An Echo of Children

The latest suspenseful thriller from World Horror Convention Grand Master Award winner Campbell (The Incubations) drips with insinuated supernaturalism that makes its drama all the more unsettling. Jude and Thom Clarendon are doting grandparents to six-year-old Dean. They’re dismayed to discover that Dean’s parents, Allan and Coral, have, since their move to a new home in Barnwall, on the eastern coast of England, abruptly changed their parenting style, including removing Dean from school for home instruction heavily steeped in strict Christian theology. Jude investigates the history of Dean’s new neighborhood, disturbed to discover that it was once the site of a Viking slaughter of children, and that Dean’s house’s previous owners tortured and dismembered their adopted son while “attempting to purge him of wickedness.” This morbid discovery serves as a chilling recontextualization for Dean’s new imaginary friend, a decapitated boy. Campbell plays his cards close to the vest, enjoining the reader to judge whether Dean’s home is truly haunted by a malignant supernatural influence or whether his grandparents are giving in to paranoia when they resort to desperate measures to “save” him. The result is sure to please readers who like their horrors open to speculation. (Sept.)