Staff Pick
In this homage to the institute of the fading British holiday centers, Graham Joyce tells an addictive tale. David, a university student, spends his 1976 summer — a hot, sticky, and ladybug-infested summer — working at the rundown Skegness resort in order to escape home. Something has brought him here, although he's not sure what, and a sense of unease begins to settle on him. Increasingly, odd things start to occur; there's a man in an electric blue suit (but David can't make out his face), a small boy (but what is wrong with his eyes?), and a fortune-telling machine (but the fortune is unreadable); they seemingly appear everywhere. David can't sleep, but when he does, his dreams are haunted by terrifying versions of the man, the boy, and the machine. Unsettled, David also becomes entangled with other staff members at the resort, all of whom seem unsavory. Or are they actually dangerous? This slow-boil tale is a creepy, startling read; Graham Joyce is a master of mood, and he is in full control here as he slowly dribbles out tiny bombs of exquisite tension. Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Critically acclaimed author Graham Joyce returns with a sexy, suspenseful, and slightly supernatural novel set 1976 England during the hottest summer in living memory, in a seaside resort where the past still haunts the present.
David, a college student, takes a summer job at a run-down family resort in a dying English resort town. This is against the wishes of his family... because it was at this resort where David's biological father disappeared fifteen years earlier. But something undeniable has called David there.
A deeper otherworldliness lies beneath the surface of what we see. The characters have a suspicious edge to them.... David is haunted by eerie visions of a mysterious man carrying a rope, walking hand-in-hand with a small child... and the resort is under siege by a plague of ladybugs. Something different is happening in this town.
When David gets embroiled in a fiercely torrid love triangle, the stakes turn more and more menacing. And through it all, David feels as though he is getting closer to the secrets of his own past.
This is a darkly magic and sexy book that has a strong suspense line running through it. It's destined to continue to pull in a wider circle of readers for the exceptionally talented Graham Joyce.
Review
"Beautiful, available women; ugly racist shenanigans; haunting apparitions. They all come with a college student's summer job in this marvelously juicy entertainment from the British fantasist [Graham Joyce]....Joyce folds [the] supernatural element gracefully into a realistic coming-of-age work that is also an evocation of a vanishing subculture....There's so much to enjoy here, from the fake stage magic of a woman sawn in half to the real magic of a gifted professional at work."
Kirkus
Review
"Joyce expertly captures a certain time and place, when family resorts were fading out and political extremism was on the rise, overlaying his snapshot with a subtle hint of the supernatural."
Booklist
Review
"Really scary...erotic and darkly supernatural."
Library Journal
About the Author
Graham Joyce, a winner of the O. Henry Award, the British Fantasy Award, and the World Fantasy Award, lives in Leicester, England, with his family. His books include Some Kind of Fairy Tale, The Silent Land, Smoking Poppy, Indigo (a New York Times Notable Book of 2000), The Tooth Fairy, and Requiem, among others.