 Three friends find themselves isolated and The Broken Places by Blaine Daigle ASIN : B0BTB81BDD Publisher : Wicked House Publishing (24 Mar. 2023) Language : English File size : 1684 KB Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited A Horror Book Review by Tony Jones I was immensely impressed by Blaine Daigle’s debut The Broken Places which might be described as an ice-cold blend of Adam Nevill’s The Ritual, Marc E Finch’s Boy in the Box and Ron Malfi’s Bone White. Being entirely set in a remote part of Canada’s Yukon Territory it is easy to compare The Broken Places with any survival style story where something nasty lurks in the forests and help remains frighteningly out of reach. Whatever you may decide to compare this terrific novel to, this gripping, eerie and captivating tale more than holds its own against the big names in the genre. Even, if at first glance, the plot sounds derivative of many other isolated snow-swept settings Daigle gives all those familiar ingredients a shakeup delivering a chilling and powerful read. The Broken Places is written in the third person and seamlessly moves between the three main characters and best friends, Ryne, Shawn and Noah. Apart from various flashbacks the book has virtually no other characters and is built around their long-standing friendship and the unnamed powers which test their endurance to the extremes. Aged in their late twenties and with significant shared history behind them, the trio meet up to visit Ryne’s family cabin which is some miles beyond the village of Wolf’s Bone, in a remote part of the Yukon. All three men were fascinating, relatable, and believable characters as they all had complex personal baggage which impacts the story in unique ways. Ryne’s is the most significant, having inherited the cabin from his father and uncle after their recent deaths, he is returning to his old home after even more family tragedy which has left him like a broken shell. The Broken Places was a very bleak book and happiness or cheery scenes are absent with anxiety levels increasing very quickly once the three reach the remote cabin. Even the title itself could be referring to the men themselves, just as much as the dangerous surroundings. The novel is developed around Ryne’s childhood connection with the cabin, which was built by his ancestors many generations earlier, but there were secrets his father and uncle chose not to pass onto him. In the prologue dreamlike sequence a childhood Ryne witnesses his uncle bowing down in front on an antlered creature and is warned never to eat meat from the forest. But why? Clues are dropped here and there and Blaine Daigle’s forest is a threatening and imposing creation which is vividly brought to life. The unnerving behaviour of the local wildlife was equally unsettling and is a million miles away from the cute animals of Narnia, with experienced childhood hunters Ryne and Shaun both struggling to understand their odd characteristics with the natural laws of the wilderness seeming falling apart. The Broken Places is set over a relatively brief period of a couple of days, with the three men arriving at the cabin just as a huge storm arrives cutting them off from the nearby village. Its pace is deliciously slow as anxieties increase with hints being dropped here and there what is going on. The book was top-heavy with outstanding sequences which used restraint to perfection, expertly blending dreams and nightmares with the natural perils of the weather. There was a brilliant scene where the men enter the basement for the first time which was reminiscent of the moment in Adam Nevill’s The Ritual where the group discover a highly unpleasant effigy in the upstairs room of the shack they encounter. Another startling moment arrives when one of the men shoots a deer in the head which is blocking the road, but was otherwise harmless, there was something particularly brutal about this savage act that did not bode well for what followed. A third formidable scene played out at a remote radio tower when one of the group are trying to attract help. None of these moments were particularly bloodthirsty, although a severely damaged leg might have you wincing, and flowed seamlessly into the narrative. The slow escalation was overseen with significant effect, with the bickering friends dealing with weird whispers, sleepwalking, the feeling of being watched and the possibility that they are not alone. I also loved the fact that the village of Wolf’s Bone lurked the background, with the occasional comment from Ryne which raised my antennae leaving me hungry to find out more. The ending and how things connect together was also nicely managed, but the final epilogue was outstanding and pitched perfectly between melancholia, closure and a tiny smidgen of hope. Blaine Daigle’s The Broken Places was a terrific debut and although individually a lot of the scenes might remind you of other works this was more than compensated by a grippingly bleak story of loss, friendship, survival and ancient beings which lurk in the forest which was told with great style and emotion. Tony Jones The Broken Places by Blaine Daigle When Ryne Burdette inherits his family's old hunting cabin deep in the Yukon wilderness, he wants to say no. Nothing much is left in that place except for unpleasant memories and the smoke of old burns. But after a tragic year, he sees a weekend trip to the cabin with his best friends as a way to recuperate and begin again. But there is something strange about these woods. As a winter storm moves in, the animals begin acting strangely, and the natural laws of the wilderness seem to fall apart. Then, the soft voices start whispering through the trees. Something is watching them. As the storm gets worse and the woods get darker, the three friends must dive into the darkest waters of the Burdette family lineage. Because the horrible truth is deep, resting in the shadowed places no one wants to look. the heart and soul of horror fiction review websitesComments are closed.
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