Official Review: You Owe Me One by Kathryn Hollingworth

[CataclysmicKnight]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "You Owe Me One" by Kathryn Hollingworth.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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I was raised Catholic, and while I don't remember much about my childhood, I remember being scared of Hell. Heaven sounds like an amazing place, but Hell is such a dark, foreboding, awful place with fire and demons for all of eternity. Worse yet, all it takes to end up there is to commit too many sins, or just one of the really bad ones, and then dying before being forgiven. Hell is easily the scariest thing I can imagine. Spiders are nasty, drowning sounds terrible, and there are loads of other horrific things that one can experience on Earth, but Hell is FOREVER. So when it comes to horror stories, it's hard to beat demons. Not only can they make your life a living hell metaphorically, but they can also then drag your soul into literal Hell for the rest of eternity for even more torment. That same sense of eternal punishment is toyed with in Kathryn Hollingworth's You Owe Me One.

You Owe Me One is two interwoven stories in one, alternating between them as the two reveal similarities and contradictions of one another. Charles Sauvage is a southern boy in the mid-1880s with an awful, abusive father. His father is still infuriated by the South's loss in the Civil War, especially since it means actually paying the people who would've still been slaves to work his farm. His racism runs deep, but Charles falls in love with one of the black women working in the fields. The two have to keep their love a secret to keep them both safe, not only from his racist father but from her family as well.

Meanwhile, in the 2000s, Joe nearly gets hit by a truck but is saved at the last moment by his sister while he's a young child. Ever since the accident, Joe starts acting differently... in a very bad way. His father is a preacher, and yet when Joe returns to his church he's literally unable to pray. Heck, he can't even close his eyes to attempt to pray! Soon he becomes caught up in a love of fire and sets some Bibles on fire, and it isn't long before a good portion of the church has burned down. People are quick to blame his head injury, but Joe doesn't think it's that simple.

These two fictional stories are told in turn primarily via diary entries from Joe and Charles, but we also get glimpses of other characters as well. Sinister events link the two men threatening not only their lives but also their souls and their loved ones. Satan himself tempts and teases them, masterminding horrific events in their lives. He ensures that even the best times in their lives are riddled with fear for a potential downturn at any moment. Worse yet, when he really wants to have fun, he warps their minds with deception. Not only can he convince them that someone is plotting against them, but he can also turn a peaceful fishing trip into a dark, cold, frightening event where the water is full of snakes, or lead insects to form disturbing swarms that can cause mayhem and even potentially end in death!

As the two stories go back and forth, the themes of redemption, temptation, and madness play off of one another. Satan is a handsome "man" in You Owe Me One, and looks nothing like the horned, red demon that people often imagine. Through this earthly form, he's more easily able to sway minds and convince people of things. For example, he tells Joe that he saved him from the truck accident, and thus Joe "owes him one", but is this true or is Joe merely acting out of fear?

I really loved this book, and I enjoyed it so much that I jumped out of my comfort zone into a book almost twice as long as those I ordinarily read. At over 450 pages in length, You Owe Me One is a weighty book, but it never felt like it since I was so drawn into the story. At first, it was rather confusing as Kathryn mentions so many characters in the past and present, but by the time I hit page 40 or 50, I never had a problem with confusion again. As the narrative continues on, Charles and Joe take varying amounts of the focus of the book, to where sometimes only a few paragraphs or a single page is devoted to one story before Kathryn throws us back into the other story for a while. At first, this was a bit jarring, and I wished that Kathryn would've written more of each story together at once or made alternating chapters instead. But I quickly realized that this alternating between stories was a sort of tension of its own: as a reader, I wanted to know what was going to happen, yet Kathryn ensured that I would find out as slowly as possible. Just like Charles and Joe never felt truly safe, I never truly felt like I was safely snuggled in one of the two stories.

I had a terrific time with You Owe Me One, and the themes were illustrated magnificently. It was intriguing to see Satan working this way in a horror novel, and yet to also see human protagonists fighting back. That's something that's laughable in most stories, and yet it felt perfect here. It's a sort of David and Goliath story, but with two Davids across time and far more than a single confrontation. The pacing is terrific; like a roller coaster, it spends plenty of time getting to the particularly horrific parts, but once it gets there it's a heck of a ride. There are ups as well as downs, and just like the characters, it's easy to feel a bit of blissfully ignorant security before all hell figuratively breaks loose. It was also intriguing seeing both the ups and downs of being in league with Satan. I'd never in a million years even jokingly suggest actually teaming up with Satan, but Kathryn does a terrific job of letting Joe and Charles see the upside to being his servant, making it even harder for them to resist. The themes of temptation and corruption were strong, and they reminded me of the struggles Bilbo, Frodo and others faced with the One Ring from the Lord of the Rings novels.

I would've happily given the book a perfect rating if it wasn't for the slew of errors I found. 23 errors isn't a lot for a book with over 450 pages, but it's enough to cross the threshold of 10 and force me to give the book a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. Most of these errors are accidental inclusions of a word again, such as "He's a had a brain bleed", making me think that phrases were rewritten without a follow-up edit. The book has only a handful of scenes that come close to naughty, and these scenes contain less than a page total across the whole book. The same can be said for the gore in the book, and if this were a movie it would almost certainly get a PG-13 rating. The only scene that's worth mentioning as a warning is an attempted gang rape scene, but nothing actually happens and there's no real detail about it at all. For people who enjoy horror, especially psychological and religious horror, this is definitely a terrific book. I can also easily recommend it for those (like me) who don't generally like horror but do enjoy the battle between good and evil. I'm usually very easily frightened away from horror stories and don't even watch the vast majority of horror movies or play horror games, yet I never had a problem with You Owe Me One. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone younger than their late teens, though, and anyone who doesn't like religion in their horror should stay away.

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You Owe Me One
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[Zora C Penter]

This sounds like a very interesting read. Your line about Satan being a handsome man instead of the classic red skin, horns, and forked tail reminded me of the recent portrayal of him in the TV show Lucifer.

I am surprised that a story line twining together two separate narratives more than 100 years apart was so cohesive!

[BelleReadsNietzsche]

This sounds extremely interesting! I love creepy books that play with their character's perceptions and involve otherworldly forces (especially those which are familiar to my own Catholic upbringing- you really captured it in your opening paragraph!). I don't like storylines in which racists fall in love with black folk, however, and might skip it on the basis of that. Thank you for this well-done review!

[Mbrooks2518]

I don't generally read horror, but I do like books involving battles between good and evils and books with a paranormal element, so I may give this book a try. Great review!

[Rose Harebate]

Charles and his girlfriend's story hold a sense of reality in it. Racism is still a problem in many countries. Just recently, some where in Africa, a white woman was mocked on social media for being in a relationship with a black guy. I am more interested in Charles story. Might read a book to learn more. Nice review!

[linham02660]

Sounds like the author puts tons of the Devils evil doings in this book. It could be an interesting read. Thanks for the review.

[randompersonavility]

This is truly intriguing! I'd love to add this book on my bookshelve! The author's writing style seems promising. I'm curious how the main characters will join Satan.

[kandscreeley]

This sounds like it would be a bit much for me. The themes are weighty and too realistic. I'm curious about the story, but I don't think it's enough for me to read it. Lovely review, though.

[Reader Robin]

The idea of trying to fight against something that is trying to not just kill you but take your soul always scared me (I too was raised Catholic). While I don't like to seek out gory books, the idea of the interwoven tales is appealing.

[chiefsimplex]

I like the style of writing .Then two separate stories feed into the same theme, that is interesting.When the theme is horror then one would expect to get the creeps ,this one sounds terrifying and terrifying is better.Thanks for a great review.

[Juliana_Isabella]

Thanks for the thorough review. I appreciate the way you outlined how the horror and religious elements interweave in the story.