Customer Reviews

Father Panic's Opera Macabre

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Neil, a writer of bland historical fiction set in the Italian Renaissance, gets lost on holiday in Italy. Asking for help at a secluded mansion house, he meets a beautiful young woman and her strange, degenerate, Croat-origined family, including the eponymous Father Anton Panic. A passionate and delightful affair with the girl ensues, but when one day they play with the wax masks from the family's travelling-performer past, Neil discovers that his mask won't come off. There follows a long, hallucinatory, genuinely shocking stretch of writing, as Neil witnesses endless atrocities carried out by uniformed stormtroopers. Perhaps the most horrific thing about it is the utter lack of preparation, of anticipatory clues, in the narrative that's gone before; the reader is as overwhelmed with shock and revulsion as Neil himself. There is, in fact, no solution offered in the story itself; the historical context is only explained in Tessier's brief notes at the end. For Neil, for the story, the violence and horror remain incomprehensible, utterly unfathomable. The writer of saccharine historical romance is caught up in true events which took place barely outside his lifetime, yet about which he knows nothing whatever. This brief novel is challenging, haunting and horrifying, forcing us to confront yet more of the demons from Europe's unforgivable twentieth century.

Volume Three in Subterranean Press' Short Novel Series, Thomas Tessier's FATHER PANIC'S OPERA MACABRE is strange, hard to classify, and very, very disturbing.

Neil O'Netty, a semi-successful Historical Novelist, is taking a a driving tour of the Italian countryside when his car breaks down in a secluded area. He sees a dilapidated house nearby, and approaches it to ask if he could use their phone, and his life takes a very unexpected turn.....He meets Marisa, the youngest member of the eccentric, mostly elderly family that inhabits the house, and the two immediately fall into a passionate relationship. While waiting for his car to be repaired, Neil is drawn deeper and deeper into Marisa's world, her strange family, and the bizarre, grotesque secret their house holds.....

Tessier spends the bulk of the novella building atmosphere, which pays off in spades in the last quarter of the book, but the first three quarters are very slow going. Once he hits his stride, though, Tessier is firing on all cylinders. The less you know about the book going in, the better off you are, as the ultimate secret of Marisa and her strange family is chilling and gut-wrenching. FATHER PANIC'S OPERA MACABRE is a haunted house story of the first order.

(The signed limited-edition of FATHER PANIC'S OPERA MACABRE, published by Subterranean Press in 2001 was limited to 750 copies, all signed by Tessier, and is long sold-out. It's a beautiful edition, filled with evocative woodcut illustrations by Gail Cross, but for readers who just want a cheap reading copy of the book, Leisure reprinted the novella in it's entirety in their 2006 paperback edition of Tessier's FINISHING TOUCHES.)

I believe the creepiest horror stories revolve around haunted houses. Our homes are our presumed place of safety, a refuge from the uncertainty and danger of the world outside. The thought of our house being unsafe occasions a primal and visceral response, a fight or flight mechanism in us.

But a ghost is something that cannot be physically fought. It is, by definition, non-corporeal, supernatural, alien and indefatigable, a force of nature that cannot be defeated. So the only available option in response essentially defaults to flight. Many horror stories undermine the flight option by physically trapping the character in the situation.

Other tales don't give a reasonable explanation why the character must stay. They, rather stupidly, decide to stay and fight, to show a plucky human spirit rather than a realistic human response. However as the audience, we sit there, shaking our head, wondering why the hell the person doesn't just leave. Watch most horror movies Hollywood produces, and you'll clearly understand my point.

In "Father Panic's Opera Macabre", author Thomas Tessier wisely, but with a realistic, simple explantion, employs the first method, trapping his main character in the house. Neil O'Netty, a young historical novelist, is traveling through the rugged Italian countryside and adjoining hills. Sudden car trouble forces him to seek help at a remote farmhouse, leaving him unfortunately stranded there. At the farmhouse, he is introduced to one of the residents, Marisa, an alluring young woman Neil is attracted to. Marisa invites him to stay at the farmhouse with her and her elderly parents. Almost immediately, Neil and Marisa start a passionate romance with each other, diverting Neil's attention from the strange and unusual things happening in other parts of the house.

The novella, written by Tessier with strong European gothic overtones, has a wonderful verisimilitude in the beginning, incrementing the weird quotient slowly, before bursting into a shocking conclusion. While entertaining overall, "Father Panic's Opera Macabre" lacks any real punch. The characters are stale, and nothing invested me in Neil's frightening plight. The story didn't force me to have an emotional reaction to Neil's situation, which severely limited the power of the novella.

Last Word:
"Father Panic's Opera Macabre" is a well-written, grounded haunted house story that seems lacking of emotional involvement. The lack of emotional attachment to the characters ultimately dulled the conclusion for me. Still, "Father Panic's Opera Macabre" is a fine, easily-digestible horror novella.

Father Panic's Opera Macabre, originally published separately by Subterranean Press, is also included in the Leisure edition of Tessier's Finishing Touches. This novella was nothing but disappointing, with such an evocative title leading to little more than grand guignol -- and bad grand guignol at that!

Neil, a historical novelist, has his car break down and has to spend the night with a beautiful woman in a strange mansion. The cliches abound, and Tessier drags things out to the point that very little happens for the first 70 pages (out of 125); and when things do start happening, the complete lack of creativity ensures that the villains will be Nazis and the end will be predictable.

Having this sorry waste of pages tacked onto a solid novel makes for a sadly uneven experience -- although at least you won't have to pay $40 to find out.

This was my first experience with reading Thomas Tessier, who came to my attention through a conversation I had with a noted bibliographer of horror literature as "a great living author of the macabre."

So I criticize with caution. First, I was lucky enough to be sent a copy of the signed limited edition (this was a nice bonus!) which I read with care, in a single sitting.

The story is aptly described by the editorial review so I will not touch upon the plot. I will say, however, that the brevity of the novel prohibits much, if any, character development.

If there is true horror here, it lies in the subtext of the "barbaric Croatian Ustashas" who evidently wreaked mayhem of the most heinous sort-mayhem I was unaware ever occured.

Unfortunately, knowledge of the Ustashas come to us quite late in the novel and ultimately, in the form of an afterthought. This subtext made me interested in learning more history but, unfortunately, did not add any great moral or even horrific weight to a more or less traditional "ghost story."

However, I am not a novelist; just another annoying consumer of other people's creativity, so I hope that Mr. Tessier will forgive me. The prose is crisp, clear, and powerful and although the novel didn't strike me as special, this writer is obviously heads above others in the genre (and you know who they are!)

For those who like elegant little stories, this novel will not satisfy your appetite.

For those who like a very quick, twisted, violent journey into another realm, even if the effect is short lived, then by all means read the book.