I might begin to have a preference for books with historical timelines, because of how much these authors create a perfect transition between those timelines, .. the present age.
However, this novel spans between 1865/1866, and 1635.
It is very easy to make things scary in movies. Ghosts, apparitions, zombies, and the likes. Just the perfect acting, and everything is as scary as it should seem.
However, what I really love is when someone literally attempts to creates a sense of deeply heart-thumping fear around something you wouldn’t expect, like a novel.
And this is exactly what the author, Laura Purcell does with this novel, "The Silent Companion".
"The Silent Companion" is a gothic story, that spans between two eras.
The very first chapter of this novel, leaves you with an anticipation, that forces you to keep flipping through its pages. The book introduces the protagonist, Elsie in a psychiatric hospital or, what it could have been called in the 1860s, a “mental asylum”.
Elsie is feared by both her co patients, and the nurses. She puts up a semblance of a murderer, and a patient to be deeply feared, even earning herself the name "Murderess", until a young doctor shows up and threatens to break information, and every facade she has put in place to avoid being asked too many questions about what really happened.
"The Silent Companion" is a creepily sinister novel that perfectly blends Gothic horror and historical horror in a chilling way.
This novel, tells the gripping horrific story of Elsie who, after moving into her husband’s ancestral home, as a widow, becomes a totally different person haunted by ghosts, and figurines, and things they tell you to stay away from in horror movies.
The plot flashes through a series of past events from Elsie’s life, that eventually blends with first-person diary entries from the life of Anne Bainbridge who resided at The Bridge, the same home in 1635, and continually builds as we’re slowly introduced to the house, and its supposedly creepy inhabitants.
It’s a difficult to review this novel, and thoroughly explain the plot without giving away too much spoilers.
Elsie moves into this new manor home and first finds a life-sized, almost human-looking, wooden figurine stored in the attic. At first glance, although weird, it's just a figurine, until it's not.
If and only if this strange looking figurine would stay in the attic.
As expected, it horrifically starts to move.
I say horrifically, because years of watching horror movies, has taught me that strange things around the house, eventually starts to move.
However, for this figurine, who was called "The Silent Companion" by the first inhabitant of the house, Annie, it first moves just the eyes. And then, it soon starts popping up in different rooms around the house.
Like a virus, the figurine disease begins to spread, and various figurines appear, and then others, and soon the figurines are multiplying like bees attracted to honey, throughout the entire house until you can’t get away from any of them.
It doesn't also help that sawdust constantly covers the floor, no matter how much the maids sweep, or how much they clean.
Also, every night Elsie hears the low, scary, scraping sounds of their inanimate horrific wooden feet moving across the floor, each on their own, and that is when things begin to go really bad.
Realistically, at the first sight of a strange looking figurine, in the "attic" of all places, known to hide a lot of horrific things, I would have moved out. I wouldn't even stay to see them multiply, or even move their wooden inanimate feet's around the house.
Earlier on, in the novel, before you really get into it, you see that Elsie is afraid of the wooden desk in her hospital room. She's even scared of pencils, and does a fast double take at the sight of trees.
And at first, it just keeps you wondering why, until you find out.
The goosebumps when I get into the plot, and find out, leaves me looking at every wooden object in my house with suspicion.
It doesn't even help that I have a strange looking wooden table.
I was so scared and creeped out when reading this novel, that I don't know if to say I loved it. The characters almost seemed to real. The author made sure they embodied their roles so well, that I was forced to think for the fraction of a second, if Elsie was real.
Of course, I wouldn't want Elsie to be real, because I can't imagine anyone going through what she did.
The plot is beautifully written and detailed to the last. The author flashes across both eras so well, and still manages to keep the readers in both suspense and deep dear.
There's so much creepy and suspense in this novel, that I might be forced to say would make me love to get into the imagination of this author. However, I would take a pause on that, because who knows how many creepier things I'll find in there.
Should you read "The Silent Companion"? Well, if you’re looking forward to an excellent scare, then I definitely recommend this novel.
If you’re into novels about witchcrafts, then you’ll most assuredly also appreciate this one.
It has a tiny bit of everything, for everyone.
This novel has officially made it to the list of the scariest novels I've read this year.