Charles L. Grant (1942–2006)

Choosing the edition with that cover because LOOK AT IT. Grant's slow-burn low-key horror can still manage to be utterly ruthless and take no prisoners, and here a mysterious visitor to Oxrun Station immediately results in bodies dropping all over the place. Slow burn doesn't mean fast paced, and the story flies along with plenty of misdirection and atmosphere.

Hmm, gotta say, of the Oxrun series, this has been--by far--the best of the bunch. I was actually expected a novel, but instead got four novellas, very much like [book:Nightmare Seasons|1527531]. Unlike that book, that had some great writing, but only one good story out of four, this one had some good writing as well, but three of the four novellas were great.

That last one? Yeah, I have no fucking clue what was going on there, to be honest.

But the first three? Loved them. Grant's best work show more so far. I think everything that didn't quite jibe for Nightmare Seasons, such as the ten-year span between stories, and a loose connection only through the four seasons of the year, were both corrected here, with each story falling only a month or two after the previous one, and each one connected through an event at the titular orchard.

Quite enjoyed this one. show less

Now we're talkin'. After reading the mediocre first two novels in the Oxrun Station series, we get The Grave (the fourth in the series). Josh Miller's world is becoming slowly unglued and neither he nor we know what is going on. An accumulation of odd details and occurrences build the eeriness. People just seem a little strange, nothing extraordinary, but just little bits and pieces. Eventually the truly bizarre begins to intrude and we're not sure if Josh is going nuts or things are really show more getting bad in the Station or both. A great read worthy of the best horror of Straub or King right up to the end.

Oxrun Station has to be one of the worst suburbs to live in.

Bonus: fornication in a graveyard. show less

And with the end of the third book in the Oxrun Station series (and the second I've read), I'm already getting that sinking feeling.

Why?

Because, for the most part, this book was plotted exactly light the first one in the series, [b:The Hour of the Oxrun Dead|415484|The Hour of the Oxrun Dead|Charles L. Grant|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1325759739s/415484.jpg|404667].

1 - Younger, single woman, who was away from Oxrun and has recently returned, senses an indefinable something's not show more right.
2 - Very quickly, some vague bad things happen that threaten her life, but not really.
3 - Along comes the unwanted but very quickly welcomed young single man who quickly becomes her suitor.
4 - A lot of stuff, some somewhat important, some not important to plot at all, happens.
5 - People are introduced, one of which, seemingly creepy but mostly innocuous, will be the villain
6 - Heroine makes some really astounding interpretive leaps of logic to finally, about 30 pages before the end, figure out what that something's not right really is.
7 - Villain shows back up and, comic book style, rolls out all the information she needs to prove those really astounding interpretive leaps of logic were exactly right.
8 - Oh, and the means of villainy are really stupid.
9 - Something really stupid happens for her to be saved and the villain to lose.

Grant isn't writing horror here. He's writing potboilers. He seems quite reluctant to define the villain any nearer than the last 10% of the book, aside from some vague threatening actions that amount to nothing. Unfortunately, this leads to the protagonist spending most of that first 90% of the plot wringing and flailing her hands at some vague, undefined threat.

I know I read a couple of books by Grant when I was younger and enjoyed them immensely. The only reason I stopped back then was because I simply never saw his stuff in the bookstores.

Now, I'm really questioning my younger self's standard of quality. Honestly, this book was quite bad and quite boring. The writing is gorgeous, if a little overwrought.

I'm going to give it one or two more books, then I may have to walk away. show less