And the Sea Gave Up the Dead by William Friend
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
And the Sea Gave Up the Dead follows a woman, Morwenna, and her family, as they travel to France to visit her Aunt Bethan on holiday.
Morwenna has been putting off visiting Aunt Bethan for way too long, and she’s starting to feel really guilty about it. Her aging Aunt just seems to be wasting away in the family chateau by the French seaside. Ever since her Uncle mysteriously disappeared, Bethan has lost her spark.
Packing up her new husband, Christian, and two sons, Jamie and Louis, the family heads out. It’ll be good for them, and it’ll be good for Morwenna to get eyes on Bethan, to assess her mental and physical health.
We follow the family as they arrive at the chateau and the boys get to meet their eccentric Great Aunt and tour the property. From the very start, Friend does an incredible job building up the atmosphere and uncertainty at this chateau.
Morwenna is an interesting character. She’s had a lot of personal loss, and she also had a difficult time helping her own Mom through dementia. Because of that, she’s extra sensitive to Bethan’s every move, which is relatable.
This fact though also makes you wonder how much you can trust Morwenna’s perspective. Is she overly sensitive? Is she seeing issues where there aren’t any?
I liked that. Unreliable narrators are something I do tend to enjoy, and though I wouldn’t classify her as a full-on unreliable narrator, there’s an air about her, that makes your mind go, really, Morwenna? Are you sure?
I also loved how Friend kept me guessing. As I was reading, I had no idea what direction we were heading in. Was it a haunted house, or maybe a possession situation?
In a way, Friend’s writing feels heavy. There’s an ominous feeling drenching every moment. In addition to Morwenna’s perspective, we also get the perspectives of her two young sons, Jamie and Louis. I thought Friend did a fantastic job showing the fear these boys experienced in this house.
The descriptions, and their thought-processes through these nail-biting moments, felt so realistic to me. Even though there is a lot of creepiness in this story however, you do need to have patience with it, not gonna lie.
At times it felt like it was taking forever to get anywhere, but at the same time, I was really eating up the building suspense and unpredictability.
As the conclusion approached, I actually felt fear for this family. I feel like because we’d taken our time getting there, I felt like I knew them, and I did start to care for them. Especially the boys.
This is one of those books where my first thoughts upon completion was, what the frick did I just read? My brain hurt (in a good way). That last 20%, what in actual…
I really liked it though. It was unexpected. There was so much going on, and all the moving pieces, I felt like Friend was pulling off some major slight of hand. I’d be looking one way, and something would happen just outside my peripheral vision to knock me off-center.
It was unsettling, and I think I’m going to be scratching my head about this conclusion for quite some time to come. I would recommend this for Horror Readers who don’t mind a slow burn, and who love an unsettling atmosphere.
Thank you to the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review. A fantastic Sophomore Showing from William Friend.
I look forward to more!