When any given publisher releases a book with a theme in which it specializes, such a work does not necessarily warrant attention; chaff gets pretty thoroughly mixed with palatable morsels in many cases, and this is as true with horror -- more true, perhaps -- than with many other genres. But when a reputable regional publisher releases a bona fide horror title, it makes a conscientious fan wonder whether it might not be worth a closer look.
This is certainly the case with Emmis Books'
Shadows in the Asylum: The Case Files of Dr. Charles Marsh (2006, ISBN 1-57860-204-1, $14.95), an innovative work written by D.A. Stern, bestselling author of a number of
Blair Witch Project adaptations and spinoffs. Not only does it warrant a closer look, its innovative structure both encourages and compels one.
Unlike more traditional books,
Shadows in the Asylum’s story unfolds in the form of a variety of documents, including medical records, newspaper clippings, historical documents, journal entries, email messages, and even the scribbled notes of its central character. This makes a passive reading of the book difficult and challenges the reader to glean the information that will reveal the secrets contained within its pages.
Events in the book revolve around the title Dr. Charles Marsh, a man with a dark past who has recently assumed a position as a psychologist at an asylum in Wisconsin. Marsh soon develops an interest in one of the institution’s patients, a woman who suffered a mental breakdown while on an archaeological dig in northern Wisconsin and now claims to be haunted by spectral monsters. From that point onward, the lines between patient and healer begin to blur, and Marsh is inexorably drawn into a struggle with his uncertainty about what is real and what is imaginary, and what can be addressed with the tools of science and what cannot.
While the works of horror master H.P. Lovecraft are evoked by the contents of this book -- and, along with the
Blair Witch Project, invoked by the publisher in its promotional and backflap materials -- discerning readers will also detect the influence of an earlier by equally seminal father of the genre: Bram Stoker, whose
Dracula is a compilation of diary entries, letters, newspaper articles, phonograph transcripts, and the like.
Shadows in the Asylum takes this concept a step further by presenting it graphically as well as textually. (A technique, by the way, that would make this book an ideal prop for live-action horror roleplaying games like
Cthulhu Live.)
It would not be right to include any spoilers or give away any surprises here, and so this review will forgo providing too many details of the horror that lurks at the roots of this compelling story (although the most fanatic horror aficionados already know what sort of creatures lurk in the cold wastes of the upper Midwest …). For those looking for that exceptional work that transcends what they have come to expect from an often dissatisfying genre, however, suffice it to say that
Shadows in the Asylum will not disappoint.