New Book Alert: Hell Spring by Isaac Thorne; Confined and Claustrophobic Horror Involving An Unnaturally Large Flood, A Soul Devouring Demon, and Some Guilt Stricken Souls
By Julie Sara Porter
Bookworm Reviews
Spoilers: Last year, I reviewed The Cabin Sessions by Isobel Blackthorn which depicted a small group of people who harbored secret personal guilt as they suffered through a night in which one of their group was predicted to die. I mused about how the group seemed stuck in this bar/nightclub. I theorized that they couldn't leave and were forced to stay because of outside forces. That wasn't the case in that book but it certainly is in Isaac Thorne's Hell Spring.
Hell Spring also has a similar premise of a small group of people all with their dark personal stories stuck in one location during a natural disaster. But this time, the already claustrophobic environment is made even more terrifying because of a sinister supernatural creature who feeds off their guilt and sins.
The opening seems almost Lovecraftian in its execution. A demon lives a parasitic existence on a larger gigantic demon. Other souls and demons also live on the giant, (Satan? The book doesn't really say what the giant is, leaving its identity and actual form ambiguous.) but have no sentinence or knowledge of their existence. The female demon does. In fact, she gets reborn and each time remembers who she is and where she is, almost as a sadistic torture. However, since she has sentinence, she can plot her escape and finally she manages it.
The female demon escapes into Hollow Creek, Tennessee in 1955. She has to take a form that the humans are comfortable with, so she uses a calendar of a pre-fame Marilyn Monroe for her new look. This makes the second time this year after Lee Matthew Goldberg's Immoral Origins in which a character assumes the form of Monroe to commit villainous deeds. Perhaps, underneath that buxom figure, girlish voice, and sultry comedic style lies a dark soul. That was certainly true for Monroe herself who lived a very public troubled life and died of a barbiturate overdose, possibly suicide, in 1962. So despite her beauty and free spirited personality, Monroe produced trouble for herself, what's to stop one who looks like her from producing trouble for others. She is the unattainable beauty that like a siren that could lure one to possess her. In this case, could lure one to their death and eternal suffering.
Marilyn The Demon(we'll call the demon, Marilyn, for convenience's sake.) hungers for souls to devour, humans who are suffering internally from fear of sin and punishment. She finds them inside Beard's General Store in the form of various humans who have their guilty secrets.
The humans include:
Eli Wynn-a young farmhand. He is an orphan so is under the care of a God-fearing farming couple, the Blalocks, for whom he also works. He is constantly worried when he does things like swearing, drinking alcohol, and especially masturbating.
Mark MacDonald-pastor of the Hollow Creek Nazarene Church. He is concerned about low attendance and his own dwindling finances. He adds a little more of the church funds into his own pocket and takes money from the general store.
Donna Gilliam-a wife and mother suffering from an abusive marriage. She silences the rants and beatings from her husband, Ted, by killing him. She takes her infant son, Theo, and plans to leave town.
Peter Mayberry-church pianist and closeted gay man. When he was young, his mother resorted to disturbing violent means to curb his sexual tendencies. The memories traumatize him even as an adult. Even though he is involved with Samuel, an African American man, Peter is still filled with guilt over the relationship.
Kathy and Jerry Beard-The mother and son who run the general store where the others gather during a large storm that quickly changes into an immense flood. The arrival of the others and the strange happenings put a strain on the already disagreeing mother and son's relationship to the point of completely fracturing.
What is particularly compelling is how Marilyn controls her human victims before she eats them. Through these people, Marilyn gets into their heads and influences their thoughts. This fills them with guilt and remorse, making them ready for her feeding. The humans are stuck inside a general store with a rapidly growing flood outside and a hungry demon in the form of a sexy movie star inside.
Marilyn transforms herself into whatever form and personality to entice, lure, or shame the humans. They take her inside the store because she assumes the form of a shivering, frightened, terrified victim, so they feel sorry for her.
She becomes a sexy temptress to seduce the men particularly Peter.
Since he believes that he had sex with a woman and because it's the repressive 1950's when homosexuality is illegal and he had been shamed for it, Peter believes that Marilyn "cured" him. So he becomes the demon's sidekick, by sharing her consciousness and manipulating the others into thinking about their own sins. Peter gets so far gone in his relationship with Marilyn that he begins to think of her as God at first.
Marilyn also uses other tricks in her arsenal to feed on her victims, such as using her sexy form to entice Eli to masturbate then turning into Mrs. Blalock to embarrass him for doing so. She also takes other forms and she and Peter keep whispering guilt inside the victim's brains, getting them to continuously think about their deeds.
As the characters feel shame and guilt for the things that they did, and Marilyn and Peter keep reminding them, Marilyn eats their souls. At first the victim feels the guilt and blame lifted from them. They feel lighter but then as Marilyn continues to feed on them, they feel intense choking pain. The guilt leaves their bodies, looking like red steam that smells like sulfur. The victim becomes smaller and weaker until there is nothing left.
One of the more nightmarish things that happens is the loss of space and time that occurs inside the general store. No one is sure how long they are there: hours, days, or even years. Day and night aren't shown because rain and floodwaters cover the view of the world outside. With the exception of Peter, no one shows signs of visible advancing age. Even Baby Theo remains in his infancy held and fed by his mother.
Even the Reader is confused by how long Marilyn and her victims are inside. There are chapters taking place outside the store, but because of all that is going on inside, it is uncertain whether the external chapters are in the present, flashbacks, or flash forwards. This absence of time puts the characters and Readers off kilter. It also suggests that Marilyn is alone for an extended period of time with the victims and their guilty feelings and shame. She may have been feeding on them for years, even decades.
Shame. That is actually troubling them and the true secret weapon in Marilyn's assault. Shame and having the fear of sin and God's punishment put into them. They are made to feel guilty and judged by religious standards that look at everything that they do is a sin. Eli is shamed for doing something that biologically people, especially men, do all the time. Jerry and Kathy feel anguish, even though family fights are quite common and are means to let off tension.
Peter is made to feel guilty for being gay, a sexuality that he was born with and being judged when he is in a loving consentual adult relationship.
Even Mark and Donna's larger crimes are not looked through the lens, of pure right or wrong, innocence or guilt, the black or white that they are led to believe. Donna is a woman in the 1950's who is unable to divorce an abusive husband. She protects her child and defends herself the only way that she can in a time period with limited resources and means to protect them.
Mark is a thief absolutely, but the book also explains the reasons behind it. Despite being considered a pillar of the community, he is below the poverty line and has dwindling attendance in his church. He is beginning to wonder if his flock is forgetting about their shepherd. He acts out of thoughtlessness and desperation. To his credit, he is guilty about his actions even before he gets to the store and legitimately becomes the moral center of the group. He is also the first to recognize Marilyn for what she really is.
The shame and guilt that comes with generations of thoughts of religious sin are what fuels Marilyn. That is also what weakens her victims. In their concerns about whether they are worthy of Heaven, instead they create their own Hell.
