The Canal

Surreal.

Eloquently scribed (written doesn't seem to fit the tone of the tale) in a liquid, almost stream of conciousness way, this book is hard to describe. A James Joycian horror where the thrust of the distortion is as much reflected in the real world actions as it is my the twists in the figures that move through it - or should that be the other way around?

Memorable, the density of writing sometimes hard to read, this book is probably going to get pushed onto the shelves near the murder/mysteries where it doesn't belong, simply because its the easiest place to put it.

The segue between murder investigation and 'something else' comes gradually, and the book might have been improved by hastening this - though that is very much a show more judgement call which others may disagree with, just as the love of word and phrase which so perfectly fits the internal landscape of the story and its end does not, necessarily, fit so comfortably with the crime/thriller beginning.

Overall, I doubt I'll be re-reading this - but I *will* be remembering the title and suggesting it to the few people I know who like 'horror noir' and this style of writing.

So ... I vacillate over the rating to give this. For myself, maybe one or two stars because of my genre and stylistic preferences - but that's short-changing it. Of its type, this book is good, very good, and so ... I think to do otherwise than give it four would be to judge it unfairly, like assuming tall people are stupid because their heads are too far from the ground.

If you like horror which follows you home in the well-lit streets and shimmies in while you're thinking about the day at work, instead of making an entry wrapped theatrically in hooded cloak with smoke machines and over-loud sound effects labouring, read this.

But check the door is locked first.

...oh, and make sure you have the only key... show less

The Canal is a SICK book. Sick, sick, sick. And, no, I'm not using slang here. This book, at times, made me feel physically ill.

If you've ever driven past an automotive accident, or a train wreck, or any other sort of thing that's truly, terribly horrible, you'll know that it's next to impossible to look away.

The Canal was like that accident, that wreck, but not in the way most people would call a book a "complete train wreck."

The writing was fluid. Fluid. Ugh. With a tinge (tinge...) of stream of consciousness. The book's voice drifts around the characters, like a lazy, psychic gnat, flying in and out of their brains before finding juicier prey. The characters, who all seem to have some extreme forms of psychosis, live in a city that show more has a canal. In this canal dumps, daily, all the filth and retch and badness of the humans nearby. Also dumped here are bodies after a kill.

Joe Lombardi, who is that guy who never bathes, perpetually stinks, and doesn't seem to commit himself to his job as a police officer, but nevertheless, he gets total respect, as he has an uncanny knack for solving canal-related crimes. His partner, Alan D'Angelo, is an extreme Felix Unger to Joe's Oscar Madison. His dream is to solve a Canal crime before Joe, so he can turn the respect away from the filthy man, and get it on pristine him.

When a bizarre murder happens in the Canal, it's a race to the finish: Joe uses the bizarre powers of the Canal itself, while Alan uses good old police procedural.

This book, while labeled a "horror," is more a "grosser." Sure, it has scary elements, but the true terror comes from the visceral descriptions of everyday things, and the even more everyday descriptions of visceral things. You'll probably wish you had bleach for your mind's eye after reading this book. But at the same time, you'll have read a really captivating story.

Not recommended for the squeamish, but otherwise, recommended. show less

Morris is a craftsman and words are his medium. The Canal is subtitled “A Horror Story” but Morris’ use of words make it a fairy tale of phantasms. He is the practitioner of a lost art. Some might say it is an art best lost but anyone can write a horrible story using beautiful language. It takes skill to paint a horror story with words the way Morris has. If you like to be horrified when you read this book probably isn’t for you because it’s too beautiful to cause fear. Perhaps I was too busy admiring his turn of a phrase to enter into the story and suspend disbelief. If the intent was to terrify readers Morris has failed. If his intent was to engross readers by creating a beautiful story while preventing it being lovely and show more sappy then he has succeeded. The characterisation is profound; they have depth, they are hard and yet soft; Stereotypical and yet not. I would recommend this book to most readers but I think it needs to be marketed to early teens while cutting back on some of the profanity. show less

This is a well written book, with clever and inventive use of language. The author seems to have cornered the market on the description of dirt, filth and disease. In contrast to this is the constant reminder of cleanliness of a main character, to the point of obsession. There are some clever metaphors through out the book especially linked to dirt and health.
It reminds me of those short horror stories from the 60’s with opaque characters whose existence is intrinsic to the plot. It is not a light read, but the momentum is fast paced. I enjoyed the plot, but did so want the book to end.

As the subtitle for this book states, it is, indeed, a horror story. It is not for the squeamish or faint of heart or those whose stomach might churn at graphic descriptions of the goriest gore imaginable. If you are up for that, then this is a pretty entertaining book of this genre. I don't think the writing is wonderful, but it seems to have gotten better towards the end of the book. In fact, I think the the best writing in the book took place in the finale, as it built up to a grand crescendo, or as us gamers would call it, "the boss fight". In the final few chapters of the book, I thought the writing might even border on poetical; that type of poetry that I don't understand and so tend to avoid and possibly not even recognize.

The show more story centers around a canal. The canal truly is the central character of this book. Not just any canal, but a vile, toxic sludge filled canal that gives off an abysmal miasma. A canal in which the Toxic Avenger would have felt at home. The "other" main cast of characters consists of two cops--two absolutely, completely 100% opposite human beings. Joe, who is a bona fide expert at solving all murder cases and crimes that are connected to the canal; and Alan, who though lower down the ranks than Joe, fancies himself taking top spot. Joe comes across as a very filthy, ungroomed, and downright disgusting version of the bumbling Columbo style. Alan is the very epitome of OCD. Everything about him is sparkling clean and smells fresh. He can't abide the filthiness and disgusting aura of Joe and aims to get him off the force. To that effect, he wants to discover Joe's secrets to canal crime solving. What he doesn't know is that Joe has secrets of his own. Those secrets hold the key to Joe's intimate connection to the lethal canal.

A string of murders have taken place and they are truly horrific, gory cases. The bodies have been found dangling from bridges over the canal or alongside the canal. With Joe pushed aside, Alan soon discovers he is in way over his head and sinking fast. As things start to unravel, Joe and Alan are propelled towards each other and Alan finds out his own survival, and his family's survival depend on Joe. show less

I received this book through Member Giveaway as well as some of the other reviewers. I downloaded it to my kindle and started to read it with no expectations. I was BLOWN AWAY. This book was everything I'd always wanted in a horror story. I've been disappointed time and again by stories pretending to be scary only to turn into "coincidence" or preaching about how Jesus could have saved these people. Ugh. No thank you. This book was dark, scary, horrifying, gorey, intriguing, mesmerizing and just flat out engrossing. I felt like the characters popped right off the page and was uneasy when I wasn't reading. I finished this book in two days only because at 3am my husband told me to go to sleep (as I get up before six with the kids). I show more couldn't believe how fast the time had flown while I read, I was that engrossed. This book had me nervous about what was going to happen to the characters, even when I wasn't reading. There was one point where I actually sat up in bed and couldn't lay back down until I knew that character was still alive. I cannot praise this book enough. It is not for the faint of heart but if you are looking for a horror story that grips you and doesn't let go until the end this is your book. I figured out the twist before it was revealed but not until close to the end. And to be fair, that made me want to find out what happened all the more. I hope to read more from Daniel Morris in the future.
This review was posted on Amazon as well. show less

This is a very entertaining read. The title suggests that it will be a tale of horror, but I did not feel that the author restricted himself to this description exclusively. This tale weaves storylines of science fiction and murder mystery with a touch of romance here and there. Following detectives Alan and Joe, two unlikely partners, as they try to solve the murders that are cropping up, I couldn’t help but become entranced by the pervasive neurotic dichotomy presented by Alan and Joe’s partnership. The characters are fun and the story is written in an engaging flowing style. The reader, from the very beginning, is drawn into a world where you can smell the smells and feel the grit all around them.