Hex

I first stumbled across Thomas Olde Heuvelt last year when I read Echo, which totally blew me away, so much so that I immediately added Hex to my ever-growing TBR pile but put off reading it until this year. You know the way of these TBR piles. But when I heard Oracle was a continuation of Robert Grim's story (or maybe a prequel), Hex moved up higher on my TBR. And if I thought Echo was an amazing read, Hex surpassed that. Black Spring is an idyllic little town nestled in the Hudson Valley of New York State. On the outside, it appears life in this town is perfect, like you imagine small-town life would be. Think Mayberry, if you remember The Andy Griffith Show. They even have their own resident celebrity -- Katherine van Wyler, a centuries old witch who wanders the streets and drops in unexpectedly on families and often overstays her welcome. You would think having a resident witch would be awesome, that they town would have a thriving tourist industry, that they would do everything they could to exploit the woman's presence since Katherine comes across as a curiosity more than anything else. She sticks to her routine, and for the most part, you could set your watch by the times she makes certain appearances about town and never appears to be outwardly threatening. But the woman and the town have a history, and history shows the witch could be unpredictable. As a result, they have certain rules and regulations that are religiously adhered to, and violations of these laws often result in archaic forms of punishment. They have a system in place that monitors the witch's appearance, and God forbid she should appear in public and hang around, they have measures in place to make certain outsiders do not become aware of her presence. They also attempt to keep out the outsiders, and those who ignore the warnings and decide to make Black Spring their home... Well, they've more or less signed their lives away, and the lives of their children, and their childrens' children, because, you see, what goes on in Black Spring stays in Black Spring. It's like a roach motel: you can visit, and all is well, but live in Black Spring and you can never leave. Any attempt to do so can result in insanity, and even death. But as with any strictly regimented communities, there are those who seek to rebel. Aside from the few adults who resent their current living conditions, you have the teens, and in this particular case, a handful of teens who, in an age of social media, resent having their freedoms monitored or restricted and have established an underground society/club that is gathering evidence with the planes of going public with their dirty little secret. They think that by doing so, they will break the Black Spring curse and regain not just their freedom but those of the townsfolk as well. But there are those in town who are content to let sleeping dogs lie and will go to any extreme to make sure the town keeps its secrets. I know some of the reviews for Hex have been negative, citing that the book is not scary. The book, however, is terrifying in that we are witness the extent to which superstition can govern a community, and any attempt at change can start the gradual unraveling of a civilized society until they are reduced to a primal mob mentality resistant to any form of logic or reasoning. It's made all the more horrifying by what is revealed at the book's conclusion. Overall, I think Hex is small-town horror at its best. Heuvelt paints a chilling picture of what superstition and living in a constant state of fear can drive men to do, and how the tension of living with that constant fear can build until it finally explodes and how quickly civilized society can devolve to primitive levels. Highly recommended.

I chose this book for a book club I am a part of. I wanted a good fantasy/horror book. It’s definitely fantasy. It has a few horror-esque moments but in my unprofessional opinion, I wouldn’t stack this with my other horror books. The beginning was difficult to follow simple because the author was introducing so many characters at once. I lost sight of who was a child or adult, who was related to who, who was relevant, who was working for the town and who was a regular citizen. By the end, I still wasn’t completely clear but it didn’t take away from the story because a lot of those characters probably could have been left out completely. There were a few lulls in the book; boring characters and over explaining but nothing that was difficult to push through. For me, a lot of witch stories end up being cheesy but the author did an AWESOME job of keeping the witch mysterious, genuine and spooky. The plot and ending were predictable but it’s truly what I wanted to happen so I was excited when it did. The character development and what happened to who at the end was NOT predictable which made for a bit of a cliff hanger. Overall it was an awesome story, I just wish it had less character exposition in the first half. It took some discipline for me to get to the half way mark.

So the story was good. It hooked me at the start when everyone knew of the witch and it was a “normal” thing. Then it kept me in when things started unfolding with the new generation. Then when things went downhill I was reading excited to see where it went. Although the end was crazy, I got lost a bit but still liked it. It was unexpected and good.

This was one of the more surprising books I've read this year, in that its probably one of the most solid horror novels of 2016 yet it hasn't received that much fanfare. I wouldn't have heard of this if I hadn't seen it in a friend's Facebook feed and it looks like much of its readership comes more from word of mouth than an intense media marketing campaign. That's good in some ways but bad in others, as this very much deserves more readers than it has received. What impressed me so much about this book was how much it relied on human evil as opposed to supernatural evil. There's a definite supernatural presence, so much so that the townsfolk have learned how to adapt their lives to the constant presence of the Black Rock Witch, to the point where it actually ends up making some of the townspeople complacent. I will try not to elaborate too much at the risk of spoilers, but it's likely the adults' begrudging acceptance of "this is how it is" that causes the teenagers to start recording and even taunting the Black Rock Witch. It's natural for children to try to see how far they can bend or break the rules as a way of challenging authority and while they know that the witch is deadly, they've also grown up with the knowledge that not much (if anything) will happen as long as you don't touch her, listen to her words, or undo any of her bindings. That leaves a lot open to interpretation. Another thing that intrigued me is that the witch isn't entirely portrayed as this horrible evil thing. This I can't really spell out without spoilers, but I will say that Olde Heuvelt does try to show that life does not deal in absolutes and that actions can have an impact on outcomes. I will warn people that this book is slow moving, so much so that the action doesn't really get started until the last fourth of the novel. You can see where things are going and there is tension, it just takes a while for the powder keg to explode here. This isn't entirely surprising since there has been a lot of movement towards books of this type, but I know that this won't be everyone's cup of tea. I suppose the best endorsement I can give this book is that I started listening to this on audiobook and ended up purchasing an e-book copy because I got so into the novel that the audiobook version just went too slowly for me.

With his original approach to the topics of a cursed small town and witchcraft, Heuvelt gives us a deep insight into human relationships creating a setting and a plot that reminded me of good old Stephen King.

This book is one of it's kind . And will keep you intrigued till the end. Must read for all horror lovers

Im 17.Jahrhundert wird die "Hexe" Katherine van Wyl von den Bewohnern ihres Dorfes bestialisch umgebracht. Seit damals findet sie keine Ruhe und sucht die Bewohner der Kleinstadt Black Springs auch in ihren Häusern heim. Ein alter Aberglaube hält die Bewohner dieses Ortes für immer in ihm fest. Wer ihm längere Zeit fernbleibt oder auszubrechen versucht, bezahlt mit seinem Leben. So will es der "Fluch der Hexe", deren zusammengenähte Augenlider niemals geöffnet werden dürfen. Sonst droht der Untergang.. Je mehr der Leser in den dumpf-provinziellen Alltag von Black Springs eindringt, desto mehr Fragezeichen ergeben sich für ihn. Ist es wirklich der Hexenfluch, der die Bewohner in seinem Bann hält-oder ihr eigener Wahn, einem Gemisch aus provinzieller Kleingeisterei und nicht bewältigter Schuld? Der Roman gibt darauf keine eindeutige Antwort, ein Ende mit Schrecken ist aber gewiss... Fans von Stephen King werden diesen Roman lieben, Freunde des gepflegten Provinz-Horrors ebenfalls!

interesting premise, but not that scary. doesn't exactly stick the landing, but I'm not that mad. I kept waiting for a twist or a big reveal that felt like it never really came. wish I could have felt closer to the characters.

Arrived just in time for the holidays. In perfect state. I'm half way trough, well written and really scary novel.