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| Graphic Image designed by Sandra Lopez |
Cottage Grove Oregon is a sleepy little town, but in the surrounding forests, an ancient nightmare is growing stronger. Dr. Joseph Hoffman, head psychiatrist at Cottage Grove Hospital, wants to believe he has all the answers to his patients' problems, but there is a darkness within him that always lurks beneath the thin veneer of his competence. That veneer is about to crack.
In his Victorian home at the edge of the forest, his troubled memories hide in untouched rooms under a thick blanket of dust. He thinks he has them under his control, but as he delves into his patients' twisted stories, the shadows of their insanity begin to follow him home. In order to see what is happening to him, Joseph must turn everything he knows about his past, and his reality, upside down.
As he gets closer to discovering the source of the malevolence that surrounds him, he feels his sanity slipping away. Joseph must uncover the truth before it consumes him. Something terrible is taking over, and he may be the only one who can figure out why.
Excerpt:
“A self-aware shadow is something to fear. It will always be part of
you, without ever realizing it is of its own mind.” —Greek engraving
(circa 180–220 BC)
Noise filled the halls that night. Whimpers and cries coming
from the rooms. Footsteps resonated down the hallways
from the direction of room 207. This was where the Bibleclenching
Matthew liked to pace in circles at night. Whenever he
wasn’t in the hospital’s chapel, he was preaching his way through
the hallways. Quick, frantic skin-to-tile slapping struck the floor
as he vigorously read the words of God.
“Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones! He
will come to execute judgment upon all and to convict all the
ungodly of all their ungodly deeds, which they have done in an
ungodly way!”
In his mind, he stood before a thousand worshippers at some kind
of twisted religious rally. He then held his Bible in the air with
both hands.
“The angels! I see them! They come to me in my dreams, and I see
them in my waking life! I see them everywhere around me! Don’t
you see them too? The beautiful angels walking the earth to
protect us! With the fire in their eyes! It must stop! They must
stop taking us from our loved ones! They hunt for the weak, and
only God will prevail! Am I the only one with this gift to see? You
will believe me when it happens and—”
The slam of a metal door coming from another hall halted
Matthew in midsentence. The door slammed so loudly that the
entire C Ward went dead silent. The crying ceased. No more
laughter. “Reverend Matthew’s” words of God froze in his throat.
Running boots replaced the sounds of Matthew’s footsteps.
They wheeled an old restraint chair down the hall toward
Matthew’s room. On C Ward, the sounds of boots meant one thing:
the nurses were coming. With one thing in mind, they came to
shut Matthew up and give him a good dose. Scrambling back
toward his room, Matthew almost made it, but they grabbed him
and forced him into the harness of the restraint chair.
“You can’t blind me from seeing any of this!” Matthew shouted.
“You must obey! This truth is the only truth! You... musst...
underrrrrr...” His preaching drifted off like a vinyl record slowly
coming to a stop.
My review:
Dr. Joseph Hoffman was the head psychiatrist working with a variety of patients.
The writing was good, but it harbored a slow pace as we hear about each patient and what their psychosis was all about. The doctor eventually starts getting anxious when he hears noises in the hospital ward. That starts sending a chill in the reader, until, once again, we get back to the patients. Why did we have to listen to all the patients? Couldn’t some of those scenes or dialogues have been limited? The doctor soon starts questioning his own sanity, which was classic. A psycho doc thinking he’s psycho?
I would’ve liked this better if it had been quicker, which would’ve lent more excitement. I see that it was aiming for a dark and chilly mood preying on the psychological fear and folklore, but it just quite get there for me. It’s a decent horror tale, but I just think it needed more.
My rating: 3 stars
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