Early Review – Mothtown by Caroline Hardaker (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Horror/Fantasy
Length: 360 pages
Publisher: Angry Robot
Release Date: November 14, 2023
ASIN: B0BVTMYQ4V
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 3/5 stars
“As a child, David could tell something was wrong.
The kids in school spread rumours of missing people, nests of bones and bodies appearing in the mountains. His sister refused to share what she knew, and his parents turned off the TV whenever he entered the room. Protecting him, they said.
Worse, the only person who shared anything at all with him, his beloved grandpa, disappeared without a goodbye. Mum and Dad said he was dead. But what about the exciting discovery Grandpa had been working on for his whole life?
Now 26, David lives alone and takes each day as it comes. When a strange package arrives on his doorstep, one with instructions not to leave the Earth, a new world is unfurled before David, one he’s been trying to suppress for years…”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got an ebook of this through NetGalley to review.
Thoughts: I really wanted to like this more. The writing style is intriguing; a bit ambiguous but very viscerally descriptive and somehow strangely engaging.
The whole story alternates between “before” and “after”. The “before” portions show our main protagonist, David, as he grows up from a boy to an adult. The “after” portions show him on a journey to a doorway. David is different than other people and was hugely affected by the disappearance of his grandfather. He is convinced his grandfather went away somewhere and is determined to find him.
My biggest issue with this story is you can’t really figure out what is going on and I don’t think you are supposed to. The story has a creepy vibe to it with disappearing people and things with wings in the shadows. However, you never really know in the end if David is suffering from mental illness, or if this is a world where people are falling into doorways.
Trying to piece this together was what propelled me through the story as a reader. However, I was left disappointed because I felt like the ending just got weirder and didn’t provide any resolution.
If you enjoy ambiguous, creepy stories that are going to leave you completely confused about what actually happened, then you might really enjoy this. The writing is well done with a lot of description and it was intriguing and weird enough that I finished it. It didn’t make me want to pick up any other books by Hardaker though.
My Summary (3/5): Overall I finished this but was left feeling disappointed that there wasn’t better resolution to the story. The writing is visceral and engaging but the story left me feeling confused. I probably won’t go out of my way to read anymore books by Hardaker. However, if you are looking for a creepy and odd story this might be interesting to you.
