 “If there's something strange in your neighbourhood Who you gonna call? The Borough of Long Draeston Department of Environment and Waste!” This debut novel from a writer whom had earlier released a couple of impressive novellas certainly piqued my interest. Graduating from the hundred-page range novella to the meatier 300+ full-monty is never easy, but I’m delighted to reveal that The Living and the Lost makes the upgrade admirably. Equally impressive is the fact that content-wise this novel has very little in common with his earlier shorter fiction. Stylistically, however, it is very similar, Richard Farren Barber has a very quiet, understated method to his writing. It is most certainly horror, but do not expect fireworks, his technique relies more upon atmosphere, humour, location and character development. What do I mean by a ‘quiet’ style of writing? In his superb post-apocalyptic novella Perfect Darkness, Perfect Silence the survivors of a killer virus deal with clearing away and burning the bodies of the dead. There is no big drama with the story beginning after the event. In Closer Still, a teenage girl is haunted by her dead best friend, with much of the action taking place in her bedroom, with bullying an underlying theme. Although The Living and the Lost is bigger and ambitious in scope, it does follow the same low-key storytelling principles and works perfectly by doing so. It takes a long time for the work ‘exorcist’ to be used in this novel, but do not expect any head-spinning, it is just not this author’s style. And that’s a major compliment. The action opens with Karl, who is in his early twenties, starting a new job for the Borough of Long Draeston Department of Environment and Waste. Karl is pleased to have finally landed a steady employment after a period drifting and believes he will be involved in emptying the homes of the recently deceased. The job advert had vaguely mentioned “waste disposal and people skills” as a requirement. He finds himself doing just this, but not in the way he expects. His boss, and mentor is Archie, who is a veteran of the department and shows Karl the ropes whilst grumpily passing on his years of wisdom. However, once he is on the job he realises that they are cleaning houses of dead spirits whom have refused to move on, for a various of reasons. After watching the first cleaning Karl is thrown in at the deep end and is scared witless helping Archie with this rather strange job. I really liked the way this ‘cleaning’ department was portrayed as a genuine council department. Set in Nottingham (the home town of the author) it has a convincing working class, downtrodden, feel to it. When not on the job Karl hangs out with Archie and other workmates Paddy, Anna, and George and it realistically portrays men dealing with everyday paperwork (B2 Work Docket) and the daily plod of mundane day to day work. This works exceptionally well and the author slowly expands the story around the co-workers as Karl moves from new boy who does not quite fit in to more of a team player. The author gives very little away about how the supernatural aspects work, but this is not a particular drawback and only makes the reader pay attention to the occasional nugget Farren Barber does decide to drop. For example, there is a great scene where Archie flips out after realising Karl had been drinking and was therefore more susceptible to being noticed by the dead. Or another encounter when it was quietly revealed that both the police and the hospital staff expect Archie and his friends from the department to pitch up and help. There is also quite a funny scene where Karl is kitted out with his job equipment which includes a candle, crucifix and Star of David. It was amusing as it took place in a weird little shop which reminded me of James Bond getting ‘sorted’ with his latest gadgets! However, on occasions you may well find yourself questioning the lack of information. One such query; there is never any mention of Karl (or anyone else) believing in God, so in this world being an exorcist does not seem to being connected to being Christian in any way. Don’t you have to believe in the theology for everything to work? Karl does say a number of prayers, but there does not seem to be any question of faith in the book. The haunting sequences were convincing and quite downbeat; from powerful presences, the speaking of different languages and use of very simple dialogue such as “he’s still here” was very expressive. The novel had so many nice understated touches; Karl started to smell (it is never explained why) but his parents understandably think it is because he is working collecting garbage! Also, bearing in mind this is 2019 and cash is in short supply, at a certain point Archie and the boys are threatened with redundancy, or early retirement. I doubt you would see this sort of down to earth plotline feature in an American supernatural novel! Richard Farren Barber’s fiction is endearingly British and this adds an extra level of charm to it. It has the feel of something which might appear on ITV or the BBC as a 9pm supernatural drama, but I doubt Hollywood will come knocking! A crisis, and near tragedy after a routine exorcism goes wrong, in the cleaning department moves the plot along and I did not find the second half to be as strong as the first. Archie has skeletons in his closet and the result is the spirits of the deceased (The Lost) almost being able to force their way back into the world (nobody mention Ghost Busters!) This was an importance sequence is the second half of the novel and it became slightly repetitive, The Lost threatened many times, but did not exactly do very much with their frequent appearances. Ultimately you cannot keep saying “BOO!” and then fail to deliver the money shot. Also, Karl was pretty slow on the uptake on the direction everything was heading in the second half, to the extent that it became a bit frustrating. As I said, everything is kept understated and low-key and these small gripes did not detract from an excellent novel too much. I would highly recommend The Living and the Lost, which is peppered with a host of engaging characters, an authentic slice of British life mixed with an excellent supernatural themed story. It might not roll of the tongue, but…… If there's something strange in your neighbourhood Who you gonna call? The Borough of Long Draeston Department of Environment and Waste! 4/5 Tony Jones THE LIVING AND THE LOST BY RICHARD FARREN BARBER After years of drifting between jobs, Karl has finally found the one – working for the local council to help ghosts pass on to the afterlife. Mentored by Archie, a curmudgeonly old man, Karl begins to learn his trade. Karl’s life is finally going well, but all of this is threatened when a routine exorcism goes wrong. While Archie lies in hospital, Karl is horrified as their work colleagues attempt to kill Archie. Karl discovers Archie has not told him everything – about their job, about his life. Karl learns about The Lost: a confluence of spirits using the recently deceased to force their way back into the world. Archie’s colleagues believe Archie’s coma provides the bridge for The Lost to return to the living world. As Archie lies dying, can Karl trust his friends to protect Archie and find a way to save him before he is lost?   Comments are closed.
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