Wildwood Road

by Christopher Golden

[empressbrooke]

Christopher Golden writes an insanely wide variety of stories, but where he excels the most is in the horror genre. His brand of horror is particularly, well, horrific. It doesn't stem from the stories' supernatural elements so much as it does from the effects of the supernatural on the characters' everyday lives.

That's not to say that the supernatural elements aren't insanely creepy. During the beginning of Wildwood Road, Michael Dansky walks through an abandoned house, heavily intoxicated by something, and is assaulted by ghostly smells, sounds, and images. The way Golden describes this journey sent chills down my spine, as cliche as it sounds. I was seriously wigged out.

The rest of the novel is about the effects of the house on Michael's life as it obsesses him and turns his wife into someone he doesn't recognize. One of the things I love about Golden's horror novels is that they're incredibly creative; I never know where they're going, and I'm always pleasantly surprised by where they end up. I'm never able to read them and then compare them to another book I've read, because they're far too unique for that. Wildwood Road made me eager for him to take some time off from his innumerable collaborations and get to work on his next stand-alone novel.