Cold Moon Over Babylon

Written before Blackwater: The Complete Saga, but containing a lot of similarities, especially the "swampy" aesthetic where you can feel the waterlogged moldy houses smelling rank from the page. Unlike Blackwater, which to my mind transcends just being a horror story, and flirts with being a generational epic, Cold Moon Over Babylon had a much clearer mission statement; it's a ghost story, and a good one - but the most horrific aspects of the story don't lie so much in the supernatural as with the mundane thriller that precedes it. It's in marrying real life drama with a haunting edge McDowell shines, giving the stories a grounding and investment they need to sell the rest.

Great Southern Gothic feel to a pretty solidly ghost story. There's some murders early on, but McDowell takes his time getting to the supernatural horror, and it's worth every minute. When the ghosts finally appear, you know everything there is to know about a sleepy, backward little town with a ruling family who owns everything and everyone. The real horrors, the townspeople and all their sugary mendaciousness, runs through the whole book, and I think that was the author's point. Because, by the time the bad people get theirs, the town's lack of innocence is exposed and the good people have paid the price.

The basic premise of the book follows a young girl's murder and the town's reaction to it; the town's refusal to look at where the show more guilt for the murder and much more should lay. It's Southern Gothic for its setting in a small Florida town along a fictional river, named Styx. show less

'Cold Moon Over Babylon’ is a story of violent supernatural revenge wrought on a small town in Florida after a young girl is murdered. Reading that you might be thinking 'Scary creature slasher story with screaming teens being picked off. Been there. Done that. Change channels.' but this time you'd be wrong.

'Cold Moon Over Babylon' isn't a trope twist. Published in 1980, it pre-dates most of the tropes. It isn't a something you can sit back from, munching popcorn and cheering when the person dumb enough to go into the dark cellar alone after hearing a weird noise finally gets theirs. This is horror that doesn't allow you the luxury of emotional distance, doesn't follow a well-trodden path and doesn't go away when you close the show more book.

This is because Michael McDowell writes with great power. He allows time for the reader to feel the pain and grief caused by the bad things that happen rather than going for the splashy thrill of the arterial spurt. He makes the people real, which makes the evil done to and by them, real.

The book reminds me of a steam train. Like that first flurry of steam and scream of the whistle when the train starts, the noise of violent death at the beginning of the book grabs the attention at once. Then movement feels slow, almost ponderous. The chaotic noise of released steam is replaced by the quiet rhythm of wheels starting to turn under power. You don't notice the speed and momentum of the train until the next bad things happen and then you realise that the train is unstoppable and is going to smash your emotions.

Babylon is a small town where the same families have known each other for generations. McDowell's descriptions of small-town life, its people and their challenges feel real. His descriptions of the sudden deaths and shocking violence that start the novel are vivid and textured. When the violence triggers a supernatural response, the response also feels real.

The most frightening force in the book isn't supernatural, it's human. Evil, twisted, repugnant but entirely human and entirely believable. That the revenge against this evil included not just returning the violence inflicted but destroying the sanity and dignity of the person being punished was deeply satisfying.

The juxtaposition of a detailed description everyday small-town life with acts of human violence and supernatural revenge amplifies the emotional impact of the killings, making the violence more tragic and the vengeance well-deserved.

The scene where the corpse of the missing girl is recovered is an example of how McDowell gives his writing power. The body recovery scene is one I've seen in countless TV crime dramas. I know how it goes. It's sad but it's the first step towards catching the bad guy. Except when McDowell writes it, all that distance disappears. I didn't see a body and evidence or hear the tick of a clockwork plot advancing. I saw raw grief. I felt the true horror that totally overwhelms the people that it strikes. I saw something broken and lost that could never be fixed or returned. I had to stop and let that pass through me before I could read more.

The plot of the book didn't go quite where I expected. The resolution it offered was as stark. It offered no comfort, just revenge and revenge, even the supernatural kind, brings only mutual destruction.

Scott Brick was the perfect choice as the narrator for this book. His tone is implacable. His accents are perfect and the voices of his characters easy to recognise. Click on the SoundCloud link below to hear a sample.


https://soundcloud.com/audiolibrary-a/cold-moon-over-babylon-by-michael-mcdowell...


You may also be interested in reading McDowell's 'The Elementals' which, for me, pretty much defines Southern Gothic show less

When I read The Elementals last year I thought that it was my first experience with Michael McDowell's work. It wasn't until recently that his was the pen behind such classic movies as Beetlejuice and Nightmare Before Christmas. He also wrote episodes for many anthology series such as Tales from the Darkside, Amazing Stories, Tales from the Crypt, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In short, McDowell played a significant role in shaping my love of dark fiction. In the golden age of horror, few authors could tap into that glorious creepiness that is Southern Gothic as well as McDowell. His passing at age 49 was a severe blow to the genre.
Set in a small Florida Panhandle town lying near the ominously named River Styx, Cold Moon Over Babylon show more is a deliciously creepy tale of revenge from beyond the grave. I loved it and highly recommend it even if I could see the final outcome from a mile away.
(Note: I wrote the last sentence while there was still 50 pages left in case there is a great twist at the end which I wouldn't want to spoil.)
My thanks to the folks at the On the Southern Literary Trail group on GoodReads for giving me the opportunity to read and discuss this and many other fine books with others. show less

I absolutely hated the character of Belinda, the sheriff’s teenage daughter. The way she talked, all her cutesy sayings, made me want to vomit. Seriously, I almost quit reading because of her.

This is a classic ghost story. Well written it starts a little slow, then builds to an exciting second half. Once the haunting starts it escalates quickly. I was rooting for the ghost to get revenge on her murderer. He is truly a terrible person. I liked the portrayal of small town life. When everyone is so close to everyone else, it is hard to imagine your neighbor is a murderer.

Babylon, a small community in the Florida panhandle near the Styx River, is the setting of this superb example of Gothic horror. Evelyn Larkin lost her son and daughter-in-law several years ago to the Styx when the two ran their fishing boat into a nest of poisonous snakes leaving her alone to raise her two grandchildren, Jerry and Margaret. When Margaret goes missing, her body is later found stabbed and chained to her bicycle at the bottom of the Styx. Evelyn accuses a local banker, whom she has had argument with over an overdue mortgage, of the murder. Others believe that it is a male teacher that Margaret was particularly fond. When Margaret is found to have been pregnant during the autopsy, the sheriff believes that the murderer may show more be the father. The family wants justice and if the sheriff doesn’t want to obtain it, the dead will.

The author, now deceased, was the screenwriter for the movies, Beetlejuice and The Nightmare before Christmas. This novel was a perfect choice for Halloween. It had me both flipping pages and not wanting to turn the page to see what happened next. Be warned that this is not a novel to be read in a quiet house on evening with a full moon shining on the lawn. show less

This is an excellent crime story combined with colourful horror overtones! The setting is in the deep south of the US in the small neighbourhood of Babylon. From the beginning I could feel the heat and the tension and the fear that was about to stalk this rural community. The characters came alive especially the hard working Larkin family; Grandma Evelyn, Jerry and Margaret Larkin trying to earn a meagre living by growing blueberries and selling at the local market. One day on the way home from school Margaret Larkin meets a stranger and this encounter has some long lasting repercussions..."A man leapt out of the dense shrubbery. He dashed into the middle of the road. His movement was at first so rapid that she could make out nothing of show more his appearance but that he was very dark. Then he was still, with his strong legs placed wide apart over the centre line, his long arms rigidly outstretched to halt her. Above his black pants, the hair on his chest was so thick, the skin beneath it so deeply tanned, that she did not immediately realize he wore no shirt. Covering his head was a black leather hood, tight-fitting and fastened on the side, with slits cut out above the eyes."

There is a murderer at large in Babylon and the reason he targets the Larkin family becomes apparent as the story develops. As the body count mounts an evil presence makes itself known and will not rest until some form of justice is dispensed. I thought this was a thrilling story combining my two favourite genres crime and fiction, written by an author I have only recently been introduced to and I look forward to reading his remaining works. show less