The Orchard [Paperback]

Charles L. Grant (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown UK Paperbacks (January 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0708842038
• ISBN-13: 978-0708842034
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,004,949 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Horror Classics Book Review, October 26, 2006

By 

Nickolas Cook - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Orchard (Paperback)

The Orchard by Charles L. Grant

Review by Nickolas Cook

When 'quiet horror' was king, there were two main writers of the form: Charles L. Grant and Ramsey Campbell, each of whom put out some extraordinary genre classics throughout the 80s and early 90s. Both still practice this style, Campbell more prolifically in these latter years. But Grant was especially vocal in his insistence that all great horror was 'quiet', avoiding any reference to blood and guts in his aggregation of works. Some love it; some hate it. All have to agree this man can write like no one else in the industry.
Speaking of prolific: did you know that Grant has over thirty novels, collections, and edited anthologies to his name? If you haven't made time to read him and appreciate his consummate ability to entertainment, please find his books where ever you can and start today. For readers he is a dark treasure trove. For fellow scribes, he is a master of the form and can teach the craft.
"The Orchard" follows his 'quiet' code, as he demonstrates his literary prowess. Grant breaks the novel into several connective shorter works, all centered around the titular locale, situated in his mythical town of Oxrun Station. Each section can be read out of order, and still stand quite well on its own.
Grant begins the novel with a Prologue that sets the tone for the tales that follow, as an old man guides his younger friend out to the Orchard to tell his stories, "My Mary's Asleep", "I See Her Sweet and Fair", "The Last and Dreadful Hour", and "Screaming, in the Dark". The wraparound story is a favorite ploy for Grant, as he has used it in several classic anthology style novels, such as "Dialing the Wind", and became somewhat a professional stamp to his works.
Not all of the stories in "The Orchard" work on equal footing, and may even come off as a bit too obscure for some readers. But his craftsmanship is apparent, even if the moral isn't. The one that works best for me is "The Last Dreadful Hour", the tale of a man trapped in a haunted movie theater with other patrons, who begin to disappear one by one, or transform into nightmarish creatures. It is a truly nightmare like story, as the protagonist descends into madness, and then, finally, acceptance of his fate. The last line of this gem is worth the book alone. I actually felt a bit creeped out by the time I had finished it, a true rarity for a horror writer.
This is a great place to start with Grant. Some of his other works that might be of interest for the novice are "The Pet", "Dialing the Wind", and "The Long Night of the Grave". He also wrote several excellent tie-in novels for "The X-Files" (that show probably wouldn't have existed without Grant's trademark 'quiet' horror bestsellerdom) and a great series called "Black Oak", a sort of Peter Saxon like X-Files. Grant is also known for his genre building anthology series, "Shadows". With so much work to choose from, I don't think a reader can go wrong with any of his books.
And now, with his passing away of a few months ago, it is more than ever the right time to remember a man who wrote what Stephen King considered some of the best horror fiction of the 80s.

--Nickolas Cook.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gem of a horror novel!, July 18, 2004

By 

bond007 (L.A., Cali) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Orchard (Paperback)

The Orchard is the best book I've read by Grant. Far better than the Nestling and the Pet. Its shortcomings are that its only 288 pages. The tale is about a mysterious orchard left by the owner years ago and its very spooky. A group of friends have a picnic one night in the orchard and then someone gets hit by a car and later dies. After that the book is essentially four stories with the characters tied together. Each different character has a terrifying encounter with scary events. There's a spooky movie theater, a haunted hospital, and other tales of chilling horror. Probably the scariest book I've ever read, and I've read many. Since the book is so short Grant doesn't dwell much on character development. The pacing of the book is great as the mystery builds up. His writing style seems simplistic and the prose is almost like poetry at times. He remains a stellar author not just in horror but can match up with the best of them all. He creates chilling visual imagery and sets up the spooky atmosphere for the book to give any reader a good scare. Also, if you like horror, find Final Outcome: An Apocalyptic Mystery Thriller.