The Watchers by A.M. Shine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A.M. Shine’s The Watchers kicks off quickly, with the opening section following a husband and wife, who seeking an adventure, go for a drive through the wickedly-enchanting lands of Connemara, in the West of Ireland.
The events of that drive set the tone, and also the stage, for the rest of the story. Needless to say, I was hooked.
We then meet our MC, Mina, who along with an unusual copilot, a beautiful Golden Conure, also goes traveling through those same wild lands.
Mina’s trying to make a quick buck. It should be easy, delivering the parrot safely to its new owner. When her car breaks down on the abandoned road though, her task suddenly becomes anything but easy. Mina exits her car, bringing the bird with her, as she searches for help.
The woodlands are eerie enough, but the screams make it all so much worse…
With no cell phone reception, or clue as to where she is, Mina has to keep going. There’s no telling how long it could take another car to come along this way.
Eventually she comes across a woman, shouting at her and waving for her to enter a concrete bunker. Scared out of her wits by the woods, Mina does as she’s told and enters the shelter. From there, she becomes captive to that seemingly safe space. A hostage of what’s lurking in the woods.
If you’re expecting answers quickly, don’t be. Part of the success of this story is the way that Shine builds that sense of uncertainty and unease. My thoughts were swirling as Mina entered the shelter.
What the heck was going on? The other residents of the shelter, Madeline, Daniel and Ciara, all seem like they’ve been there for a while, but just how long is unclear? And what is watching them? What are they afraid of?
I will say, about a third of the way through, it did start to slow down for me. We focus more on the characters at that point, and their forced interactions in the tiny shelter.
Part of me feels like that may have been intentional by the author. Perhaps as a way to lull the Reader into a bit of complacency, because just as you forget how much danger these characters are in, it rears its ugly head again and that fear and suspense is back.
Even with this pace change though, I was still intrigued and invested in finding out what the truth was.
This ultimately went in a direction I wasn’t expecting and there were a few reveals, as the conclusion approached, that I found to be so clever and disturbing.
I was definitely impressed with the atmosphere and horror concepts that Shine delivered here. This type of unsettling Folk Horror is something I tend to enjoy and this one will now live rent-free in my brain for a long time.
I recommend this to any Horror Reader, particularly if you enjoy unsettling atmospherea and Folk Horror that can get under your skin and stay there. I would also recommend this to anyone who enjoyed Pines by Blake Crouch, or Bird Box by Josh Malerman.
Overall, I really enjoyed this. The Watchers is a very solid story of Irish Folk Horror. I found it disturbing in the best ways. I’m looking forward to reading more from this author!