Shutter

by Courtney Alameda

Micheline Helsing is a tetrachromat -a girl who sees the auras of the undead in a prismatic spectrum. As one of the last descendants of the Van Helsing lineage, she has trained since childhood to destroy monsters both corporeal and spiritual: the corporeal undead go down by the bullet, the spiritual undead by the lens. With an analogue SLR camera as her best weapon, Micheline exercises ghosts by capturing their spiritual energy on film. She's aided by her crew: Oliver, a techno-whiz and the boy who developed her camera's technology; Jude, who can predict death; and Ryder, the boy Micheline has known and loved forever. When Micheline and the boys are infected with a curse, she learns that she has a week to save them, or they will die.

• ISBN10: 1250079969
• ISBN13: 9781250079961
• Publish Date: 21 June 2016 (first published 3 February 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 5 April 2024
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Square Fish
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[kalventure]

"Nothing monstrous was conquered with a kiss, nor by love. Evil went down by the trigger, overcome with bullets, shutters, blood, and courage."

After reading and loving Pitch Dark last year, I was excited to check out Alameda's debut for some more spooky goodness. Friends, while I expected to enjoy Shutter a lot more than I did, it was a creepy and enjoyable read for me. It's fast-paced and hauntingly atmospheric; Alameda has a way with words that is impossible to ignore. If you are a fan of spooky stories that deliver on the horror with imaginative detail, then keep reading because this book might be for you!

Shutter is told in the third person perspective of Micheline Helsing, the one of the last descendants in the lineage of the Van Helsings, and I honestly was sucked into the book with its opening lines: "Call it a reapert's insomnia, but the dead wouldn't let me sleep at night. Everytime the sun went down, I swore I sensed them stirring, starving." There is something about the writing style that sets an almost noir mood with the words and painting the scene of my mind in black and white.

But noir this book is not (this book isn't characterized by cynicism, fatalism, and moral ambiguity); Shutter is a fantasy/horror novel set in an alternate San Francisco Bay Area where the monsters and ghosts are real and there's a centuries-old system in place to fight them. Only instead of slayers and watchers we have the Helsing Corps, which was founded by and run by the descendants of Bram Stoker and Abraham Van Helsing (and others that have since died out over time). They fight the things that go bump in the night with technology, and Micheline's instrument of choice is a camera that captures the ghostlight and exorcises ghosts. I'll admit that I spent a lot of time picturing the fighting scenes in terms of the videogame Fatal Frame II, in which you also use a camera to exorcise ghosts (and the game is terrifying, 11/10).

"We did such human things before we reaped - showered, read the newspaper, kissed our families goodbye - always with the expectation of returning with the dawn. Optimistic by default."

This book is action-packed and fast-paced. Unfortunately for me, I got bored with all the action by middle of night three and found myself skimming over a lot of it. This is definitely a me thing: I personally struggle sometimes with action-heavy plots because I appreciate character development and worldbuilding so much, and to me it felt like the action was at the expense of little character development here. Our main character Micheline felt like a real, three-dimensional character to me; however, Oliver, Jude, and Ryder felt more two-dimensional to me. They are each very interesting and I enjoyed learning about them, I just wish there was more!

Micheline has the weight of the world and her closest friends on her shoulders, holding a lot of guilt for getting them all into a life-threatening predicament. Her father is the head of Helsing Corps and essentially forbids her from going after the entity that soulchained her and her crew, but that didn't really make sense to me. It felt more like a way to add a bit more tension in the plot than either "children you need to let the adults save you" or out of fatherly love. I was really bothered by her father's reaction in general, which was to literally hit her in the face and lock her in her room, then destroying all but one of her special cameras. I recognize that the anger is likely a reaction to what happened 18 months prior as we all handle grief differently, but that was so not okay. And while everyone else was appalled at what happened, I was hoping that the tension between Micheline and her father would have been addressed at the end of the book, but it was just okay without any reconciliation.

"Bloodlines and last names don't make a man extraordinary-the extraordinary existed in what we did in life, no in who we were."

Where this book shines is with its worldbuilding. Alameda crafted an amazingly intricate world that could very well exist right now, and I loved that she used the lore from the horror classics to tie into the story. I loved the technology used as well, the mirrors and cameras relating to the superstitions of these technologies when they first came to be and gave almost a sense of plausibility to their power. Unfortunately, there were some elements of the worldbuilding that bothered me when I thought too closely about them. Like how come she never needs to change rolls of film when taking pictures? If an entity is trapped in an Obscura, how was it also touching Micheline? These little questions aren't the end of the world to me and didn't hamper my experience while reading, but Cam and I definitely had LOTS of these when we finished reading! I have to admit that the open-ended ending left me feeling rather unfulfilled, though. There are a lot of questions that come up at the end of the book and none of them are answered. The last few pages are written as if there is going to be a sequel or companion novel, but to my knowledge this is a standalone... so warning that this kind of has a cliffhanger. Who killed Micheline's mom?! Who the heck is Luca?! Was he only stuck in the Obscura in the basement of the Obscura House? Is the only reason the Harker dude showed up was so they could get back through the Obscura? Was this all for revenge? How did no one notice all the women going missing and becoming "dracula's" slaves? What about the Draconists?

One of the things I loved about this book is that beneath the surface of this genre-bending horror story it is also about Micheline processing her grief. She’s closed off, trusting only in the hunt and technology; in herself. After losing loved ones she kind of pulled away. Her father pulled away. She’s afraid to reciprocate the feelings of the love interest, instead asking him to choose between following the rules or her. I think in a way she wants to solve this problem and save the lives of her found family to make up for the past and those she couldn’t save, but along the way she opens up to love and seeking help from others.

Overall this was a solid debut novel from Courtney Alameda; she has an amazing imagination and talent for pulling together the lore and worldbuilding in her stories. While I enjoyed her sophomore novel Pitch Dark a bit more than this debut, it is obvious from that Alameda is incredibly talented. If you enjoy action-packed stories and horror, Shutter is definitely a book that you will not want to miss!

🤝 Buddy read with the lovely Camilla @ Reader in the Attic!

CONTENT WARNINGS: grief, loss of a loved one

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[jesstheaudiobookworm]

4.5★ Audiobook⎮ I can’t believe I almost turned down listening to this because I thought it would be too creepy for me to handle. It was definitely creepy, but it was so worth it. I’m still not able to do more than glance at the cover, though.

Shutter’s protagonist is Micheline Helsing. *Ahem* As in Van Helsing. She’s descended from Abraham Van Helsing, of Dracula fame. One of her best friends is Oliver Stoker, a descendent of Bram Stoker. Together, they kick ass.

Right off the bat, this reminded me of A Study in Charlotte. You know, the “teenagers descended from famous literary folk and continuing the family legacy” angle. As far as angles go, that’s one of my favorites. It was that angle that made me decide to give Shutter a shot. This entire novel had the feel of a Marvel movie. It was action-packed and it used past fictional [to us] events as a foundation for world-building.

When any type of paranormalcy is central to the plot, world-building is extremely important. Alameda’s world was well-thought-out, explained, and executed. Her characters never got lost in the plot. I found the more minor characters to be just as interesting as Micheline. They each had their own distinct personalities. I’d go so far as to say that they each deserve their own spinoff novel (or at least a novella).

The father daughter relationship in Shutter also reminded me quite a bit of This Savage Song. I enjoyed Micheline as a character. She was brave and badass. I guess this is supposed to be YA because of the main character’s age, but that wasn’t overly obvious. I think any age could listen to this and enjoy it, especially fans of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

There’s a prequel (#0.5) to this novel, but it hasn’t been recorded as an audiobook, to my knowledge. I’m really hoping it will be one day. I’m so in love with all of the concepts presented in Shutter. Everything about it is unique and electrifying. I feel like Alameda could do a lot more with these concepts and with the characters. I really hope she chooses to expand on this idea. I’ll definitely be there if she does.

Narration review: I hope she doesn’t take offense to this, but Pamela Lorence’s voice added to Shutter’s overall level of creepiness. But because this is a horror novel, that’s a compliment! I guess it would be more fitting to say that her voice added to the atmosphere of the story. Her voice is thin and light, like a wisp of something on the back of your neck. It gave me chills. It reminded me of how an angry person is always scarier when quiet than when loud. The only character I wish she would have voiced just a little differently is Ryder. I was dying to hear his Australian accent. Then again, I will always support a narrator choosing not to perform an accent rather than attempting an accent they aren’t comfortable performing. ♣︎

➜ This audiobook was graciously gifted to me by its narrator, Pamela Lorence, in exchange for a review containing my honest thoughts and opinions. Thanks, Pamela!

[inlibrisveritas]

Shutter is modern day Gothic horror at it’s best. Quick to pull me in and keep me enthralled with moody language and hauntingly creepy scenes.

Micheline Helsing is a part of the legendary Helsing corporation which takes on the undead head first. She’s headstrong and a bit brash, and after some rather horrifying events of her past she wants to prove to herself and others that she can hold the Helsing name on her shoulders. She is also tetrachromat, meaning she can see ghost light and tell what sort of undead she and her team will be dealing with. I found everything about the technical aspects fascinating; from the ghost light to the use of mirrors and silver in luring and trapping the entities. There is a bit of a romance angle, and in a gothic horror that’s to be expected, but it is one that hogs bunch of page time. Instead we get plenty of time to see them work together and build upon their relationship slowly. I really love Ryder ad Micheline together. They both know their strengths and their weaknesses, and despite the danger around them they know that they are both capable hunters. That’s really I ever ask of romance in YA. I just want the chemistry to be strong and for them both to understand each other limits, no over protecting and no constant ‘saving’ of a character who can handle themselves a vast majority of the time.

The world building is pretty phenomenal in my opinion. I love seeing the frame work of Dracula being built upon and used in a really cool way. The Helsing’s, Harker’s, Seward’s, and Stoker’s are all prominent and important families responsible from the creation of the Helsing corps and the medical facilities used to prevent infection and stay on the cutting edge of ghost light tech. I think the coolest thing about this is that all the added tech it never loses it’s Gothic moodiness. Even the more modern horror elements really fit well with the mood and atmosphere, so not only do you get that gloomy and creepy feel to the entire story but there are some genuine freaky parts that i wouldn’t recommend to the feint of heart. I’m sort of in love with the monsters in this, as weird as that may be. The necros are terrifying and gross, but there are a few scenes that involve them that I’m kind of happy with haunt my nightmares.

The narration is another big accomplishment for me. Pamela Lorence’s treatment of the book is clean and crisp, with plenty of attention paid to the perfect amount of emotion. She keeps the story moving at a nice clip and really knows when to slow down and focus in on those tiny little atmospheric details.

I’m so glad I requested this one! I finished it up in a matter of two listens and immediately wanted to buy a physical copy for my shelves! I’m looking forward to more books by Courtney Alameda and more audios from Pamela Lorence.

[littleread1]

SHUTTER is one of those stories I went into blind - really the freaky cover and the blurb grabbed my interest right away. I've never read anything by this author, nor had I heard anything (other than seeing the cover around) about the book. I rarely take risks with books I know nothing about, but this risk paid off for me.

I am not sure what I expected going in, maybe "horror light" but that is certainly not what I got. Early on there is blood and gore - and not just for shock value. It actually moved the story along. That being said, if you are squeamish this is probably not the best book for you to pick up. Bad things happen, often. To good and bad people. The characters are not perfect, which makes them more relateable.

There were some twists I certainly didn't see coming. Some things that happened that I thought for sure they would get out of at the last second. And I may or may not have had disturbing dreams for a couple of nights while reading and after finishing SHUTTER. But that is what a good horror does - it gets under your skin and lingers. I love being freaked out, especially by a book that is more than just words on a page. SHUTTER painted a picture in my imagination that was potentially more horrifying than anything the TV could show me. A 'picture' really is worth a thousand words.