the children shaped elephants out of the room. Many of you will draw some similarities between Hope Island and The Midwich Cuckoos, and it's a fair comparison to make. Both novels involve a group of kids who ooze ominous otherworldliness, and both are highly effective in delivering an engaging and chilling narrative. In all honesty, though I think that a lot these comparisons are being made, because The Midwich Cuckoos is the text that springs to mind as there aren't that many novels dealing with crowds of creepy kids. As a riff on this theme Hope Island, more than stands on its own two feet. Major has crafted a classic slow burn novel, that drip feeds the reader with an ever-increasing sense of dread and disquietude, leading to an awe-inspiring battle against mysterious forces that threaten the whole island.

Populating Hope Island is a fantastic cast of characters, Major goes for gold in creating a wonderfully insular population, that while not reaching the utter eeriness of Royston Vasey, still leaves the reader with no doubt in their minds that they would never want to be an interloper in this community. Some of these characters are integral to the story, while many of them are used in a periphery manner to add an excellent extra layer of world-building. This is another way in which this book excels, Major has taken great care in building a stable framework form which to tell the story, the island and its denizens live and breath, allow the more supernatural elements of the story to ring true.  


And as for the supernatural elements of the story, oh boy, you are in for a treat. These "black eyes children" (if you haven't read about these go and google them they will freak you out), are terrifying, especially as Major keeps the reader guessing as to their true nature, are they real or are they a figment of Nina's distraught and heartbroken mind. Major carries this theme throughout the narrative, with an almost surreal sense of reality, there is an ethereal nature to this folk horror novel, that invokes a strong feeling of emotional agitation within the reader as it leads them through to a superlative esoteric conclusion that maximises the intensely ethereal buildup of the narrative before this. 


 A powerful, potent and claustrophobic novel that picks away at the paternal notion of the nurturitive nature of parenthood Evocative and dreamlike Hope Island is a highly original take on the evil child trope. ​​

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