Author: Lisa C. Hinsley
Nationality: British
Year: 2009
Publisher: Darkling Press
Length: 200+ pages
Rating: 6/10
Summary: Decent horror story, spoilt by silly elves
The outline
Izzy is a newcomer to the village of Cedham and quickly realises that everything is not what it seems. Faced with bleak warnings about the local woods and the possibility of her violent ex tracking her down, how long will it be before her life starts to fall apart all over again?
Sample
The glue behind the wallpaper was old, brittle, and the paper fell away with little effort. Their initial playfulness evaporated, as they found more scribbled pictures, of animals, humans and violent deaths, like modern cave drawings. Eyes were a theme; they were everywhere, sometimes as a frame to other sketches. Under the last strip, they found a tally that counted to nineteen.
The verdict
Coombe’s Wood is a highly readable and well-paced novel. Hinsley builds up a powerfully creepy atmosphere which makes the novel a real page turner as one scene moves effortlessly to the next.
However, this was also a book which failed to reach its full potential. The later stages in particular read like an early draft of a better novel. The main problem for me was the silly and unnecessary subplot about elves which took the sharp and dangerous edge off the story and brought a clumsy element into the ending. Without this and with a bit more attention paid to the more sinister elements, Coombe’s Wood could have been seriously disturbing horror thriller. However, the elves element made it difficult to take seriously, just as it was reaching its climax.
Adding to draft-like quality of much of the novel was a proliferation of typos. It really did need at least one more proof-reading session before it was publishing. It’s a shame as there really is a very good novel in here if only Hinsley had focussed her writing talent.
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