"The Haunted Halls" by Glenn Rolfe

[Nolan_fxworth1]

"The Haunted Halls" by Glenn Rolfe
~review by Nolan Foxworth

Obscene, grisly murders? Yes.
Demonic forces of nature? Absolutely.
Sceneries bedraggled in copious amounts of blood? Of course.

But ultimately, do these splatterpunk "trimmings" prove to be efficient singlehandedly, without a reliable story to co-exist? For crazed, hardcore gore-obsessed fans... maybe. For me personally, no.

To a huge relief, The Haunted Halls achieves on both accords: an atmospheric, spine-tingler that sustains the reader's attention until its resolution with the inclusion of vile, cringe-worthy moments that's sure to accommodate the churning of one's stomach. Without a shortage of unwarrantable violence, sex, and profanity, Rolfe revels in his storytelling like that of a feverish child during a winter day; blissfully engaging himself in the act of snow angels.

Regretfully, in reference to the horror cinema trope of the frantic starlet who stumbles during a life-threatening run from her deranged attacker, The Haunted Halls slightly does the same: it commits a few "missteps" along the way, screaming for help to no avail in terms of dissonant narrative leaps, hyperventilated pacing, and an ending that comes across as too convenient. In spite of this, it miraculously manages to regain its balance with the highlights of a complex villain and pragmatic central characters, complimented with underlying themes of acceptance, redemption, and faith.

The Bruton Inn serves as the dismal setting, a cesspool of mysterious curses that reside within its walls. Oblivious to the dire situation at hand, an assortment of guests and staff unwillingly fall prey to a sinister threat, known as the Ice Queen. The novel clues in the reader of her origins through the usage of compelling flashbacks that bounces throughout the present timeline. Easily my favorite sections of the book, these moments in time helped clarify her unquenchable appetite for murder, her satanic uprising driven from the basis of her deplorable past. Occasionally, they disrupted the narrative with negligence concerning the present's chapter threads, but overall felt integral to the story being told. Characters arcs, likewise, were initially fired from sporadic angles but eventually found a common ground.

Treading into the character department, I felt like some were severely underused and therefore didn't pack an emotional punch in the midst of their precarious situations. Character development seemed a bit stalled in certain areas, sacrificed in exchange for a neck-breaking pace of a story that doesn't offer the reader downtime to get acquainted with the protagonist(s), if not fully. On a brighter note, characters' situational tactics were realistic and conversations were naturally modern in tone, sprinkled with effective colloquial prose.

How one copes with the past was interestingly embedded throughout the novel which tied into the Ice Queen's possessive abilities of her victims. Should one choose to let their past continue its debilitation upon the soul with malicious intent, provoking an inner dark desire to help ease the buried pain... or allow it to elevate a sense of unwavering optimism and a moral understanding that better days are to come? The Ice Queen takes the initiative to answer this question for her victims through pure manipulation, exposing her assembly's concealed secrets and vulnerabilities. Unable to come to grips with her previous life, the Ice Queen targeted her victims in terms of what she felt in congruence: regret, fear, and anxiety, which made her heinous attacks premeditated instead of being on a whim, which I found to be both justifiable and downright pleasing.

The Haunted Halls is littered with homage to Stephen King and rock music references are at every corner, inviting the accustomed admirer, such as myself, to share Rolfe's written enthusiasm vicariously. Final remarks are left with the ending, as I felt was incredibly predictable and forcefully reiterated the rendition of good versus evil. A calculated risk should have been taken to raise the stakes, but instead the story decides to play it with a safety net. Despite this shortcoming among the mentioned few, it isn't enough to completely "defrost" the suitable frigidity of Rolfe's debut novel.

Actual Rating: 3.5 Stars

*I received this book in exchange for an honest review through Horror After Dark*

[rssllue]

Very nice and thorough review! Thanks for your efforts!

[Nolan_fxworth1]

Greatly appreciated! You're most certainly welcome