Welcome back to Books With Cause. Let’s dive straight into my latest review.
It’s the turn of another Horror Aficionados pick, and another one that I’ve been looking forward to for a little while. Keith Rosson isn’t a name that I was familiar with; this is a book I’ve heard a lot about as it seemed to get a lot of online attention in recent months. I was sure it was only a matter of time until this one ended up at the top of my To Read pile.
The novel starts in Portland, Oregon. We meet lifelong friends, Hutch Holtz and Tim Reed, who work as debt collectors for the criminal Peach Serrano. They are sent to collect $12,000 from Wesley, a methamphetamine user who has stopped paying his debt. When they confront Wesley, they realise that something seems wrong. He seems fearless and excited about the prospect of violence. Hutch and Tim eventually discover why: Wesley has a severed, withered human hand hidden in his freezer.
The hand radiates an irresistible psychic influence. Anyone near it experiences violent impulses, paranoia, and an overwhelming desire to hurt themselves or others. Hutch realises that even possessing it is incredibly dangerous, but the criminals decide to take it to Peach anyway. The hand rapidly begins destroying the relationships and judgment of everyone around it.
This is a book with a massive cast of characters. The power of the severed hand is believed to be linked to a cursed song by a punk rock band, Blank Letters. The novel is partly epistolary. Some chapters are Rolling Stone articles, interviews, and lyrics. Everything is written by Keith Rosson, and he does an amazing job of creating this world, and it makes it feel all the more authentic when some of the book tells us the history of Blank Letters and their three studio albums.
That said, there were so many characters in this book that I found it a little confusing and difficult to follow. That is where this book fell down for me, and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped. That said, I believe in second chances. There are films and books I didn’t enjoy the first time I tried them, which I then came to love upon giving them a second or third chance. As there is a sequel to Fever House, maybe this will be a book I give another chance to later down the line.
My Goodreads Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 stars)
