Customer Reviews

The Hauntings of Hood Canal

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Jack Cady is a winner of the Nebula and the World Fantasy Awards. His previous works include: The Off Season, Inagehi, etc.

The present book is an urban fantasy set in the hinterlands of the Pacific Northwest. Most of the story takes place in a bar but encompasses world shaking events and heros and villains on the grand scale.

The Hood Canal is a dangerous place to cross in the dark. Accidents are quite common. Cars and trucks are often found drowned in the canal. Suddenly, the frequency of the accidents goes beyond the expected and the police have to intervene. The canal is dragged and the drowned vehicles are salvaged. The inspection of the vehicles makes it clear that the drownings are something more than accident. There is some sinister element involved. Some of the vehicles appear as if they had been crushed under great force and other vehicles appear as if their windshield and windows had been sucked off their body.

These sinister drownings started after Sugar Bear Smith had killed a child molester.
There seems to be a primeval evil force haunting the canal. It seems to thrive on misery and pain. However, there are heroic people around, some of then as primeval as the evil.

The story starts with the drownings, goes to the discovery of murder, then the climax is reached when the forces of good and evil come out in the open.

Characters come and go in the story at quite a brisk pace. There are Petey Mullholland and Bertha. There is Lee.

Cady has a quirky style of writing. There are several important characters in the story that are never named. They are just the fisherman, the tow-truck kid, the bartender, the red head. On the other hand, the dog in the story has a name like Jubal Jim Johnson. Another quirk of Cady is to shift from the past tense to the present in a see-sawish manner. The present tense is used whenever a character is described, giving the story an immediacy. Good stuff, even though at points, the story gets bogged down in style. Stylewise, the book is good. Storywise, it is average.

This book is wicked because it is suspensful and keeps you jumpy in the dark. The small town setting makes it realistic, yet this town has something more. When Sugar Bear,a blacksmith, ditches the body of a child molester in the canal everything in the small,laidback town breaks loose. The plot of the book follows the canal from bar to bar introducing the reader to many dark, mysterious characters. Any fan of Stephen King Should really love this book.

I waited a long time to read this book, so maybe I just built up too much anticipation, but I was quite disappointed. I admit that I expected more of a traditional ghost story, which this is not, but all expectations aside, the story just didn't seem to follow a clear and cohesive path. I felt a sense of vagueness all throughout the book, and never really felt immersed or completely invested in the characters. I also did not feel there was much of a payoff at the end, as the book did build up suspense and a desire to know what was behind all the mystery. My response to this work is lukewarm at best, but I still might check out some of the author's other works. Maybe it's just this book that doesn't speak to me.

This book is great to keep you guessing till the end. If it doesn't keep you on the edge of your seat something is wrong.Reminds me so much of a Stephen King novel. Very Good Book!!!