‘The Salt Grows Heavy’ – Cassandra Khaw (Titan Books)

 

Page Count: 125 Pages

‘The Salt Grows Heavy’ has only sat on the TBR Pile since February this year; that’s actually not bad going, given how long certain other books (naming no names…) have gone unread. What’s the longest you’ve had a book sit unread in your TBR Pile? No judgment here ;o)

And, look at me…De-railing my own post before it has even got going. Sorry, yesterday was one of those kind of days (you know the ones). Lets try again.

I’ve been trying to get on top of the piles of books in my living room (not literally, although that could be fun) and while sorting through one pile, I found my copy of ‘The Salt Grows Heavy’, nestled between two old Abaddon Books collections. I needed a little break from my current read and the slender page count (and blurb) suggested a short, but intriguing, diversion.

So I settled down for a read, yesterday evening, and…

Myths are full of lies.
This is not one of them.

Fleeing the downfall of an empire, a mermaid and her plague doctor companion escape into the eerie shadows of a wintery forest.

Amongst the bark and snow they are drawn into ancient games for ageless children – a murderous hunt of blood and sacrifice – deep in the woods, where three who call themselves ‘saints’ rule over them all like gods.

Trapped in a feverish nightmare of masked monsters, stitches and surgeons, and needle teeth, the mermaid must embrace all of her cruelty and hungers to free the children.

‘The Salt Grows Heavy’ is a book that’s easy to miss when it’s sandwiched between other, thicker, books. Once I got reading though, that swiftly changed; this was a book that demanded I finish it in one sitting and I was more than happy to oblige.

The setting is deliciously creepy (our world but a strangely timeless one, definitely adding to the atmosphere) and Khaw proceeds to make it more so with the introduction of the two leads and what they must face in the forest. Murderous children are always scary and surgeons, well… I don’t need to say any more, do I? It’s what Khaw does with them though that really makes this story sing its horror, and sadness at the same time.

Khaw’s lyrical prose really highlights the body horror (well, there are surgeons here…) but once you really get under the skin of the plot, pun slightly intended, there is even more horror to be found in the ties that we find binding the mermaid, the plague doctor, the children and even the Surgeons themselves. From where I was sat, this was very much about the horror of abuse and the horror that our two leads continue to face as survivors. Khaw also asks serious questions about whether a survivor has any responsibility to protect those in a similar situation. Of our two leads, one would take that responsibility but the other doesn’t see why they should. And I totally get both sides here, that’s what’s so great about this book.

What really went in, for me, though is that Khaw really understands that hope lies right at the heart of all the best horror (okay, maybe not cosmic horror but you know what I mean). You can come out the other side and be better, or stronger, for the experience. When you look at this book as a re-telling of ‘The Little Mermaid’, that becomes very apparent and watching the mermaid make that journey was a big reason that I was caught by this book.

‘The Salt Grows Heavy’ was a superb read then (I’ve done well for that this week) and one that I’m glad I found in the TBR Pile. I’ve got a few more books (okay, a load more…) books to work through first but I’m keen to give more of Khaw’s work a shot on the strength of this novella.