{"id":5064,"date":"2014-04-22T11:23:25","date_gmt":"2014-04-22T11:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/?p=5064"},"modified":"2014-04-25T11:22:49","modified_gmt":"2014-04-25T11:22:49","slug":"the-quickening-by-julie-myerson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/?p=5064","title":{"rendered":"The Quickening by Julie Myerson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Published by Hammer 24 April, 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

274pp, paperback, \u00a37.99<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reviewed by Shirley Whiteside<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Hammer company is best known in the UK for producing a series of horror films from the 1950s to the 1970s, some genuinely creepy, others rather schlocky and sensational.\u00a0 Recently, in association with Arrow Books, Hammer has published horror novellas from esteemed writers such as Helen Dunmore and Jeanette Winterson.\u00a0 Julie Myerson joins their ranks with an original novella set on the Caribbean island of Antigua, featuring honeymooning couple Rachel and Dan.<\/p>\n

The trip seems doomed from the outset.\u00a0 Rachel, unsettled by an unplanned pregnancy, reluctantly agrees to go on Dan\u2019s surprise honeymoon and makes an effort to enjoy herself at the luxury resort. Things soon go wrong, however, when Rachel finds herself haunted by a strange apparition, a blurred figure that calls itself Hamilton.\u00a0 Furniture moves, glasses smash, a young maid is strangled, and Rachel seems to be at the centre of the action although she has little memory of what has happened.\u00a0 Staff at the resort warn Rachel to take Dan and leave the island as soon as she can but Dan is determined to enjoy his holiday and persuades her to stay.\u00a0 Things spiral out of control with another murder and Rachel becoming increasingly afraid of Dan.<\/p>\n

Myerson\u2019s tale is suitably creepy and Rachel is a sympathetic heroine.\u00a0 Dan humours Rachel when she tells him of her dreams and seems to think she is making up the strange happenings.\u00a0 This leads Rachel to look at her new husband afresh and examine their relationship.\u00a0 She soon realizes that the hairline cracks that she had tried to ignore have become deep fissures of distrust and dislike.\u00a0 She wonders what she ever saw in Dan and becomes desperate to get away from him and the island.\u00a0 Her only concern is keeping her baby safe and feeling its movements is her only comfort. The quickening of her baby is mirrored by that of Hamilton as he becomes stronger.<\/p>\n

As odd things happen, Rachel initially seems strangely willing to put them to the back of her mind and try to enjoy her holiday.\u00a0 This jars slightly but Myerson is in full control of her material.\u00a0 By the d\u00e9nouement Rachel\u2019s bizarre dreams and sudden changes of mood suddenly make perfect sense.\u00a0 It is a tricky ploy to pull off but Myerson does it with aplomb. \u00a0She creates a genuinely disturbing character in Hamilton, a not quite human creature that only Rachel sees, and his malevolence is tangible. \u00a0The tale of a relationship on the rocks makes for an emotional backdrop to the supernatural haunting and Rachel\u2019s suspicions about Dan keeps the tension high.\u00a0 Designed to be read in one sitting, this would be a perfect choice for that lazy afternoon on the sun lounger by the sea.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Shirley Whiteside<\/p>\n

The Hammer company is best known in the UK for producing a series of horror films from the 1950s to the 1970s, some genuinely creepy, others rather schlocky and sensational. Recently, in association with Arrow Books, Hammer has published horror novellas from esteemed writers such as Helen Dunmore and Jeanette Winterson. Julie Myerson joins their ranks with an original novella set on the Caribbean island of Antigua, featuring honeymooning couple Rachel and Dan […] in Reviews<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-fiction-and-non-fiction","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5064"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5087,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5064\/revisions\/5087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}