SCAVENGER Summer BY ​STEVEN SAVILE: BOOK REVIEW

A family holiday in a Scottish holiday camp leads to unspeakable horrors

If you’re old enough to dip into some 1980s nostalgia (well, almost…), then Steven Savile’s latest novella Scavenger Hunt is well worth a look. It’s a brief 102-page read and an engaging blend of coming-of-age story, thriller and horror, of a distinct b-movie brand. I started it without knowing anything much about the plot and within twenty pages the action morphed from what looked like a murder-style thriller into something more akin to an episode of The Twilight Zone.  
 
The thing is, I don’t ever remember any episodes of The Twilight Zone being set in the south of Scotland! The story has a terrific setting, a rundown holiday camp near the town of Ayr, on the West Coast of Scotland. Coincidentally, between 1983-86 my family holidayed in an uncannily similar camp called Butlins, which is very close to Ayr. Whether the story is inspired by that long since closed Butlins camp I have no idea, but it had many nostalgic triggers for myself. Like the main character in the story, I used to meet up with a cousin I would only see once a year at Butlins, and I have wonderful memories of our family’s stay there and the time spent roaming with my relative. Scavenger Hunt starts of with a very similar holiday vibe.
 
As a Scotsman in exile I love reading horror set in my homeland and combined with the musical and television references the story has a nice sense of time and place. Everybody of a certain age remembers listening to the Top 40 on Radio 1 every Sunday and can recall the big music stars of the time, from Nik Kershaw, Howard Jones to Dire Straits who are all mentioned over the course of the story. Part of the nostalgia comes from the fact the novella has an odd narrative; the main character is looking back on events of thirty years ago from when he was fifteen and recounting what happened when he was still a kid. Written with a first-person narrative, there is always the chance that we are listening to the ravings of an unreliable narrator, the uncertainty was part of the fun and from time to time the style certainly jarred. 
 
Scavenger Hunt revolves around an extended family who are holidaying in the camp and the story is narrated by fifteen-year-old Danny. Coming from the south of England, Danny loves his time in Scotland and we’re quickly introduced to his little sister Poppy, his cousin Rob and sister Lou, Stepdad Charlie and Uncle Pete. The family dynamics were realistic, and the banter was entertaining with the kids roaming around the camp going to arcades, the beach and the parks. Things take a darker turn early in proceedings when the children find a body on the beach which they realise is their mother.
 
With the discovery of the body is looks like Scavenger Hunt is going to be a thriller, however, within about ten pages it takes a bizarre turn and swiftly moves into the world of horror and the uncanny. There are lots of obvious cinematic comparisons you could make but naming them would provide easy spoilers.  To reveal any more about the plot would be saying too much, but it morphs into an entertaining balance of trashy horror and thriller. I really connected with the teenager Danny, he was a nice kid, with a believable voice, before his life is turned upside down.  
 
Along the way Danny meets Callie and this was also nicely handled, the middle-aged version of the narrator, looking back, reveals he fell in love with most girls he met at that age! Who doesn’t? Callie is older that Danny and you’ll be delighted for him when they share their first kiss. As the book is only just over 100-pages everything happens very fast and I felt there was scope to have paced things out more slowly, for example, from the discovery of the body, to the first twist was only a few pages and could have been teased out before this big reveal and there were further sequences which could also have been less rushed.
 
Although I enjoyed Scavenger Hunt I was unconvinced by the ending as I felt that there was insufficient resolution between the adult version of Danny narrating the story and the events of 1986, which was slightly confusing. Other than that, this quirky little novella was good company for a couple of hours, nicely blending the teenage holiday vibe with some nutty horror. I also have a hankering for the south Scottish west coast which I have not visited for many years.
 
3.5/5
 
Tony Jones

Scavenger Summer by Steven Savile

The summer of 1986. A summer of beachcombing and skinny dipping, of amusement arcades, karate games and Penny Falls, of first loves, fumbled experiences, excitement, and possibilities. A summer where anything could happen. Those teenage days truly were the best ones of my life.
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Right up until the moment I found my mother’s body washed up on the beach.

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