Powerful Pages - Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons (1989)

Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons (1989)

Sprawling yet intimate, Carrion Comfort is the sort of novel that earns epic status with a deeply rewarding journey of astounding depth.  Unfolding over the course of several decades and spanning the globe, the tale is dense but personal, complex yet infinitely relatable.  Inventive and starkly realistic in equal measures, it offers readers a new breed of vampire so distinct that they aren't really vampires at all.  Profoundly disturbing and equally brutal, Carrion Comfort dishes out a smorgasbord of woeful surprises and fiendish chills.  Simmons can be a bit overwrought, but his attention to detail and his vivid characterizations combine to flesh out a massive narrative with precision and impeccable clarity.  His zeal for history manifests itself here in a heartbreaking examination of the Holocaust that is the very foundation upon which this groundbreaking horror opus is constructed.  Fittingly, the emotional whirlwind that ensues catapults readers to dizzying heights.  This book is shocking and moving, boasting crushing defeats amid occasional triumphs as it veers from fascinating character study to white-knuckle thriller without warning, with frequent descents into outright terror upping the ante even further.  No one is safe, and the stakes couldn't be higher in this massive undertaking.  Carrion Comfort isn't just a great read, it's the type of novel that elevates the genre, and it should not be ignored by those who enjoy horror--or compelling literature in general, for that matter.

Final Grade: A+

 

Top 20 Horror Novels - #17) The Terror by Dan Simmons (from 2007)

Not only am I ranking my Top 20 Horror Movies for you this October, but I'm doing likewise with the scary books that I hold near and dear.  As with the movies that I'm discussing in that Top 20, I'm not attempting to rank these novels based on their place in pop culture, but rather their place in my heart.  Isn't that sweet?  Seriously, there are some fine books that didn't make the cut here because there just wasn't room, and there are definitely some well-regarded books that didn't make the cut because I don't really like them.  That also means there are some personal favorites of mine on this list that you may not have heard of.  If that's the case, I promise that I'll reward your trust with a gnarly tale if you give one of them a spin.  Finally, I may have shortchanged some of the titans in the genre (hey there, Stephen King) as I didn't want to overload this list with titles by the same author, though Uncle Stevie did manage to score three direct hits on my list.

The list thus far:

#20) Amok by George Fox (from 1980) 
#19) Manstopper by Douglas Borton (from 1988)
#18) Intensity by Dean Koontz (from 1995)

Top 20 Horror Novels - #17) The Terror by Dan Simmons (from 2007)

Dan Simmons makes my list with this highly fictionalized account of John Franklin's attempt to force the Northwest Passage in 1845.  The disappearance of Franklin's crew remains a mystery, and here Simmons offers up a grim and truly terrifying explanation that is guaranteed to send shivers racing down your spine.  The main character is not John Franklin, captain of the HMS Erebus and the leader of the expedition, but rather Francis Crozier.  Crozier is the captain of the HMS Terror, the ship that accompanied Franklin on his doomed mission.  This engaging protagonist has been rejected by the woman he loves, so he promptly turns his attention to adventure in the Arctic.  Suffice it to say that he gets a lot more than he bargained for.  After Franklin perishes, Crozier is placed in charge of the expedition.  Unusually harsh weather leads to the men of the Eremus and the Terror being stranded in the ice, where they must deal with a dwindling food supply and the brutal cold.  Making matters worse, a vicious and highly intelligent monster is stalking them, and thus Crozier finds himself at odds with supernatural terror, the threat of starvation, hypothermia, and mutiny.  The Terror is rather bleak and some may not enjoy this strange combination of historical fiction and monstrous mayhem.  At the same time, it is exciting and thoroughly engrossing, and I had a great time with this book.  It may not be for the faint of heart, but for those who enjoy a horrific yarn about a dire struggle for survival in the most difficult of conditions, it may be hard to top The Terror.