I’m still trying to read a few more 2014 books before the end of the year, and next up is Edgar Cantero’s The Supernatural Enhancements. In short, I loved it, even though I had one good reason not to.
It’s part mystery, part puzzle, part supernatural (of course) thriller, part horror, and humor. The whole premise was extremely clever, and I loved the interactions between the main characters. But I don’t think I entirely understood the ending. However (she says quickly) I don’t think the ending was badly written. It’s just that there are so many details and plot points to remember, I think it’d be hard to get everything on the first pass.
The main character A (that’s it, you only get “A” for his name, but the author dances around that so well it never seems weird) has inherited a mansion, so he and his young friend Niamh travel from England to Virginia to move in.
Here we see one of my favorite parts of the book: Niamh. The way the author writes her is just brilliant: she’s funny, sarcastic, adorable, a tiny badass, and completely mute. Every interaction between her and A is either a conversation half-written in her notebook, or it’s just descriptions of her gestures and expressions. I can’t imagine how hard that was to pull off, a main character that’s so eloquent without ever speaking a word. And it never gets awkward or clunky, their “conversations” are always very natural.
Her written notes make up my other favorite part of the book: the entire story is told through A’s diary, letters to his aunt, Niamh’s notes, security camera transcripts, telegrams, or other found footage. The whole book reads like someone set a box of notes in front of you and you’re reading them one by one. You discover things at the exact same time as the characters, and since this isn’t a story written down long after the events, you’re never quite sure if anybody telling the story is safe.
A and Niamh quickly find out that the house has a very creepy history, and the previous owner was heading up some kind of game, or treasure hunt, or cult, or possibly all three. Finding out what happened involves A’s dream journal and a lot of cryptography, and if you’re not paying attention it can get confusing fast.
Without giving anything away, you find out that everyone is playing the game for different reasons, and in the end the game has much more serious consequences than anyone suspected. Well, almost anyone.
By the end of the book I mostly knew what had happened, but there are a few plot points and one dramatic reveal that went a little over my head. But like I said, I don’t think this is the fault of the author. With all the information he throws at you, and all the important details hidden between the funny conversations, it might take more than one reading of the book to get it, which I usually don’t have the patience for.
I’m already up to page 102. It’s even more fun the second time around.