New Book Alert: The Meadows (Legacy of Darkness) by London Clarke; Gripping Horror and Psychological Thriller Becomes A Story of Redemption

New Book Alert: The Meadows (Legacy of Darkness) by London Clarke; Gripping Horror and Psychological Thriller Becomes A Story of Redemption




By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: London Clarke's The Meadows is the best kind of horror or psychological thriller. Many novels of these types pile on the scares and we want the protagonists to escape from the spooky situation.

Then there are ones like The Meadows where the scares happen, but it might be impossible for the protagonist to escape, because the protagonist themselves are the problem. The protagonist is filled with some deep secret or personal problem that affects the environment around them. They do this to the point where no one knows if the spooky things are real, manifestations of the protagonist’s guilt, or just hallucinations from an already unhinged mind.

Scarlet is a Nasville-based songwriter and recovering alcoholic. During a drunken binge, she mentioned a childhood fantasy about buying an old mansion and turning it into a B&B. A realtor takes her up on the offer and shows her a property with a unique and bizarre history. Despite her apprehensions, Scarlet longs for a fresh start and decides to pursue that dream.

Unfortunately, Scarlet not only purchases a big sprawling Southern house called The Meadows, she buys a curse to go with it. She hears footsteps and whispers particularly some that countdown to some mysterious deadline. She also sees apparitions of creepy hooded figures in the woods. Then she hears the back story that the house was the central location for a cult that may or may not still be on the premises and that it may or may not be haunted by former members or their sacrificial victims.

The Meadows is a great book for experiencing fear. Like the best kinds of horror novels, it doesn’t overdo with big scary monsters or axe-wielding serial killers. The creepiest moments are some of the most subtle such as when Scarlet is alone and she hears or thinks she hears someone chanting numbers. When the monsters come in full force at the end, the fear is well-earned because of the build up that happens in the previous chapters.

Some of the scariest parts involve Scarlet’s friends’ encounters with the mysterious goings-on. One friend disappears and is missing throughout most of the book. In one of the scariest parts of the book, another friend comes down the stairs in a hypnotic daze repeating the same phrase over and over as though he were brainwashed or possessed by demons.

Above all, author London Clarke really opens up how these events affect Scarlet. She is guilt-stricken about her alcoholic behavior and has trouble remembering large chunks of her life caused by heavy drinking. She is also consumed with grief over a death that happened when she was younger. When she believes she sees a ghost from her past, she is willing to run towards it that she wants to sacrifice her life to make the pain go away.

It is clear that Scarlet is every bit as haunted as her environment, so it becomes hard to tell whether the mysterious events are external or from within. Until the events affect her friends, Scarlet isn’t sure whether they are real or all in her head. That makes the most interesting kind of haunting when the protagonist is every bit as psychologically damaged as the house.

The Meadows ultimately becomes a story of redemption. Scarlet has to look inward to find her inner strength to battle the monsters haunting her house and the monsters inside herself. Even though, she surrenders to the temptation to drink, she realizes how wrong she is and fights with those urges. She realizes how much of her life had been surrendered to her addiction and is committed to making the B&B for a new fresh start.

Scarlet battles the horrors in her house as much as she battles the horrors of alcoholism and grief. With a house and a protagonist that are haunted, The Meadows is a true horror novel indeed.