Sarah Pinborough: The Taken

[bibliogramma]

Horror is not my favourite genre, but every once in a while, I get a craving for a tale of the supernatural - largely, I think, because when done the way I like it, a horror story is above all a story about morality, about right and wrong, good and evil, justice and revenge, sacrifice and redemption. All that good archetypal gut-level stuff that allows us to imagine, for a little while, that there is meaning and balance in the world. And happily, I discovered as I read it that Sarah Pinborough's The Taken is my kind of horror story.

It's a classic haunted house story, on a wider scale - an entire village is being visited by the ghosts of children, one of whom - Melanie Parr - died in the village thirty years ago under circumstances which are, at first, a mystery. There is a massive storm brewing, and the village is cut off, isolated, roads flooded, telephones down, while Melanie seeks her vengeance.

But there is a power even greater than Melanie's in the village, and when that power comes into play, it will set things right - and break your heart.

The story moves along nicely, and while the characters are a touch stereotypical, the plot is strong and the atmosphere of creeping claustrophobia, confusion and buried guilt are quite well developed. I'm looking forward to reading more of Pinborough's work.