New Book Alert: A Festive Juxtaposition by Paul R. Stanton; The Devil Takes a Holiday (So Do Formatting and Editing)

 New Book Alert: A Festive Juxtaposition by Paul R. Stanton; The Devil Takes a Holiday (So Do Formatting and Editing)

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Come on, even Satan can’t be the Odious Spinner of Lies, Prince of the Power of the Air, Leader of All That is Evil, Tempter, Ruler of Hell, and King of the Bottomless Pit forever. Every once in a while the Dude from Down Under (not Australia) needs to take a break and why not during the Christmas season?  In Paul R. Stanton’s dark comedic satire, A Festive Juxtaposition, that is exactly what he does. This book is a brilliant concept and idea that is mostly carried out rather well, but is unfortunately hampered by bad formatting and some technical issues that could have been resolved with better editing and proofreading. 

The Devil materializes out of thin air at 6:27 PM Greenwich Mean Time at Charing Cross Station. He forgoes the usual pitchfork, cape, horns, red skin, cloven hoofs, and scent of sulfur effect. Instead he takes the name Nick and opts to dress like a normal  Londoner: nice suit, quiet demeanor, unassuming behavior, the guy you might say hello to but then forget about a few minutes later. Since this is his time off, he just intends to enjoy a holiday stroll while actually (gasp) doing good for some desperate Londerners and punishing a few bad ones.  He gets involved in the lives of those that he calls “The Dispossessed” and changes their lives in many ways. It’s sort of like Touched By A Devil (minus the unfortunate implications of the title). 

Stanton has a gift for darkly comic writing that questions the Reader’s assumptions about religion, God, the Devil, and the concepts of good and evil. In some ways, A Festive Juxtaposition is very similar to Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett with its all too human demonic protagonist and its biting commentary on religion. The Devil is written very similarly to Crowley, the demon from Good Omens. He is a very slick sardonic figure who has grown to like humanity to the point of actually wanting to help them out of the messes in which they are in. In fact, he even challenges the remoteness of God by wondering how a seemingly loving deity can be standoffish towards the people that he created and not doing anything to help them on Earth. After all, the Devil may be (incredibly and completely) flawed but at least he’s there. He sees the suffering and tries his best (and admittedly worst) to provide some form of aid and comfort. 

The Dispossessed are the usual grab bag of city dwellers from all walks of life and all in need of some help or a sympathetic ear towards their problems: addicts, the lovelorn, mentally ill, the suicidal, career criminals, people who are doubting their faiths and beliefs. These are people who are in need of help right away and help comes from the strangest of sources. 

The formula from each story is the saame. A human is in some kind of trouble or desperately needs something. They meet a strange man who seems to know more about themselves than they do. He assists or offers them advice on their particular predicament, sometimes providing the means for the solution. The person is left trying to decide whether to take that offer. The epilogue then catches up to that person to say whether they  took the initiative and how it changed their lives for better or worse. 

There's Nigel, a young stubborn runaway whom the Devil has to use some tough love and all caps to get him to go home to his parents and make him realize that whatever disagreement that he has with his pater and mater familias can't be as bad as sleeping on the streets and dying from hypothermia. 

Nick also helps May, another young runaway, by posing as a private detective who had been hired by May’s parents. He even presents letters from her mother and stepfather to complete the effect.

There's Old Meg, a former prostitute who has lost her looks and charisma. She also seems to recognize “Nick” but it is purposely open for debate whether she knows that he's the Devil, thinks he's a former client, or doesn't really recognize him at all and just thinks that she does. Either way, Nick is enough of a gentleman to send her to better surroundings.

The Professor is a former academic whose career was ruined by a sex scandal and has fallen into the bottle ever since. He gets into an intellectual debate with the Horned One over the existence of God and source of Creation before he receives a potential answer to his crisis.

Nick isn't there just to help others. He's also there to mete out punishment to those with evil intent and do not have the excuse of saying “the Devil made them do it.” People like Ed, Barry, and Razors, a trio that like to rob and harm others just for the lulz. They realize too late that robbing the Devil is not a good idea. In one of the darkest and most humorous dialogues in the book, after the trio ask who the Devil Nick is, he gives a sinister grin and tells them to turn their question into a declaration, reverse “are” and “you,”  put them at the head of the sentence, drop “who,” and then they will have their answer.

Next on Nick's Nice List are Lucy and Dominic, a pair of addicts who desperately need to get Dominic to a hospital. Nick helps them while putting Laz, a soulless career criminal with a penchant for hallucinogens and taking advantage of the troubled couple, on his Naughty List.

Miriam is a domestic abuse survivor who is in the process of getting herself and her beloved dog Tigger evicted. Maybe, that mysterious slightly demonic representative from her husband's law firm can help. Unfortunately, the news is not what Miriam suspected and may only make her life worse.

While Nick spends much time with the impoverished, even the more economically advantaged need diabolical intervention. His latest mortal is Michael Asquith, a well dressed man caught up in a conundrum. He is engaged but during a night of drunkenness, he had an affair and now is debating whether to tell his fiancee and end the engagement or live a lie. All of this is figured out by the Devil’s talent for deductive reasoning. (Sherlock Holmes had to learn it from somebody. Why not the Prince of well not Darkness but slightly Charcoal Gray?)

To prove that the Devil can be a good sport, he even lends a claw to a member of the Rival team by helping Rev. Adrian Noble. Noble’s church has been closed, left desolate, and is in the process of renovation. His church is low on funding and parishioners and Noble is hovering towards despair and doubts in his faith. Even the Devil is willing to forego an ancient rivalry to help a truly good man.

After messing with time travel and getting the better of a DoomSayer on the street, Nick encounters the final Dispossessed: Peggy, an anxious sad woman. Posing as a police officer, Nick questions her about her possible involvement in the death of a young woman. Peggy is confused and frightened about this line of questioning, but it becomes clear that this conversation is more personal than she thought.

14 lost souls. 14 lonely people in dire need of help and some lessons that they need to learn. Help comes in the form of a devil of an aid. 

This book is a wonderful concept and weaves the various diverse characters with the Devil making the book a fascinating ensemble. However, what could be a perfect work is seriously hampered by poor editing and formatting. Words are spelled differently sometimes within a few paragraphs. Passive voice is used over active voice and creates too many filler words (“had seen” instead of “saw.”) 

The worst issue is the formatting. The text is pushed upwards right underneath the cover, putting the pages out of order from the table of contents. There are little sprigs of holly that were probably intended to be paragraph breaks but some of them are inserted in the middle of sentences and even words. This makes the narrative visually confusing and deters from an otherwise potentially great story.

A Festive Juxtaposition is mechanically flawed, but the concept and themes are brilliant and challenges what we think that we know about God, The Devil, Good, Evil, and Mankind.

Weekly Reader: Offset Children of the Gulf Written by Delvin Howell Illustrated by Hans Steinbach; Despite Some Flaws, An Excellent Continuation to Bimshire's Legendary Heroes and Villains

 Weekly Reader: Offset Children of the Gulf Written by Delvin Howell Illustrated by Hans Steinbach; Despite Some Flaws, An Excellent Continuation to Bimshire's Legendary Heroes and Villains

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: When last we left the island of Barbados AKA Bimshire in Delvin Howell and Hans Steinbach's Offset: Mask of the Bimshire, Kyle Harding studied a form of martial arts that uses a sugar cane as a weapon.

With his new friend, Damien Collins and a group of friends and family members including his kid brother, Damien, Kyle had to face human gangs and various monsters from Bajan myths. Most frightening of this rogue's gallery is the Heart Man, a man transformed into a creature who removes hearts from his victims and Mrs. Pringle, a witch who transformed and controlled the Heart Man.

In the second volume, Children of the Gulf one year has gone by. Kyle and the others are trying to adjust to a normal life. But now some potentially supernatural events such as someone disappearing into thin air and Kyle being attacked by invisible enemies suggest that Bimshire's legendary monsters have returned to fight Kyle, "The Inheritor." Kyle has to fight both human and supernatural enemies while Collins and young Damien have their own encounters that set their own fates and destinies. Kyle also receives some unlikely help from Sniper, a former enemy to face the latest group of villains.

The Mask of Bimshire is a great volume. Children of the Gulf however is good but not great. It has some great terrifying moments and many of the characters, particularly the supporting ones, receive more depth and twists in their individual paths. However, it stumbles particularly with antagonists who are not as interesting or as memorable as those in the previous volume. Perhaps The Mask of Bimshire's excellence is a detriment to Children of the Gulf. The first volume left such a memorable impression that its successor either had to match it or falter. Unfortunately, in this case it pales in comparison.

In this volume, the supporting characters really shine through when their own paths are revealed. Collins discovers that his chance meeting and friendship with Kyle might not be coincidental after all when he is recruited by a secret organization known as the canecutters and is taught abilities that could help Kyle or cause him even more trouble. Their divergent paths may pit Kyle and Collins against each other.

Sniper, an antagonist from the first volume, shows some depth and vulnerability in this volume, saving Kyle a couple of times and questioning his life as a pelt-ing (a gang member that throws bottles at victims). He seems to emerge as an anti-hero and potential frienemy of Kyle's. Sniper could end up becoming a potential future sidekick if Kyle and Collins end up at odds. Sniper's trajectory is good, but Collins is a great character and his and Kyle's friendship is one of the highlights of the series. It's just a possibility hanging in the air.

Damien Harding however has a more potentially disturbing development. He is also being noticed by the dark spirits and they see potential in him. Damien is also going through a rebellious questioning phase against Damien and their guardian, Mr. Beckles. Damien begins meeting the spirits in secret and appears to be starting a darker nature. We could see the young boy develop as a potential villain selling his soul to the darkness around him. There is a potentially terrifying future for this young man.

Unfortunately, because the supporting characters are built up more in this volume, it emphasizes more how bland a lead Kyle is. There is one great moment when he reunites with a relative and instead of greeting them with a warm hug, he lets them have it for this destiny that Kyle ended up inheriting that he didn't ask for, wasn't consulted on until he was left alone to deal with it, and puts him and his friends in constant trouble.

However, except for this moment, Kyle does very little except fight villains. It was like once his hero story was revealed, there was little left for him to do, so instead the other characters got built up.

Kyle isn't the only character who is a distinct letdown. The villains are nowhere near as developed as The Heart Man and Mrs. Pringle in The Mask of Bimshire. For the most part these villains are practically interchangeable and their backstory isn't as compelling as The Heart Man's bargain with Mrs. Pringle in the previous volume. There are some pretty creepy moments when some sinister little spirits called the baku demand payment. But they aren't as memorable as the Heart Man's terrifying transformation from regular guy to heart stealing monster.

Also, this volume does a major misstep in failing to recognize a regular primary antagonist in Mrs. Pringle. She was a sinister delight pulling the strings behind the Heart Man's actions and viewed Kyle as an "Inheritor" and worthy opponent. Unfortunately, she is removed anticlimactically and her full potential is never realized. 

While there is some supernatural presence throughout this volume, it mostly remains in the shadows and isn't fully involved in the characters which means the dark and light magic in the previous book gives way to more physical action fights which are nowhere near as compelling or entertaining as they were before. That could be the point as the real villains may be saved for next time. But these antagonists are pretty lackluster.

Sometimes the second volume in a book series has greater characterization by developing the characters' journeys and widening the ensemble. Sometimes it has a weaker plot because it contains repetitive fights and little resolution to be saved for the next volume. In Children of the Gulf's case it has both: better development but a weaker plot and antagonists. That averages out to okay but could be much better. At the least the flaws aren't large enough to get in the way of good expectations for volume three.

New Book Alert: Desire's End (The Desire Card Series Book Five) Predictable but Satisfying and Cathartic End

 

New Book Alert: Desire's End (The Desire Card Series Book Five) Predictable but Satisfying and Cathartic End 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: If you haven't yet, I insist that you read either my reviews or the books themselves: Immoral Origins, Prey No More, All Sins Fulfilled, and Vicious Ripples by Lee Matthew Goldberg before reading this review. This review contains MAJOR HEAVY DUTY SPOILERS!!!!

Ready? Then let's go.

Now we finally come to the end. The Desire Card and its depraved demonic leader, Jay Howell AKA Clark Gable come to a satisfactory completion.

This book is pure resolution, where all loose ends are tied, all things are revealed, and the characters meet their final destinies. All previous volumes have led to this moment and head towards the final successful pay off.

If you have grown to detest Howell as much as this Reader has, it's quite satisfying to see him brought down in a schadenfreude sort of way. On the run from his various enemies, he attempts to kidnap Gracie, his granddaughter and unsuccessfully rebuild his empire. This goes quickly awry and he is forced to hide out in the jungle.

In hiding, he encounters a female shaman who gleefully shows him the eventual ruin of his empire and his life.

Meanwhile, three other people are fast approaching, all familiar to the Readers: J.D. Storm, former assassin turned enemy, Monica Bonner, police detective who investigated Gracie's previous kidnapping and cannot stop her investigation against the Desire Card, and Helene Howell-Stockton, Jay's daughter, a philanthropist who has finally realized that her father is a monster who needs to be stopped. Even the shaman has her own pound of flesh to take from the corrupt CEO/Crime Boss.

It helps to take satisfaction in Howell's end by not making him sympathetic. He's a weasley bully who uses everyone around him in the beginning and is a weasley bully who uses everyone around him at the end. No part shows this more than the chapters between Howell and Gracie.

Gracie was an unwilling pawn in Vicious Ripples but during her captivity from J.D., she displayed some potential sociopathic tendencies that suggest that she was meant to become Jay's little heiress. 

In the previous book, she cold bloodedly shot another kidnapper.

In this book the young lady displays her worst qualities as almost a way of saying, "Look Grandpa Jay, look what I can do. See what a good little girl I am?" She manipulates girls to join her grandfather's prostiution ring and uses her ballet skills to create a dancing school front for the ring. Even when she is separated from Howell, she still inherits his evil tendencies by selling hard drugs to schoolmates.

Of all the things that Howell did in the five books, his manipulation of Gracie is the worst. He made the choice to take a life of crime as an adult, fully aware of the potential paths that lay before him. He chose the path of easy money, notoriety, and luxury.

Gracie is a child surrounded by adults who come to her grandfather like he's the Pied Piper of crooks. She has been groomed to become a criminal with no choice or chance to be normal. Now that she knows, she can't live in denial. Her innocence has been forever ruined by Howell's actions and choices. Her own agency and control for her future had long been taken away from her.

J.D., Monica, and Helene are as wounded as ever and are ready to end Howell's hold on them once and for all. The book covers a period of several years, so there are moments of hope and sadness. Helene loses some important people in her life, but finally becomes closer to her hippy boyfriend, Peter. She is trying to rebuild a new life and wants to cut her former life as a Howell and a Stockton. 

Helene was a philanthropist just to make her family look good. Since then, she became involved in philanthropy in earnest because she knows about loss and pain. She sees others sufferings. She has a chance to be a better person and she won't let her father take that from her.

J.D. and Monica also find a new life in a surprising place….with each other. It's a pairing that seems abrupt but considering that they have suffered tremendous loss and have a shared history (even if it was once as opposite sides of the law), the initial weirdness disappears. 

J.D.'s girlfriend, Annie was killed by Desire Card operatives, feeding his thirst for revenge. Now his vengeance is gone, he just floats along, finding a place of quiet and solitude.

While Monica's son died from an illness, her grief fuelled her search for Gracie and put her right into Howell's orbit.

She also resigned her police position and is trying to live a stress free life.

Monica meets J.D. trying to rebuild his life and the two hook up. Despite their burgeoning relationship, they can't put their past behind them until they face Howell one final time.

Another character with her own interesting backstory is the shaman. Her story is too enticing to reveal in this review but let's say the series finally comes full circle and if anyone has a major ax to grind against Howell, it's her. She uses intimidating physical threats and her supernatural abilities to show the literal and figurative monster that Howell is and why so many people would like to see the back of him. The shaman gives Howell his final comeuppance in a way that is long predicted but ultimately satisfying and cathartic.

Desire's End is the perfect ending to an exciting and suspenseful series. After all the twists, turns, duplicity, and betrayal, it's great to see this card get canceled on a high note.

Lit List Short Reviews: The Black Pages by Nnedi Okorafor; The Havoc Tree by Layden Robinson

 Lit List Short Reviews: The Black Pages by Nnedi Okorafor; The Havoc Tree by Layden Robinson

The Black Pages by Nnedi Okorafor

Nendi Okorafor's novella, The Black Pages is an enchanting book that combines African fantasy and mythology with current events.

Faro is a djin whose spirit has been trapped inside a book for over a thousand years. During an Al-Qaeda jihad attack in which several books are burned, Faro is set free. She wanders around Timbouctou, her book in hand to see the carnage and destruction. Meanwhile, Issaka, a student from Chicago ends up in Timbouctou right in the middle of this conflict. Naturally, Faro and Issaka are destined to meet.

Between the two characters, Issaka and Faro represent Timbouctou's past and present. Issaka stands right in the middle of violence, revolution, and a changing government. He,his father, and uncles hide several books and manuscripts from the library (and quite a collection indeed, considering the long history of the University of Timbouctou). Issaka understands the importance of protecting that knowledge and the fear that it brings. At one point he wonders,"How could Issaka sleep when he was lying on a bed in a room surrounded by items that could get them all killed?" 

Issaka doesn't feel like a hero. In fact, he would rather be in the United States, attending his studies and hanging out with his girlfriend. 

Of course being a typical modern kid, Issaka's smart phone is always on (even if it has reception trouble during sandstorms) and through that phone, Issaka receives an unusual connection. 

Okorafor cleverly updates the djin to modern day. When Faro's book is destroyed, she finds a way to travel through the Internet. Faro's journey is described as "lights, heat, acrid, and sweet smells the taste of salt and metal, and billions and billions of that which she had the closest relationship to words. In many languages. She could hear the world...what the world had become since her Imprisonment."

Instead of Issaka and Faro representing the new and old worlds respectively, the two characters mix both worlds. Issaka is a modern young man protecting the knowledge of the past. Faro is an ancient spirit using modern technology to make her presence known. The past and present are combined within these two characters.

The violence from Al-Qaeda mounts and affects Issaka personally and emotionally which results in him and Faro meeting. In their encounter some provocative questions are raised, suggesting that there is more to this story than the 31 pages have to give us.

Still, The Black Pages is a thrilling start in uniting a modern man and a mythological creature to explore Timbouctou's past and present and maybe save its future.

The Havoc Tree by Layden Robinson

Layden Robinson's short horror anthology The Havoc Tree is for those who like their horror filled with scares, gore, blood, and splatter and don't want to wait around for things like rising action and character development. If you are into quick horror, then this is the anthology for you. But if you like to build your fear slowly and want to get to know the protagonists before they meet horrible gruesome ends, then looks elsewhere.

Many of the stories feature narration that sounds, perhaps purposely so, like the rantings of someone having a nervous breakdown or in the middle of a psychopathic rage. In the first stories, "A Final Moment" and "I'm Coming (Continued)", the Narrator is trying to convince us that he fought against a mysterious IT while trying to hold onto what remains of his sanity. The trick is trying to figure out if he's telling the truth or hallucinating this terrible confrontation to cover up a worse crime.

The stories are pretty frank in their description of sexual situations and strong language. Sometimes the repetition of cuss words can get overdone like a kid learning to swear for the first time and using the words more for shock value than any other means. Readers who get offended by that sort of thing may want to avoid reading this anthology. But if you can get past the constant swearing and sex talk, the Reader is in for a good time.

In "The Suit" Sarah Lawson,  a young woman puts on a suit that gives her a certain arousal but becomes stuck to her as though holding her captive. The suit could be a metaphor for sexual assault as well as how the fashion industry controls people. Sarah cannot get the suit off and becomes a literal slave to fashion.

Robinson's stories explore the darkest depths of humanity and how many are controlled by their obsessions, lusts, hatred, and destructive tendencies. The story, "Mr. Sacorp" explores that as two characters, Mr. Sacorp and Memphis Buckminster, take their dislike for each other to more frightening levels. The tension is palpable as their rivalry becomes murderous and their violent tendencies are explored especially towards an innocent person.

The Havoc Tree is the right book that gets you right away to a good scare. It's not one that creates a lot of thought and analysis later, but it may give the Reader chills for some time to come.

Weekly Reader: Who's There: A Collection of Stories by Dimas Rio; Five Terrifying Unnerving Tales of the Supernatural

 

Weekly Reader: Who's There: A Collection of Stories by Dimas Rio; Five Terrifying Unnerving Tales of the Supernatural

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Dimas Rio's horror anthology,, Who's There: A Collection of Stories weave five tales that are unsettling, unnerving, and utterly terrifying.

This anthology only has five stories and is 165 pages long. Rios clearly favored quality over quantity because each story packs a tremendous punch of terror, suspense, and paranoia

The five stories are: 

"Who's There"- Before his upcoming wedding, Adam, a

prospective groom's jitters go beyond the usual cold feet. There are some Poe-esque qualities to this story as Adam's thoughts get more  and more unhinged. He becomes truly monstrous as the Reader learns just how difficult his relationship with his intended bride is and how far he would go to maintain his single status. 

"At Dusk"- The Narrator is interviewing a local mystery writer who has a terrifying secret. This story seems to come out of the Twilight Zone with its emphasis on a fantasy supernatural theme and its twist ending (which is a little obvious). However, the mystery writer is a memorable character both in his recall of his spooky experience and the killer denouement.

"The Wandering"-Badrun, a security guard follows some mysterious noises inside a high rise and is haunted by mysterious letters detailing a doomed courtship. This book makes much of its setting. The isolation and claustrophobia of the city is revealing throughout this tale. The high rise is filled with the abandonment and isolation of after hours. Badrun is also an interesting protagonist as the mysterious letters stir up memories of his past that he had long buried.

"The Voice Canal"-While preparing a dissertation, Gio, a young man gets strange phone calls from his father. Instead of horror, this story goes for sentiment and heart. Gio is an ambitious but loving young man who is very close to his friends and family. His conversations with his father reveal their close relationship. His father has an uncanny ability to know exactly what troubles his son and knows the right thing to say, not just for supernatural reasons but by being a loving father.

"The Forest Protector"- Told from alternating views between a mother and son, the mother, Alma, has a strange connection to a mysterious creature of legend. While the majority of the stories are set in Rios' native Indonesia, this story makes the most of the setting. The creature with whom Alma is connected is one from Indonesiian folklore, a forest monster who protects some but destroys others. Alma's son, Ralfa reads comic books and possesses an almost encyclopedia knowledge of various local characters like Mahardika, the Forest Protector.

What also makes this story stand out is the alternate points of view. Alma hovers between being fiercely protective of her family and fearing for her own sanity and what monstrous form that she inhabits. Ralfa is torn between his childhood fantasies of superheroes and magical creatures and the reality of poverty and having a troubled mother. This story could almost be a metaphor for a dysfunctional relationship between a mentally ill parent and their worried anxious child.

Who's There is a terrific collection of short stories that will scare the living daylights out of anyone who encounters it.

Weekly Reader: Julien's Terror by Laura Rahme; Gripping Historical Fiction Novel Explores Real and Supernatural Horrors of France's Reign of Terror

Weekly Reader: Julien's Terror by Laura Rahme; Gripping Historical Fiction Novel Explores Real and Supernatural Horrors of France's Reign of Terror

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




Spoilers: The period between 1789-1799 in France is among the most tumultuous times in World History. French government transformed from a monarchy, to a republic, to a dictatorship, to an empire over the course of ten years.

It's understandable that those times would have filled the people with plenty of stress, uncertainty, anxiety, and fear. People wondered if their closest friend during the Revolution would then denounce them to the guillotine during the Reign of Terror. It was hard to trust or rely on anyone.

Laura Rahme's novel Julien's Terror explores that stressful frightening time. Like good historical fiction, she fills her book with plenty of details about the time from clothing and activities to key players like Maximilian Robespierre, the Dauphin Louis-Charles, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Francois de Charette. Rahme however does not give us a dry history. She gives us an interesting story with fascinating characters to go with this exciting detailed history.

The most intriguing characters are Julien and Marguerite D'Aureville, the protagonists. They are a married couple who are on opposite sides of the political spectrum and it doesn't take long for them to be at odds with each other.

Julien is the son of former Revolutionaries who protested the French monarchy and got swept up in the subsequent Reign of Terror. However, Julien's father also brings terror to his own home. He is an alcoholic who physically and mentally abuses his wife and son. He is so reprehensible that it is actually a relief when Julien uses some stolen anti-Revolutionary pamphlets placed in the right positions to have his father arrested. What saves this from being a completely reprehensible is Julien's age 9, that he is protecting himself and his mother, and that he only intended for his father to be arrested and removed from the family. When his father is guillotined, Julien is sickened with the carnage and filled with remorse.

Marguerite is also a victim of these brutal times. She is the daughter of Royalist sympathizers who are imprisoned then killed in the opening chapter. She is adopted by her uncle and sees battlefields up front as she and other Royalists march with Charette but many are wiped out. She is filled with such trauma from these times that she is troubled well into her adulthood.

When Julien and Marguerite marry, things try to become normal. Julien develops an engineering career. Marguerite adjusts to becoming a middle class wife and bickers with her domineering mother-in-law. The troubles from their childhood seem to be behind them. Then Napoleon takes power and things get worse.


Julian becomes obsessive and paranoid with Marguerite. While he is not physically abusive, Julien is verbally abusive towards her. He is highly suspicious of her former aristocratic life and her relationships with other men particularly Max Von Hauser, an Austrian man. Marguerite also has her own mysterious behavior as well. Julien's admiration of Napoleon Bonaparte causes her to avoid speaking with him about politics while keeping her former allegiances with Royalists. She also meets Max at a cafe in private who provides an understanding ear and more. Julien and Marguerite's marriage is an example of a self-fulfilled prophecy. Julien's coldness and jealous suspicions that Marguerite is having an affair causes her to confide in friendship with Max and that friendship develops into a potential romance.

Julien's Terror explores how the times shaped Julien and Marguerite and their marriage. Since, they were on opposite sides during the war of the Revolution, they cannot fully trust each other when there appears to be peace. While the Terror of the old days is still in their subconscious, it infiltrates into their lives giving them their own terrors.

What starts out as a straight forward historical fiction about the French Revolution, takes a very bizarre turn halfway through giving the novel a supernatural tone. Julien visits a fortune teller whose predictions are right on the nose. There is a creepy apparition of a young boy who frightens Julian that may be a ghost or may be a hallucination. Then there is Marguerite whose behavior gets progressively stranger. She takes on different voices, acts like she doesn't know Julien or anyone else, and sings vulgar songs she didn't know before. She also disappears for several weeks with no memory of where she went. Is she lying? Does she have Dissociative Identity Disorder or has she been possessed by spirits?

The supernatural aspects turn Julien's Terror into a different kind of book than it was before. At first glance, it appears abrupt but the more the Reader thinks about it the more it makes sense. The magical aspects are given more realistic possibilities like they could be products of their insanity or repressed guilt and memories of what had gone on before.
The bigger possibility is that in the world of Julian's Terror, the disruption in the political and social world of the Revolution and Reign of Terror brought the disruptions in the spiritual world. The ghosts and possessions are  symbols of the horror that happened before and still occurs within a country that has not recovered and whose people continue to suffer.

Laura Rahme's book focuses on the terror that comes from a country in great political strife and from the people who lived during it and afterwards.