THE HAUNTING of Kinnawe House, by Steven Rigolosi, is not your typical haunted house story. The author pushes the envelope far beyond the genre’s expected gothic ghost trappings. The supernatural horror is afoot here, but the novel moves more in the direction of the Satanic, not the spooky, with themes of occultism, human sacrifice, and bleak, predestined fates. Yes, there are ghosts, the tragic and the damned, and things that hide in shadowy corners, but the stories of flesh and blood humans take centre stage here. Their choices concerning morality and conscience versus Evil paranormal influences and personal gain are intensely harrowing.
The novel jumps between two time periods, the 1700s and the present, creating a bold contemporary horror story that successfully incorporates aspects of traditional historical novels: antiquated clothing, settings, speech patterns and names. The movement between the two storylines is relatively seamless, eventually merging into a satisfying ending that provides an additional, cleverly subtle inkling that not everything is completely over when it comes to evil’s staying power and influence.
With this novel, the reader is taken on a profoundly sinister journey into a type of fluidic reality with the modern storyline’s main protagonist Matthew Rollins, an indie pop star coasting on his fifteen minutes of fame from his one song that went viral. With his life falling apart in New York, he escapes to the seaside of Agamenticus, Maine, where he rents the centuries-old, mysterious Kinnawe House for six months. Experiencing Matthew’s progressive hallucinations throughout the novel via Rigolosi’s rich text is both thrilling and maddening. Why? Because one is never entirely sure what happens in the physical world, what’s a genuine hallucination brought on by Matthew’s terrible and seemingly untreatable insomnia or what’s supernaturally influenced by the house, those that serve its true master and the otherworldly opponents of this evil. Along with Matthew, the reader is immersed in a whirlwind of sensations: oppressive guilt, burdening self-reflection, anxiety, and terror. It’s intoxicating, horrifying, and, I posit, intentionally frustrating.
With The Haunting of Kinnawe House, Rigolosi’s evocative and well-paced writing makes this a compelling horror novel. He thoughtfully takes his time with Matthew’s journey toward understanding and action; the story never feels rushed or forced. For a narrative that spans eras, the pacing overall, not just the contemporary storyline, is wholly appropriate. The many varied experiences are valid and necessary, especially Matthew’s, if he is to have any chance of attaining mental, physical and spiritual understanding and liberation in the face of seemingly inevitable self-destruction. Overall, a great read.
The Haunting of Kinnawe House is available for purchase at amazon.ca, amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. For more information about this author, follow Steven Rigolosi on Facebook & Twitter.
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