Steve-Calvert.co.uk
Steve-Calvert.co.uk
Hmm! ... I've Read That...
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Psychoville is a little over 400 pages long and split into two parts. Part one of the book is set in 1985 and part two continues the story ten years later. I will say right up front that I liked the book a lot, but it is a little hard for me to write a review of Psychoville. The problem is that I don't want to write a review that is nearly as long as a chapter of the book, but there is so much that I would like to say. The story stirred up a lot of emotions in me: anger, outrage, dread, surprise and even a little mirth, to name but a few. And all the time that I was reading the book I was thinking to myself that, yes, it really could happen and my God people really can be like that! The book's prologue starts of with the sentence 'This is how you make an incendiary bomb.' Now there are eight words that attract instant attention. The reader does not know who it is that is telling them this until much later in the book and by then ten years have passed and a lot of dirty water has flowed under the bridge, but it gives an idea of what is to come. As does the chemical-soaked body that the unknown character is simultaneously trying to force down a drain. Lovely! Part one of Psychoville introduces the March family. There are only three of them; young Billy and his mum and dad, and the Marches have a problem. They are being forced out of their home by the local council who, in their wisdom have decided that they want to built a road through the March's living room have got a compulsory purchase order and a take it or leave it offer for the family: they must either move into the property that the council has found for them or they will be homeless. With not a lot of options the Marches move into the new house and that is when their problems really start. The Marches are a working class family and have spent all of their lives in the middle of London. Their new home is in the suburbs and everything is very different there. Especially the people. The residents of the newly-built houses of Invicta Cross are all middle class and they look down on the Marches from day one. They are not a particularly friendly bunch even amongst themselves and none of them want anything to do with the new family on the block. I mentioned earlier about feeling anger while reading this story. Most of that anger was because of how the family was treated. They went through Hell and Billy was the only one of them to make any friends and the friends that he made were fellow outcasts: Oliver Price the undertaker's son and April Barrow, 'the witch's daughter.' All three of the outcast children, though were extremely bright and it was April who first pointed out to Billy the reason behind the victimization of his family. In time, though, after a particularly nasty incident, April leaves the area and Billy and Oliver's friendship seems to have failed. Billy believes that Oliver's father has stopped his son from seeing him. From day one the strain has been showing on Billy's parent's relationship. There are a lot of arguments and the hate mail and nasty telephone calls the family recieves doesn't exactly help matters. Billy even believes that his neighbours have murdered his dog and that is just the tip of the iceberg. Within less than a year Billy is back living in London and he has recorded everything that has happened in his Red Diary. Part two By 1995 Invicta Cross has been voted Britain's favourite town and it is a very different place. The people are the same though. All except two. There is a new couple in town and they call themselves Jack and Polly Prentiss. The couple reek of money and success and are instantly accepted into the community. Jack is tall, muscular and very good looking and Polly is a real knock out to look at. Even if she is, perhaps, a little on the strange side. Then the neighbourhood pranks start. They are nasty pranks and this time it isn't the new family that are on the receiving end. It is everyone else. Suddenly life at Invicta Cross isn't so idyllic. Suspicion is rife and neighbour turns on neighbour. Then people start to disappear and the times they are a changing in Britain's favourite town. Yeah, part two is about revenge and some pretty nasty things happen to the characters. It is also a little sad. Jack and Polly's relationship always seems a little doomed and, as a reader ,I almost felt like screaming at them: 'Give it up guys. Just go. Find somewhere and be happy together.' If they had, though, the story would have been only half told. Psychoville
is very well written, it is very good and it is one of those books that
I was rather sad to finish. A nice little touch to the book is the
little clippings. In part one, at the beginning of each chapter there
is a paragraph from a newspaper that documents real-life anti-social
behaviour between neighbours. In part two things are different and the
paragraphs are excerpts from the Red Diary. It's a nice touch, it's a
great book and I think it is one that any reader could enjoy, not just
hardened horror fans. 'Nuff said. |
