Claire has spent most of her life alone, but all that changed five years ago when she met Elias. Then three years ago they got engaged, and Claire thought she’d finally have a family. But they still haven’t set a date for when Elias suddenly passed away. In one fell swoop, Claire loses the love of her life and the family she never met. But to her surprise, Elias’ family reaches out to her, asking her to come and join them for his funeral on their private island. Claire is so happy to be included that she brushes off the family’s oddness, attributing it to grief. But she should have paid more attention because something worse than grief is waiting for her on that island, and if she waits too long to leave, she never will. Experience the slowly building dread of Reliquary by Hannah F. Whitten this August, but be warned, you may never visit the sea again after reading this!
[Note: While I am reviewing this novel independently and honestly, it should be noted that it was provided to me by Run For It for the purpose of this review.] Warning: My review of Reliquary contains some spoilers!]
Claire’s always wanted a family
When Claire was just a kid, the rest of her family died in a boating accident. Ever since then, she’s felt alone in the world. When she met Elias, everything clicked, and she finally wasn’t alone. She had dreams of a family welcoming her in, but Elias didn’t want anything to do with his family. He never went into detail, and Claire never pushed. But she always hoped one day they’d be a big happy family.
Then Elias dies unexpectedly, and all Claire’s dreams come to a screeching halt. Except they don’t. Elias’s family reaches out to her. They knew she and Elias were married, and they want her to take her rightful place in the family. Audrey, Elias’ mother, arranges everything. A car to the airport, a private jet, a shopping spree (for a funeral outfit), lunch. She’s open and warm and everything Claire ever wanted in a mother. Then they head off to the family’s private island for the weekend-long funeral.
The rest of the family meets Claire there, and if things seem a little off, she chalks it up to grief. Everyone seems happy to see her except for Elias’ older brother, Ash. But Claire doesn’t care what Ash thinks; he’s a good-for-nothing brother who ran off, leaving Elias to run the family business before he met Claire. But Ash’s behavior isn’t the only thing that sets off Claire’s instincts; little things keep sounding alarms for her. But her desire for a family keeps her there. She can always leave tomorrow, right?… Right?
Reliquary is a classic study of dread over jump scares
I am a big horror fan, but I’ve never been a huge fan of guts and gore. I like what I call “psychological horror”, where you know something is wrong but you don’t know exactly where the threat is going to come from. Reliquary is a perfect example of this slow-building fear. Claire is already an emotionally unstable person with a traumatic past; then her fiancé passes away unexpectedly, and she’s left reeling. This means that she doesn’t quite see things clearly, but we, the readers, do. Right away, we can see that something is off with the Ashbury family, but Claire doesn’t. She lets herself get sucked in. Little things do seem off to her, but she makes excuses for each thing as it happens and doesn’t stop to look at the big picture. As each new incident ratchets up the tension a little higher, Claire gets more and more anxious, but she blames herself, she blames grief, she even blames money (rich people are weird!). By the time she’s finally hit in the face with the horror she’s stuck in, it’s too late. What would have been an easy exit earlier is now a fight for her life that she might not survive.
This is a great book because it gives us an inside look at Claire’s thought process. Sure, we’re still yelling at her to get the hell out of there just like the girl on the movie screen, but we understand better why she’s not leaving. I think this would make an excellent movie, by the way. The way Whitten describes certain scenes created great visuals in my mind that would be very disturbing and creepy onscreen (in case Hollywood is listening…). The creeping dread and growing anxiety does eventually coalesce into an actual enemy, and it’s a terrifying one. But by the time it comes around, Claire recognizes that there is more than one monster on the island, and she knows which one really needs to be stopped, too.
Whitten has also taken direction from R.L. Stine’s famed horror formula: the beginning, the middle, and the twist. Her twist is great, especially because you think one thing is the twist, but no, the real twist comes later. It takes the ending in a completely different direction, turning a story of survival into one of triumph. Whitten avoids the horror downfall of being depressing without falling into the trap of being sunny either. Her ending strikes a perfect balance that continues the horror past the end of the page.
A great way to end the summer, provided you already went to the beach
This isn’t Whitten’s first rodeo; she’s got a few bestsellers under her belt already. But this is her first attempt at horror, and that matters. Everyone thinks horror is easy: throw some blood around, and call it a day. But good horror is about more than gore, and Whitten nails it perfectly. She builds an atmosphere of disquiet that slowly grows to terror and pulls the reader under. It’s a good thing the sun stays out so late in August; you’re going to need the light, especially if you’re anywhere near the water. So, prepare to have the beach ruined for you on August 11th, when Reliquary debuts!
Rating: 9/10
Reliquary by Hannah F. Whitten is available August 11th!
Learn more about the book at the official website for the title.
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