‘Fever House’ – Keith Rosson (Black Crow Books)

 

Page Count: 515 Pages

After reading a couple of reviews for ‘Coffin Moon’, I was keen to find out, for myself, what Keith Rosson was all about. I couldn’t quite stretch to a hard-back copy of ‘Coffin Moon’ (that has since changed) so I thought I’d start with ‘Fever House’ and see where the journey took me. I’d already polished off a few chapters and as yesterday was a quiet one, I took the opportunity to sit in the comfy chair and see how far I could get with the rest of the book. The next thing I knew, it was the evening and I was finishing the last few pages. I can’t remember the last time that happened so that should really tell you all you need to know but that wouldn’t make for much of a post here. Lets see if I can go a little deeper than just a sentence… ;o)

A small-time criminal. A has-been rock star. A shadowy government agency. And a severed hand whose dark powers threaten to destroy them all.

When leg-breaker Hutch Holtz rolls up to a rundown apartment complex in Portland, Oregon, to collect overdue drug money, a severed hand is the last thing he expects to find stashed in the client’s refrigerator. Hutch quickly realizes that the hand induces uncontrollable madness: Anyone in its proximity is overcome with a boundless compulsion for violence. Within hours, catastrophic forces are set into motion: Dark-op government agents who have been desperately hunting for the hand are on Hutch’s tail, more of the city’s residents fall under its brutal influence, and suddenly all of Portland stands at the precipice of disaster...

But it’s all the same for Katherine Moriarty, a singer whose sudden fame and precipitous downfall were followed by the mysterious death of her estranged husband—suicide, allegedly. Her trauma has made her agoraphobic, shackled within the confines of her apartment. Her son, Nick, has moved home to care for her, quietly making his living working for Hutch’s boss.

When Hutch calls Nick in distress, looking for someone else to take the hand, Katherine and Nick are plunged into a global struggle that will decimate the walls of the carefully arranged life they’ve built. Mother and son must evade both crazed, bloodthirsty masses and deceitful government agents while exorcising family secrets that have risen from the dead—secrets, they soon discover, that might hold the very key to humanity’s survival.

I know I said it, at the top of this post, but it’s worth saying again; I don’t know where the time went while I was reading ‘Fever House’. Seriously, I was that engrossed in what was playing out here. I’m really glad that I took a chance and picked up the sequel (‘The Devil By Name’) at the same time, I can pretty much get going on it straight away.

Rosson aims ‘Fever House’ at any number of targets and hits every single one of them. Are you after an apocalyptic ‘end of days’ horror story with a fresh take on zombies (pun not intended but I’ll take it anyway)? ‘Fever House’ has got you covered with a gradual descent into chaos that opens with a severed hand, in a fridge, and ends with the city of Portland a literal hell-scape. To be honest, things aren’t looking great for the rest of the world either, that’s the scope we’re looking at here and Rosson leaves things hanging for the sequel. I’m not normally a fan of that but it is timed perfectly here and just works. Like I said, I’m really glad that I have the sequel all lined up and ready to go.

What’s that, you like some ‘shadowy conspiracy’ in your horror? Rosson has you covered here as well with tasty hints of machinations in the corridors of power combined with possible connections to a whole world outside our own. When you have government agencies lined up to deal with the failures of the previous agency, you know that you have an engaging plot on your hands. There is definitely plenty here for the reader to chew on (while zombies chew on the residents of Portland).

I’ll be honest, the ‘music bits’ left me a little cold to begin with, more a matter of personal taste than how Rosson handled them. If you’re in the boat as me though, I’d say stick with these moments as they all tie back into the plot, it’s not just background. And again, it’s all done superbly.

Honestly, reading ‘Fever House’ is just like watching it on the big screen. My attention was held by the thoroughly engaging plot and a real heady mix of action and horror; watching Portland burn was cinematic to say the least.

None of this would have been as good though without the level of detail that Rosson gives his cast. Your mileage may vary but from where I’m sat, horror just doesn’t work as well if you can’t see the impact that it has on people; not just the gore (although I never say no to that) but also how people stand or fall as a result. Rosson gives us a varied cast and a great deal of insight into what makes them tick; this approach is brilliantly handled as it incorporates the daily horror of someone’s life into the horror of this new situation. I’m thinking of Katherine Moriarty in particular who is facing her agoraphobia at the same time as she faces the end of the world.

I’m going to leave it here as I’m starting to circle the point where I end up repeating myself ;o) ‘Fever House’ has set up something pretty special and I’m very keen to see how it plays out in ‘The Devil By Name’. I’ll let you know how it goes.