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Oliver’s ‘Orrors: The Ghost Story

Our Editor-In-Chief – and in-house horror aficionado continues his rundown of the greatest horror novels ever to have scared the pants off the good, book-reading people of the world (check out last week’s instalment).

This week, he’s looking at the ghost story, and the work of the much loved (and greatly missed) Graham Joyce…

Okay, this is sort of a cheat, as this is a ghost story where the ghosts are elusive. In much the same way that The Haunting of Hill House can be read as a haunted house story where the house isn’t actually haunted (not in the traditional sense), The Silent Land by Graham Joyce is a ghost story without the ghosts.

The thing with the ghost story is that it represents a branch of the horror genre that doesn’t necessarily have to be horrifying, or even frightening. Instead, the ghost story represents a tale of loss, a tale of yearning, a desire for the living that can not be fulfilled and, as such, it is often a more lyrical and moving sub-genre.

The much-missed Graham Joyce was a beautiful writer. His books always have depth, and an emotional core to them that draws the reader and leaves them breathless by the end. The Limits of Enchantment and The Tooth Fairy both left me in pieces.

The Silent Land is possibly the best of the later works by Joyce. In it a couple are trapped in an avalanche at a ski resort, only to find, once they have dug themselves out, that they are now in a strangely silent, eerie world. It’s a novel that oozes atmosphere, but most importantly, it’s a novel flush with human warmth. Graham Joyce’s work gets to the core of what it is to be human, with all our foibles, failings and depths, and The Silent Land represents the finest of this genre-defying author.

Honourable Mentions
The Servants by Michael Marshall Smith
Our Lady of Darkness by Fritz Leiber
Dark Matter by Michelle Paver
Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill
The Three by Sarah Lotz

From Solaris – don’t forget, there’s currently 50% off all horror in the Rebellion shop!
The Faceless by Simon Bestwick
Magic edited by Jonathan Oliver
Regicide by Nicholas Royle
Loss of Seperation by Conrad Williams
Blood Kin by Steve Rasnic Tem