Book Review: HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Tor Books, April 2016) Hardcover, 384 pages. English translation and revisions (First published April 2013)  ISBN #9780765378804 

Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . . .

Whoever is born here, is doomed to stay 'til death. Whoever settles, never leaves.

Welcome to Black Spring, the seemingly picturesque Hudson Valley town haunted by the Black Rock Witch, a 17th century woman whose eyes and mouth are sewn shut. Muzzled, she walks the streets and enters your homes at will. She stands next to your bed for nights on end. Everybody knows that her eyes may never be opened.

The elders of Black Spring have virtually quarantined the town by using high-tech surveillance to prevent their curse from spreading. Frustrated with being kept in lockdown, the town's teenagers decide to break their strict regulations and go viral with the haunting, but in so doing send the town spiraling into the dark, medieval practices of the past.

MY FIVE-STAR REVIEW on the Goodreads website . . . . .

An outstanding read with a unique premise: a small town under quarantine, with strict monitoring and penalties in order to conceal from the rest of the world what the problem/conflict is: a centuries-old witch who cursed the town and despite being shackled and her eyes shown shut, can appear anywhere within the town, including residential bedrooms. 

The descriptions and settings are excellent, as well as the characterization - including a bunch of interesting secondary characters. You may not like many (or none) of them, but they feel realistic and easy to understand and empathize with. The story is as much about the town of Black Springs as it is about the presence of Katherine the witch. 

I"m reminded of the writing style of Stephen King in the way that Heuvelt is able to convey exactly what characters are experiencing and feeling inside. I'm especially reminded of SALEM'S LOT. Both are stories of small towns that are taken over and transformed - - King's story by vampires, and Heuvelt's story by a curse. 

Because the witch has been appearing in the town for centuries, there is a comfort level among the residents who tend to ignore or work around her manifestations. However, once that fragile truce is disrupted by some teens (bored of their confinement and restrictions on their lifestyle) things escalate to a fever head and the storyline becomes truly scary and disturbing. 

The ending was inevitable and blunt, but still left me surprised. I did not expect that.

This novel is even more remarkable in that Dutch author Heuvelt re-wrote it for an American audience in the English translation and even changed the final chapters of the book and the ending. It reads like an American author wrote it with many local references. Definitely an author to check out more.