“‘Some people were born just so they could be buried’
In Knockemstiff, Ohio, war veteran Willard can’t save his beautiful wife, Charlotte, from a slow death by cancer no matter how much sacrificial blood he pours on his ‘prayer log’.
Carl and Sandy Henderson, a husband-and-wife team of serial killers, trawl America’s highways searching for suitable models to photograph and exterminate.
Preacher Roy and his crippled virtuoso-guitar-playing sidekick are running from the law.
And caught in the middle of all this is Arvin, Willard and Charlotte’s orphaned son, looking for answers…” - Taken from the blurb
[Warning: Some content may cause readers distress!]
Well, this novel was really different to some that I have read in the past. At first I found it quite slow with the storyline; not much happened in the first few chapters but once it got going it really went somewhere!
This was recommended to me by my mother as the movie was coming out soon, starring a lot of big names. I decided to give it a go, thinking it would be a simple story where not much happens. I must say first, a lot of people die. Of course any book where serial killers are main characters is going to have a lot of death, but there is death where there didn’t need to be! I mean, these poor people cannot get a break!
[Spoilers Ahead!]
To start with the story opens with Arvin as a young boy, living with his parents, a loving and beautiful mother, and his tough and somewhat aggressive father. The reader is then transported back to when Arvin’s parents meet, Willard a former soldier and Charlotte a waitress. Willard has come home from the war, a little bitter and on edge from horrific scenes he has witnessed, such as his friends dying. After stopping off at a small restaurant, where he meets Charlotte - their short encounter lingers in his mind - Willard travels home to his mother, Emma, to whom he tells all about Charlotte. Emma, a God fearing woman, wishes he would marry fellow church-goer Helen. A few years later, Willard has married Charlotte and Helen has married Roy, a travelling preacher who is adored by his crippled partner, Theodore. It becomes clear that Theodore may be in love with Roy, as he convinces him to kill Helen. Roy believes he can resurrect anything and anyone as the Lord’s connection with him is strong. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, Helen does not resurrect, and dies, leaving their very small daughter, Lenora, alone with Roy and Theodore. Knowing that this is going to get them into trouble, the two men send the child to live with Emma, since she was very fond of Helen.
Back with Willard and Charlotte, Arvin is 9 years old when his mother starts losing her battle with cancer and Willard is trying to keep her alive by praying at a log in the local woods. He brainwashes Arvin to do the same, claiming that not doing this will cause her to die. Charlotte dies when Arvin is 10, which makes his father go into a state of depression and kills himself by slitting his throat at the prayer log. Arvin is now all alone so is taken to live with his grandmother, Emma. Lenora is a few years younger than him, and admires him greatly, growing up to believe that they were orphaned together for a reason. Arvin sees the girl as his sister, protecting her in school when she is bullied for being a strong believer in God and for her strange ways.
We jump over to Sandy and Carl Henderson, serial killers who go travelling around America looking for young male victims, or what they call ‘Models’ as Carl takes photographs of the bloodied victim and his wife in provocative positions. The couple have many issues, but Sandy wanting out of this lifestyle is a big one. Sandy’s brother is Sheriff Lee Bodecker, the same Sheriff who helped Arvin when his parents died. Talk about a small world!
Now, this story was fairly heavy for a late night read, but I did find it quite pacey. Lots of people dying and some explicit sexual language which some readers may find difficult to read. It didn’t feel like it slowed down at any point - maybe slow to begin with - but in every chapter there was something new to find out. The character development was interesting, there weren’t really any particularly good characters or bad characters, which may be Pollock’s way of saying there are simply just people trying to survive in a cruel world. Okay, perhaps people like Lenora, Helen, Emma, and Charlotte are good, and Arvin was only taking the justice system into his own hands. Pollock’s characters seriously make readers take a good look at themselves and think about what they might do in these situations.
Despite the theme of death running throughout, religion is a key theme that brings all the characters together. From the preachers at Emma's church, to Willard's home-made prayer log. Perhaps the representation of religion in this book demonstrates that faith cannot bring much other than faith itself. Faith cannot make you a good person, only morality can do that.
I found that I wasn’t necessarily connected or emotionally invested in any character which made it easier when they died. I suppose this could be a reflection of how the news presents the deaths of strangers, we feel sadness but there is still indifference. I think towards the end, once the characters had been developed completely, I started to warm up to them. Like I said, Pollock seems to create a magnifying glass showing that there are no good people or bad people, just people.
I enjoyed the different character perspective, however, I occasionally found it distracting when the reader would have to learn about an irrelevant character, for example the bus driver Willard talks to. Some things could be explained in a sentence and not a full on flash back. Yet, in a way, this added to the distant emotional connection the reader might have. Learning about numerous characters in one go may cause readers to feel objective towards them.
Overall, I did think this was a great story. Anyone who knows me, knows I love dark literature, all things scary and gory. I decided to give a star for the characters, whether you loved them or felt nothing for them, I felt they reflected humans in every aspect, the pathetic, sadistic, loving, generous, and twisted nature of homo sapiens. I’m giving another star for the darkness of the storyline, I love a bit of death in a book and there was a LOT in this one! Another star for the way the book was written, I liked that there was always something happening, it didn’t stick to one character, there was a chop and change occasionally - which definitely kept my attention span. And I think I’ll give it another star simply because I enjoyed it so much, I think I read it in a couple of days, which for me is quick! Four stars it is for The Devil All The Time, and I am very curious to see how this translates to the big screen!
★★★★☆
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