Weekly Reader: Luck by Chris Coppell; Lucky in Premise, Unlucky in Execution

Weekly Reader: Luck by Chris Coppell; Lucky in Premise, Unlucky in Execution

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Luck by Chris Coppell has so many things going for it: a suspenseful horror tale about someone with the power of mental manipulation even before they are born and a savage political satire about an inexperienced presidential candidate winning people over with those same abilities. However, somewhere this idea gets lost in a narrative of inconsistencies, plot contrivances, and possibilities that would have made a better story than the one we ended up with.

Daniel Trapp is born lucky, so we are told in the first line, and he would be. I mean after all if your father and seven months pregnant mother are killed in their car by an incoming train and you are saved by an emergency Cesarean section, yeah you'd be considered lucky too. He is adopted by his mother's sister, Mary and her husband, Henry and it isn't too long before they notice something odd about Daniel. Daniel also notices that he can see auras surrounding people, usually red or blue, and if he gives those auras a slight tap, he can get people to do whatever he wants. As he grows, so do his power and ambitions.

The book starts out promising. When Mary and Henry arrive in Colorado where Daniel is born, there is a self-awareness that borders on parody. Once they visit the hotel in which they are staying in, they compare it to the Overlook in The Shining. The bartender, who bears a strong similarity to Lloyd in the film, even jokingly refers to Henry as "Mr. Torrance."  

The locals practically have to hit the couple over the head with signs that Daniel's parents were "troubled" and something weird is going on. There is a genre savviness in this book but apparently not enough when the main characters stumble right into such a scenario.

It is kind of fascinating to read as Daniel learns how to use his powers to get what he and his family wants. He is able to get teachers to give him good grades, kids to play with him, or bullies to back off. He influences future nannies to display their worst qualities until he finds one, Christy, that he sees the blue aura around.

Good luck doesn't just benefit Daniel. Henry's hologram technology takes off and he gets a great position at CERN. Mary's house flipping business is a success and Daniel gets involved while still a teenager. Daniel and his adopted parents have the world at their feet.

Everyone follows them and if they don't  or the lad feels that they "outlived their usefulness" they have a tendency to disappear or take their own lives. 

However, the plot loses something as the tone shifts from horror to political satire. The commentary about someone using their cult of personality to gain power is interesting and very obviously patterned off of certain real life figures but that's also when the book loses itself. What could be its strongest asset becomes its greatest weakness because the plot falls apart under the political commentary.

A character gets introduced who finally proves to be a match towards Daniel's abilities and could be just as powerful as he is. Unfortunately, they are removed in a very anticlimactic manner before we get any answers to their abilities.

While one character is removed in an actually moving passage, another gets sidelined until they are useful to the narrative. Daniel's story gets resolved in a manner that had no hints of foreshadowing or points leading to this denouncement. Instead, it's a twist ending just to provide a twist. It's a book that starts strong but could be so much better.

What else can I say but paraphrase the old gambler's motto: Chris Coppell's book is unlucky in plot but lucky in premise. 

 

Weekly Reader: The Dark Chorus by Ashley Meggitt; Dark Hypnotic Horror About A Mentally Disturbed Man With Soul Stealing Powers

 Weekly Reader: The Dark Chorus by Ashley Meggitt; Dark Hypnotic Horror About A Mentally Disturbed Man With Soul Stealing Powers

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Ashley Meggitt's The Dark Chorus is a disturbing supernatural novel about a protagonist with an almost hypnotic power of stealing and capturing souls from the body.

The Narrator is a seriously troubled young man who spent most of his life in children's homes and psychiatric wards. His mother just died and he knows because as she died, he took her soul and put it into what he calls, The Dark Chorus, the souls that he collected and he carries with him. He is haunted by this ability, whether he does it out of malice, self-defense, or accidentally.

He is caught in the act of killing a woman during a ritual and he is judged to be mentally insane. His psychiatrist, Dr. Rhodes tries to find out the root of his strange story. The Narrator makes a pair of new friends, Makka and Vee. It isn't long before the trio are on the run with law enforcement and psychiatric services following close behind.

The book begins terrifyingly and pretty much stays that way. The Narrator's opening ritual is nightmarish as the souls wail at him in a chorus that sounds like all of Hell has a sound system just for The Narrator. His ritual ends up depriving his mother of her memories and identity to the point where she doesn't recognize him. It gets worse when he assaults a family friend, Mrs. Johnson, a woman that he insists wanted to die, to exchange her soul for his mother's. It's a mesmerizing and eerie ritual that sets the stage for the rest of the book. 

While the Narrator has this unique power, he is not invincible. In fact, he is often susceptible to other character's manipulations and desires. He becomes aware of this as he hides with Makka and Vee. His two friends are frightened of him but are also motivated by their own avarice, rage, and need for violence against those who have wronged  them. The more that they drag their new friend into hiding with suspicious allies and family members, the more they fuel his connection to the Dark Chorus and his souls. Their desires for an end to their pain only adds to the Narrator's.

While Makka and Vee could be considered The Narrator's friends, they are also interested in their own personal gain. The only one who is genuinely concerned for him is Dr. Rhodes. As they search for the boy, Rhodes doubts his elaborate story. At first Rhodes plays on one of my favorite tropes: whether what is happening is real or just part of Insanity. After all, The Narrator could have imagined the whole ritual in the beginning and Makka and Vee could be playing along with The Narrator's fantasies for their own means. 

However, that changes once Rhodes starts peering into The Narrator's past and finds out about his connections to a mysterious cult. The Narrator's back story serves as an explanation for the strange events and makes him even more isolated because of decisions that were not of his own doing. 

His souls can't connect him to anyone, even himself. This is what Dr. Rhodes connects with him. She is the only person who truly cares for and wants to try to understand him. She wants to see beyond his ability to the real suffering person inside.

The Dark Chorus gives us a unique power and the suffering that a person who has it can go through. They can feel used, misunderstood, discredited, and alone: just drifting along like a soul without a body.