HELENA BY CLAIRE L SMITH (BOOK REVIEW)

here are some scenes which stuck with me long after putting the book down, but some descriptions made me want to skim read. It's definitely worth your time and patience though, even if it might not haunt your shelves forever.

With echoes of My Chemical Romance's classic song & video in the back of my mind, I was pleased when I flipped open the virtual cover of Claire L Smith's Helena, to be met with similar notions of love and death, plus an undercurrent of fear, right from the get-go.
 
Just like that band's early stylings, the writing in this gothic chiller feels lost in time, using a modern style to describe an 1800's setting. The plot involves the titular character seeking out a new home closer to her place of work at an inherited mortuary. There, she hopes to find easier times, both from a professional and personal point of view, as the ghosts she's encountered since childhood continue to trail her, while a mysterious killer stalks the streets.
 
As much as I loved the themes and the mood of this novella, I wasn't 100% sold on the way it was put together. There's some fantastic use of imagery when it comes to scene setting, but there are a lot of mixed metaphors and similes which kept throwing me out. There's also a reliance on using foodstuffs to describe feelings and facial expressions that never sat right with me. You can tell that the author is well versed in poetry, which obviously goes hand in hand with gothic literatrure, but here it just bogged some parts down. And that anachronistic style also means things are described that don't fit the setting, or just didn't exist in the 1800's, which kept pulling me out of the story.
 
Still, the book definitely delivers when it comes to fear – the initial scenes in which Helena either confronts or encounters beings from the spirit world reminded me a lot of the preacher from Poltergeist II; they're gaunt, lurching things, peering out from beneath the rims of their hats or from the depths of the shadows. Later, there are visuals that made me think of the fiery ghouls Barbara Crampton faced in We Are Still Here. There's intrigue to be had from Helena's day to day affairs, but it's those ghostly encounters which stand out the most, becoming more frequent and intense as the book goes on. By the halfway mark I was a bag of nerves, as our hero is continually pressured and tormented by wild-eyed spectres, and eventually much, much worse. The panic she feels becomes a tightening grip around your throat, and there's a nightmare scene at one point which is unrelentingly terrifying.

Fortunately for Helena, she doesn't have to face the horrors of life and the afterlife alone, with a close confidant called Miranda who moves in the same kind of spiritual circles, along with understanding and company from a couple called Audrey and Valerie. The men in her life range from a doggedly persistent detective to a pair of secretive brothers, and there's a hint of romance along the way, but it's never the main drive. Helena's journey is a slow burn, so while the plot seems to be ambling in places, it's worth sticking with for how monstrously effective and weirdly beautiful it gets.
 
Overall then, I've got mixed feelings about Helena. It's undoubtedly scary, nightmare-inducing even, but sometimes it trips over itself with purple prose. There are some scenes which stuck with me long after putting the book down, but some descriptions made me want to skim read. It's definitely worth your time and patience though, even if it might not haunt your shelves forever.

​REVIEW BY BEN WALKER 

On the outskirts of London, 1855, mortician and funeral director Helena Morrigan struggles with her limited finances and the heavy burdens of her past. Desperate to secure herself, she takes up residence in an aged house closer the graveyard, closer to the lost souls that sense her torment and are determined to take her place in the mortal world. As she tries to tame and free the ghostly figures around her, she becomes acquainted with the owners of the home, the recently orphaned siblings, Eric, Audrey and Christian Tarter. Yet, the souls she wants to save are on edge as a horrific serial killer runs rampant, giving Helena a boost in business and suspicion. Against her best efforts, Helena is suddenly thrown into a bloody mystery where new and old friendships are tested, innocents are maimed and a horrific family secret that threatens her chance at a peaceful existence and her existence itself.

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