The Guardians

A decent horror story must be the hardest kind of tale to tell successfully. Too much and you have your readers rolling their eyes and laughing, too restrained and the whole endeavor falls flat. I'm not a reader of the genre, generally because my suspension of disbelief is minimal when faced with anything supernatural. A house is a house and I don't jump at things that go bump in the night, even when my SO is out of town. I do lock the doors at night, but walking through an unexplained cold patch just has me putting socks on. I don't read scary stories very often, is what I'm trying to say, but I do end up doing so occasionally, because they've been well reviewed or, more often, because a favorite author has taken a stab at it. I'm show more usually disappointed.

I've enjoyed Andrew Pyper's books so far. He writes thrillers, with a Canadian flavor; his best ones are set in small towns and are generally well plotted, so that the endings don't feel rushed or implausible. I got my copy of his newest novel, The Guardians, and began it without knowing anything about the plot; had I known it was about an evil-infested haunted house, I would have stuck it on the bottom of my TBR. I'm glad I didn't, though, because The Guardians was both atmospheric and very, very readable.

Four sophomore boys played on the high school hockey team in the small Ontario town of Grimshaw that year and were friends. Then something bad happened, involving a missing teacher, and they all vowed never to tell anyone. Years later, Trevor is coming to terms with his newly diagnosed Parkinson's disease when he returns to Grimshaw to attend the funeral of one of the other boys, Ben, the only one who stayed in Grimshaw, living across the street from the old Thurman house, who has committed suicide. He's determined to keep his stay in his hometown as short as possible, even as he rekindles friendships from decades ago, but then another woman goes missing and he can't help but notice parallels from the incident when he was in high school and it seems he'll have to find out just what is going on in that house.

It's a fairly basic and well-trod set up, but Pyper manages to make it interesting by diving into the lives of small town teen-agers, both the ones who don't see anything but continuing down the paths expected of them and those who dream of escaping the confines of small town life. Pyper evokes life in a small, Canadian town, where the high school hockey players are stars, albeit stars who eventually graduate to manage small stores or work in the construction industry. And the house is creepy. Really creepy. And there's that evil presence from the past thing, but adeptly handled. I never once rolled my eyes. show less

In its dual structure of the present-day narration of Trevor and the past brought to life through his recorded "memory diary," The Guardians addresses the theme of masculinity, of what it is to 'be a man.' Much of the boyhood trauma which occurs (and no spoilers here, I assure you) requires the boys to take definitive steps toward a maturity they are arguably unprepared to take. In the present, we see said masculinity present in the mid-life crises of the men: Trevor, unable to commit and facing a slow decline into immobility; Randy, failed actor; and Carl, the saddest of them, vanished in a haze of dangerous activities.

All this may make it seem as if The Guardians is a ponderous slog though subtext, but Pyper keeps the story zipping show more along with verve. He does make the odd stumble - the main female character seems a bit too good to be true - but he displays, once again, a canny knack for characterization that feels warm and identifiable, an ability to put fully recognizable and sympathetic characters into great peril.

Read the rest of the review here. show less

The Good Stuff

* Extremely suspenseful and delightfully creepy at times
* It's got a Haunted House and I LOVE haunted house stories!!!!!
* Set in small town Ontario -- so it is very familiar to me -- even been to Grimshaw
* Canadian and not depressing - who would have thought
* Lots of twists and turns and surprises that you don't see coming
* Very wise commentary on youth and loss of innocense
* Did I mention Ghosts and Haunted Houses - what's not to love
* Will definitely be looking for other books by author -- love it when I find a good Canadian fiction author -- that doesn't depress the crap out of me or write about the frickin prairies
* It reminded me a little of "good" Stephen King stories like The Body, It and Bag of Bones show more without the icky stuff that King sometimes goes overboard with (Love you Stevie but still haven't totally forgiven you for Pet Cemetary)
* Heard that this book is under option to be made into a movie -- with the right director I think it would make an awesome flick

The Not so Good Stuff

* Some dry humour present, but would have liked a little more
* Small town Ontario isn't as bad as he makes it sound at times ; )
* Must go hug my two little boys and pray that nothing shitty happens like it does to the boys in the book
* Hmm might be discouraging Jesse about playing Hockey
* Prefer the cover of the Orion version -- more spooky looking -- although this cover is pretty good too

Favorite Quotes/Passages

"My father, not known for his wisdom (though he took runs at it on the nights he hit the sauce harder than usual), once told me something that has proven consistent with my experience; while a man can accumulate any number of acquaintances over his life, his only true friends are the ones he makes in his youth."

"But to me, there is something chilling in all the broken-down bastions of the divine, as though it will be here, and not in the indifferent, thrumming city, that the final wrestling of goods and evils will take place. And it won't be as showy as Revelation promised either; no beast rising from the sea, no serpent to tell seductive lies. When the reckoning takes place it will be quiet. And like all the bad done in Grimshaw, it will be known by many but spoken by none."

What I Learned

* Grimshaw sucks ; )
* Boyhood friends are friends for life-- must pay closer attention to Jake and Jesse's friends LOL

Who should/shouldn't read

* Fans of Stephen King will probably enjoy (I know I did & I love King's good stuff)
* Lovers of Ghost and Haunted House stories will really enjoy
* Actually think this would be a good one for everyone -- absolutely perfect read for a Cold Canadian winters night

4.5 Dewey's

I received this from Random House of Canada in exchange for an honest review -- Thanks guys for bringing my attention to a good Canadian fiction author show less

I loved this book and think it deserves to be where it is...on the best selling list of Canadian books (Number 2 on Maclean's Reading List). To me, it was one of the best horror novels I have ever read....as good or better than the best books of Stephen King. I was actually afraid at some points to turn the pages and continue but the story is so gripping and I cared about the characters so much, I had to.
I also enjoyed how small town life was portrayed in this novel, having grown up myself in a small town in Canada. There was the rink and the ubiquitous haunted house. But this is a book about more than just a haunted house. It is a great look at what is inside of us and about loyalty and friendship.
Pyper's Lost Girls was a great read show more as well....but he is getting better and I am looking forward towards his next project. show less

I've read a couple of Pyper's novels and this is where he's at his best: small Ontario town, a haunted house, a dark secret. It's my favourite kind of horror: creepy fear that builds over the pages where evil lurks in old seeping walls. The shadows and the unknown are scarier than the effects themselves. A perfect read for the Halloween season.

A great read. Very hard to put down- I read this book from cover to cover in one weekend.

Being from small town Southern Ontario, I very much appreciated and approved of Pyper's description of Grimshaw. While bleak, Pyper describes most of Ontario's small towns- the one bar, the hockey rink, the one grimy hotel, the dated "fine dining" restaurant that you were lucky to have your parents take you to on only the most important occasions, and, of course, the creepy house, barn, or forest you and your friends would dare eachother to enter when you walked past it after school. This book left me thinking of my own hometown, the friends I shared it with, and secrets it must hold that I never percieved.

"The Guardians" is a great haunted house show more tale, but at its heart is an exploration of the bonds you keep with your closest childhood friends. Readers will love its page-turning suspense and the solid ghost story. If you're from Southern Ontario, you'll love the added bonus of how this book paints a picture of the place you grew up in (even if Pyper's description of Grimshaw is likely darker than you remember your hometown ever being). show less

I'm torn.

Because on the one hand I really enjoyed this book. It was beautifully written and unlike so many of the ghost stories I've read recently it was actually a bit scary.

On the other hand, however, I am so fed up of books that explore the love between male friends and murder women to create manpain. They can be perfectly good books, but there are so many of them.

So, three stars. Unfair? Yep! Irrational? Double-Yep!