A paranormal thriller/horror novel by Shawn Burgess, now also available as an audio book.
The parallels we find between fiction and real life at times can be ironic and unsettling at the same time. Shawn Burgess’s The Tear Collector is paranormal thriller/horror novel about a group of boys in a small town who are trying to help the police find their missing classmate, Margo Combs. She’s an autistic girl who has gone missing in the woods. As the clues come unraveled and bodies pile up, they realize that Grief Hollow, is more than just a name.
Shawn asked me to ARC read his novel months ago and I put it into my calendar for June 2019.
As I sat down to read Shawn’s story, a real-life version of this is rocked Anchorage, AK and the surrounding cities to their core. A 19-year-old special needs girl went missing at the beginning of June 2019, her body turned up a few days later on a popular hiking trail. The horror of what happened to her, and the callous disregard for human life has everyone asking, why?
At this point in the investigation, five teenagers have been arrested with conspiring to murder, sexual assault and other charges. A man in another state is being extradited to Alaska as part of the plot. There is so much that is terrifying about this tragic story that it is hard to wrap one’s mind around it. People often refer to Alaska as a “Little Big Town,” though large in area, it is small in population. Almost everyone I work with or know has some connection to someone involved in this case.
The fact that such evil exists in the human heart and mind is mind boggling. That someone who seems benign, who you interact with every day, could be plotting horrific murder. You almost wish there were a driving force behind it. Some sort of horrific greater evil that it could be blamed on.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/alaska-teens-accused-murder-bribed_n_5d090e5de4b06ad4d256bbf2
Shawn’s story, by contrast, is a more traditional paranormal/horror story. The adults don’t want to believe their eyes and senses. There must be a logical, “normal” explanation for the deaths and disappearances. A serial killer, animal attacks, kids just screwing around. The kids in his story, on the other hand are more in tune with their senses and are willing to believe what they see.
Shawn’s setting and characters hook you from the very start. When Brady tries to kill the tent caterpillars in Grief Hollow, you know this is not going to go well.
***I was shaking my head, thinking oh no, don’t do it! But then I think of some of the REALLY dumb things we did as kids. We’re lucky we didn’t end up dead, maimed, or in “Juvy.’
The story only grows darker as you move with the club of young boys, the “Markland X Crew,” through the small town of Harper Pass and the woods surrounding it. They try to not only find their missing classmate, but figure out who or what has “marked” its inhabitants. The Markland X Crew battles bullies, stalks their suspects, and tries to stay one step ahead of the supernatural evil stalking Harper Pass.
Setting
While The Tear Collector is supposed to be set in Appalachia, it could easily be transplanted to any small town. Even the one I grew up with, just exchange desert for woods. Shawn paints a vivid picture of small-town life, where everyone knows everyone else’s business. Grudges are carried through generations. For the kids, the world revolves around being in the popular crowd at school.
Characters
I have mentioned it in other reviews. I hate the question, “what is this story like?” or “What author is this writing like?” But I do have to admit the theme and style in this story reminded me greatly of two stories by Stephen King: IT and the Body (better known as the movie Stand by Me). It also kind of reminded me of a mash-up of the Monster Squad and the Sandlot. Shawn uses the themes of camaraderie and support as the boys of the Markland X Crew are forced to band together to unravel the mystery of Grief Hollow or suffer the same fate as their classmates.
I can think back to when I was a kid; and my brother, my cousin and myself would roam the trails, canyons and old abandoned mines of the Mojave Desert, solving mysteries and outwitting enemies in our heads. This story speaks to that innocent desire we have as children to solve the riddle that is baffling the adults, save the day and be the heroes.
When we realize that what is worrying the adults is that fact that when the mask is ripped off the monster, just like in Scooby-Doo, and what is beneath is revealed to be nothing more than another human, a little more of our innocence is stripped away. We start to grow up and deal with the harshness of reality. We realize that the monsters ARE other humans. We can’t spray holy water on it or wave an amulet and make everything right. The evil still exists even as the police lock it away, and the dead stay dead.
The characters he creates throughout the story are easy to invest in. Professor Wadlow, reminding me of a cross between “Scary-German-Guy” from Monster Squad and Laslow from Real Genius. Detective Holt trying to get on top of the pile of bodies and his crumbling personal life. Tee’s sister Angela, who just wants to head off to college and forget her part in the past troubles of Grief Hollow. But I will focus more on Shawn’s main characters below.
Brooks
He creates a believable and sympathetic character in Brooks Raker, for the most part our main character/narrator. Brooks is willing to do anything to join the Markland X Crew. Shawn shows us a somewhat awkward tweenaged boy with few friends.
My mom draws her head back, and her eyes grow wide; but after a moment her face lights up in a big smile too. She isn’t accustomed to me running off to play with friends, as in more than one.
His character reminded me of a cross between “Smalls” from the Sandlot and Gordie Lachance from Stand By Me. He has Smalls desire to fit in, but he’s not as innocent or gullible. Character wise, he’s a little more like Gordie, a young boy trying to figure out where he fits in the world. Brooks has realistic thoughts about girls and video games and even adult things. He is deeply empathetic to his friends’ emotional baggage, which we learn about as the story goes on. He is often the voice of reason to the rest of the group’s rash behavior. It is his initiation at the beginning of the story that sets him in juxtaposition to Sammy, the bully who already has it out for him. He ends up as the last person to see “Mysterious Margo” when he escapes from Sammy’s torture into the woods.
I enjoyed Brooks as a character. He has realistic hopes and fears of wanting to fit in, yet not wanting to get in trouble with either his parents or the law.
Shawn does a good job of slowly developing the trust between the boys in the Markland X Crew. Even though they have made a vow to one another as part of the club, their bond deepens as they realize they can’t turn to the adults with what is happening, they can only rely on one another, “brothers from another mother.”
“You guys are the best friends I’ve ever had. I’ll always be here for you. No matter what. Brothers.” My voice fractures, the tortured grimace on Robby’s face leaving my stomach as hollow as an empty grave. It’s not fair. Man… It’s just not fair. I deliver several soft pats on Robby’s back, moisture gathering in my eyes.
The Markland X Crew
The other boys of the Markland X Crew are believable and relatable as well.
Robby
Fatherless Robby, who covers his raw emotions over his father’s death with rash behavior and bravado.
As Devin’s face flounders, I feel the weight of everything unsaid pressing upon me, the sharp divide separating Devin from the truth of Robby. The boy in pain behind that carefully constructed mask. The boy who lost his dad but also his mother to the long work hours and two jobs she had to get to support them. How the church turned its back on Robby and his mother after his grandparents paid for a Disney trip following his dad’s death. How small-town grumblings, a secret stash of money, the family better off than they’re pretending to be, became rumor that’s accepted as fact. And how those rumors spread quick as wildfire in a small town like Harper Pass until the spigot of compassion runs dry. But it’s not my place to tell.
Tee
Tee is a sort of middle ground between steady Brooks and rash Robby.
“Keep your voice down, bro.” Devin pushes his palms at the ground.
“Come on, Tee. You’re the only one who can fit.”
“Yeah man. Don’t you want to save your friend Margo?”
Tee throws eye daggers at Devin. “She’s not my friend. You guys are my friends, but you’re not acting like it.”
Devin
Dev, the new kid in town. Shawn shows us a boy whose seeming reckless behavior is both a reflection of his desire to fit in with his new friends and a lack of understanding of the local myths and legends (that have the other boys fearful).
I’m not sure what to make of Devin. In the few hours I’ve known him, I’ve already determined he’s one of the bravest kids I’ve ever met. But I wonder what’s behind that bravery. Crazy or just curious? Maybe curious. We talked about it a lot. And he’s never been. Probably just doesn’t know any better.
Antagonist and Plot Resolution
Shawn uses a mash-up of science and myth to create his evil within the woods. I would love to tell you more, but at the risk of spoilers, I will refrain from delving into too much depth here. Perhaps after it has been out for a while, I will release my version of this review with spoilers.
I will say that our young heroes go on a nightmarish ride, often escaping by the skin of their teeth. They always adhere to the mantra that they never leave a member of Markland X Crew behind. When it is clear that they are all marked by this evil, they decide that they need to go face it together, rather than wait for it to destroy them one by one, reminding me of the teamwork and bravado of the children in Stephen King’s IT.
I gulp hard at Devin’s proclamation. We’re screwed! Can’t go to the police. Can’t go to our parents. Not like we can leave town. We’re sitting ducks.
Head-hopping/changing PoV
My one beef with the story was the PoV changes. We start out in 3rd person in the intro, jump to 1st person when we’re with Brooks, then jump back into 3rd person when we’re with other characters. I brought this up to Shawn in that I felt he should have just either stuck with Brooks in the 1st person the whole way or stayed in 3rd person with everyone. Unfortunately, at this point, it is a little late to change it.
Either way, it didn’t keep me from finishing the story. I read this straight through from start to finish, because I HAD to know what the thing in the woods was and if the Markland X Crew would come out on top. The story got more and more twisted as it went (just the way I like it). There’s a scene with a centipede that made me say out loud, “Shawn, what the f–k?”
Teaser
…his body like a giant centipede with a waxy, burned-umber exoskeleton banded black at the edges of its body segments. Dozens of spiny legs screech over the steel bumper, shimmying forward in unison. The long, dagger-like legs that taper to fine needlepoints at the tips slice through the clear coat on the hood of the car. Cam’s breathing devolves into unmeasured, frantic panting. His heart jackhammers in his chest at the grotesque sight of its glossy, alabaster underbelly passing over the windshield, his ears in a state of revulsion as its lance-like legs chisel out chunks of glass as it ascends. The roof creaks before groaning under the weight of the creature, the squeal of scraping metal serrating Cam’s eardrums as it pulls the last of his hideous body over the windshield.
And it only got worse from there…
Can’t wait for the sequel!
Thanks for reading! My own horror novella, The Dark Land, is available on Amazon. If you’re interested in Alaska backcountry horror, check it out.