Tower Hill is a nice little town in Maine with an old school 'nice little place to call home' feel to it. It's a college town but the college is quiet and the kids are nice and people smile and wave to you when you pass them on the street. In fact, the college has a new professor who's starting a paranormal club; he's friendly and smart and the girls find him handsome, the guys find him genuine and likeable for a teacher. And that new priest in town, his sermons pack them in. There's a whole lot of new converts to the church.
But what if the priest isn't preaching a Catholic mass to get all the new attendees, what if he's brainwashing his congregation (I know, don't even tell me that it happens in every church, I'm on a roll here)? And what if that new professor is drugging his paranormal club and making them speak in tongues? And what about that Burger King 40 miles down the road, the one that burnt down with everybody inside it, I wonder if the priest and professor had anything to do with it? And if the priest and professor dig up all the ancient secrets buried around Tower Hill, I wonder if that'll be the end of the world?
Wow. WOW. I was not expecting much of anything from Tower Hill to be honest, maybe your regular demon in a small town novel, but Sarah Pinborough delivers a terrific novel. She succeeds here because of two major things:
1) She makes Tower Hill a character. Chapter 2 is only five paragraphs long, but they describe Tower Hill perfectly. You know from those five paragraphs what kind of town it is and what kind of people live there. It's short, it's brilliant, it made me realize early on that this would be an awesome novel.
2) She has antagonists that are actually charismatic. Holy crap, I'd totally get suckered in by one of these guys if I lived in Tower Hill. There guys are not bad guys, they're characters in the story with goals and dreams that conflict with the goals and dreams of the protagonists. Pinborough has given us people, not obstacles, and this puts Tower Hill head and shoulders above your standard hack and slash fare.
Now, the downside: The presentation. As I stated, based on the back cover overview, I was expecting a demon running around, chewing up people's heads and barfing maggots and stuff. Nope. I got a town of people that were like Stepford or Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad thing, I actually really dug that. But I spent so much time hoping for one thing and getting another that I couldn't fully enjoy the ride while I was on it, thus the lower rating than Tower Hill probably deserves. But seriously, this book is a really good time, it has a nice build to the climax and the little bit of predictability in the last act is easily forgiven because of the masterfully narrated story preceding it. Buy this book, love it, then buy up all of Pinborough's back catalog so she can keep writing.
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Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Leisure Books (July 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0843960523
ISBN-13: 978-0843960525