Little Sister Death by William GayWikipedia (Author Page) Amazon (UK) Amazon.com Faber & Faber (hardback), 2015
240 Pages
With an introduction by Tom Franklin ( Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter)
Little Sister Death is the stunning 'lost' horror novel of the late William Gay. Inspired by the famous 19th Century Bell Witch haunting of Tennessee, it follows the unravelling life of David Binder, a writer who moves his young family to a haunted farmstead to try and find inspiration for his faltering work.
Beautifully written and structured, Little Sister, Death is a loving and faithful addition to the field of classic horror writing, eschewing any notions of irony or post-modern tricks as it aims, instead, straight for your soul.
The wagon and team came jouncing and creaking around the foot of the hill and up the dry creek bed, but the portly man in the black broad-brimmed hat and didn't know that.
Little Sister Death was a huge disappointment. I'd never heard of the author but everything I read about the book made it sound creepy as hell and right up my street. I thought I was in for a treat. Unfortunately, that was not the case for me. Little Sister Death misses the mark at almost every turn. The novel starts well and completely loses focuses. Nothing creeped me out or unsettled me. I found myself bored a lot of the time. The last fifty or so pages are a rambling and confusing mess at times. I just didn't give much of a damn what happened to anyone. I couldn't help feeling that the author never got to finish the novel. Some of his other books sound good but I'm not sure if I'd bother reading them if Little Sister Death is anything to go by.
