Review: Episode Thirteen
I was browsing around the library looking for a book and ran in to Craig DiLouie‘s name. He’s a horror author who mailed me a pre-print years ago for no reason I could possibly think of. I mean, this blog has a very select audience. Meaning that a couple people who know me and a ton of bots read it. But I liked Paranoia when he sent it to me so when I saw he was selling books, I picked one up.
Episode Thirteen is a horror story on a reality TV ghostbusting show. It’s told in an epistolary fashion, which basically means it’s a found footage telling. He plays the inter-cast drama, the is-this-real-or-not questions, and the mounting spookiness to keep the tension ratcheted up.
Overall the effect is like popping on a good horror flick on. The characters are all archetypal enough that you can get a handle on them quickly, but have enough breath of life in them that they’re believable. The epistolary method nicely mimics the feeling of a found footage horror movie. And the plot zips along well enough to cover the found footage holes.
Covering the found footage holes is a good test for me in a found footage/epistolary story. There are inherent difficulties to getting your characters to expose themselves through text or film that could reasonably turn up later and still be believable. If the story engages me enough that I don’t fixate on those limitations, the author is in business. And DiLouie is here.
Recommended.