Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
All right, so I picked up “Maggie’s Grave” by David Sodergren because “Summer of the Monsters”, another horror novel by the same author, was an easy, entertaining read, even if it wasn’t exactly ‘spine-chilling’ and was partly predictable. “Maggie’s Grave”, on the other hand, is pretty terrifying in parts – extremely violent, gory, and piling on brutal deaths in a small, obscure town haunted by a ‘witch’. In fact, the novel is also unpredictable, though some of the surprising incidents are just far-out ridiculous. But don’t worry, there will be no spoilers in this book review.
Set in the small Scottish town of Auchenmullan, “Maggie’s Grave” opens with a vicious witch-hunt of a pregnant young woman named Maggie in the 1650s, just because a little boy lies about seeing something unnatural. A frenzied mob murders Maggie mercilessly, but not before she curses the entire town and returns to haunt them in unimaginable ways. For the town’s youngsters, Maggie’s story is simply folklore, although unknown to them, the elder townsfolk have ways to keep Maggie away. But in the year 2019, something stirs up the malevolent witch’s spirit again, awakening her dormant blood-lust. Her first victims are teens who decide to hike up to the mountain to see her grave, on the worst possible night of their lives.
The story is largely told from the perspective of four teens in Auchenmullan: Beth, Grady, Steve, and Alice, all of whom are friends mostly because they don’t really have any other options. Beth and Grady are dating, though their relationship already seems strained. Beth is also starting to feel distant from her best-friend Alice, especially after Alice gives birth to a baby boy, after an unexpected teen pregnancy. The father skips town soon after finding out about the pregnancy. Meanwhile, Steve plays the role of the arrogant joker of the group.
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The best part about “Maggie’s Grave” is author David Sodergren’s straightforward writing style. It’s easy to read and doesn’t overdo descriptions, though he rightly describes the horrid deaths through the course of the novel with gory detail. The novel is fast-paced, with most of the action taking place within 24 hours, as Maggie’s ghost terrorizes the little town of Auchenmullan with blood, screams, and vengeance.
Toward the final chapters, “Maggie’s Grave” gets exaggeratedly silly, and there’s some tonal dissonance. The first half focuses on the teens being caught up in their own personal struggles, Beth feeling trapped in the small, suffocating town, where the only place for entertainment is a smelly bowling alley that also happens to be the only place selling beer. Auchenmullan has no pubs, hotels, movie theaters, nothing. It’s a dead town. There’s a sense of gloom and sadness in the first half.
However, the second half includes some ludicrous twists that almost veer into horror-comedy territory. In fact, there are a few hilarious horror moments, but not enough to classify “Maggie’s Grave” as a horror-comedy. That’s where the tonal dissonance shows, from starting out as a tragic tale of an innocent pregnant woman being ripped to pieces by a superstitious village, to suddenly shifting gears into toilet humor and weird sex stuff. The story gets frustrating by the end.
The climactic chapter features an overdrawn battle between Maggie and one of the main characters, which could’ve been shortened. After building up Maggie as someone who can crush humans like ants, the drawn-out one-on-one fight feels like regular, unbelievable drama. There is, however, one clever little twist at the end that’s nicely foreshadowed. The story throws in a few red herrings to keep readers guessing. So, brownie points for the ending twist and the satisfying closure to the legend of Maggie.
If you’re a horror fan stuck in a reading rut, Maggie’s Grave is a quick, entertaining one-time read.
Rating: 3 on 5. Maggie’s Grave is also on Kindle Unlimited.
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