There are some writers who, after writing one great piece of horror literature, have everything after that slow down their careers and they simply fade away. Writing is not what it was in previous decades, with fewer people reading books than ever before, and it is hard for a writer to keep an interested audience. In the case of fans of horror fiction, the public reader goes for the latest King or Koontz novel, and the mid- and low-grade authors struggle to survive and get their work noticed. I used to be one of those people who just read King, Barker and Saul. However, it was not until I started reading the work of Brian Keene and Richard Laymon, that I started to discover what great unknown writers this genre has. Recently, I had the honor of coming across Gord Rollo. Rollo’s first published novel under Leisure fiction, Jigsaw Man, was one of the best horror novels I had read in years, followed less than a year later by an equally scary story in Crimson. His latest novel, Strange Magic, is a whole other entity. Where his first two novels had a simple page-turning shock, they were still fantasy in their aspects. Strange Magic has elements of the supernatural, but unlike Jigsaw Man and Crimson, Strange Magic has a very realistic feel that makes a very unnerving page turner, especially for me, the parent of a little girl, with another arriving very shortly.
Strange Magic begins with a mysterious stranger carrying a large trunk. The trunk possesses strange powers. It is connected telepathically to the stranger and tells him what to do, and whom to kill. They are on a journey to kill one man, Wilson Kemp. Wilson is an alcoholic who is trying to get his life together, but just can’t get off the bottle. He tries his hand as a magician/clown catering to children’s birthday parties, however his first gig ends up landing him behind bars rather than with cash in his pocket. Luckily for Wilson, his wife, Susan, from whom he is separated, still loves him and is trying her best to help him clean up for the sake of their seven-year-old daughter Amanda. Susan bails him out of jail and invites him to spend more time with them in hope of helping Wilson so they can be fa amily again. When the stranger comes to town, a series of bizarre murders begins to take place, and letters addressed to the Iceman from the Heatseeker are left at the scenes of the crimes. Wilson’s past is about to come back not only haunt him, but to seek revenge. Unless he can face his past and stop it from taking control of his life, his family and the people around him will suffer the wrath of the Heatseeker (The Stranger) and the powers the mysterious chest holds over him.
Rollo has a way of sucking in his readers. When reading his work, the reader sometimes feels in control of the story and that everything will be alright, then, when least expected, the story takes a turn for the worse, and the characters find themselves in a heap of trouble that leaves the reader in just as much peril as the characters. Rollo writes his characters in such detail that you actually start to feel as if you know these people. You become so emotionally wrapped up in their lives that when disaster strikes, you feel like jumping into the story and giving them a hand fighting off whatever it is that they are facing.
I felt I could relate more to the characters in this book than to any in Rollo’s wrote in his previous efforts. Wilson reminded me of family members and friends who are struggling with alcoholism and no matter how hard they try to do the right thing, the wrong things seem to transpire, leaving looks of disgust and feelings of ill will from the people around them. What really got to me, however, was the fact that The Heatseeker has an attraction to Wilson’s young daughter. There are several chapters in the book in which he uses Wilson’s daughter to toy with Wilson, and then, toward the book’s conclusion, does unspeakable acts to the little girl. As a parent, this raised notches of fear within me more than they usually would. Rollo’s writing increases the suspense from chapter to chapter, but as much as you want to stop and put the book down to take in what you just read, he keeps pushing you forward.
I wrote a blurb for the cover of Strange Magic calling Gord Rollo a talent of horrific proportions. I think now that it may be an understatement. Rollo really had me on the edge of my seat throughout this book. He had me cursing him at the end of chapter twenty-five and left me scared to go on. If you have a young child, this book will leave you scared for Wilson and his love for his daughter, and in fear of what The Heatseeker will do to her. Gord Rollo is one hell of a talent, and Strange Magic only solidifies that he has more than proven himself as a writer who’s going to be around a long time scaring us with his stories. With Strange Magic, I feel compelled to have my health insurance company bill Rollo for increasing my blood pressure and making my stress levels go up while reading this book. It’s that damned scary and that damned good. If you haven’t experienced Gord Rollo yet, you haven’t experienced horror.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
