Point Pleasant by Jen Archer Wood
★★★★★
Genre: Horror, LGBT, Romance, Mystery
Synopsis:
Ben Wisehart grew up in the idyllic town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. An early encounter with the supernatural shaped his worldview and served as the catalyst for his career as a bestselling horror writer.
Ben left Point Pleasant at the age of twenty. Thirteen years after abandoning his home, he returns to the town to investigate the apparent reemergence of the terrifying creature responsible for his childhood nightmares.
In Point Pleasant, Ben is confronted not only by the town’s resident monster, the Mothman, but also by Nicholas Nolan, Ben’s former best friend. Together, with Bill Tucker—the old recluse who lives on the edge of town—Ben and Nicholas uncover the mystery of the monster in the woods and discover that the ghosts that haunt us are sometimes made of flesh and blood. And sometimes, they lead us home.
Review:
I read this a year ago before it was edited and published, and thought it was the bee's knees. When I heard that it was going to be published as a novel, I was incredibly excited. The author of this novel is a lovely lady who is originally only an hour and a half away from where I live, and is currently living in the city of my dreams. But now onto the actual book.
It opens on a flashback to Ben and Nicholas as 12 year old boys, and they are in the middle of the action, right off the top. It hooks you in immediately, and before you know it, you can't put the book down anymore.
The story of Ben and Nicholas as adults is beautiful and breathtaking. Their evolution as people and characters from the first page to the last is completely believable and human in a setting and plot the farthest thing from ordinary. The people, the town, and the conflicts betweeen characters ground us among the rather terrifying and supernatural occurences enveloping the small town of Point Pleasant. The author tackles issues such as rejection, identity, love, hate, acceptance, loss, the concept of home, and the ability to believe and have faith with such precision and honesty, it causes the reader to look and think about their life.
The mythology and lore used in this story is well researched and fits. It is actually believable, even some of the more outlandish bits. It mixes Native American, urban and religious lore into one story. In fact, the story as a whole does not fall into one specific genre or another. There is horror, there is mystery, there is romance. But life does not fall into one category, either.
For me personally, this story made me look at my life and the concept of home in a whole new way. I felt at home with Ben and Nick and in their world. This book is my comfort book, one that I have revisited many times in the past, and will continue to do so in the future.
The illustrations for each chapter capture the tone of the novel perfectly.
As a writer, I find this book a masterpiece. I hope to be able to achieve the same things as this author, to be as skilled as her in writing and storytelling.
It's beautiful and made with love. I think we'd all be lucky to read more stories like this.
** Special note: Point Pleasant has one of the highest ratings I've ever seen on Goodreads, currently at 4.76 with 123 ratings.**
"His smile was like a Dylan album and a cup of coffee on a sunny afternoon." - Point Pleasant
I absolutely suggest you read this book. You will not be dissapointed.
Other Books By This Author: Point Pleasant is Jen Archer Wood's first novel. She is planning on releasing a second independent novel titled Camera Obscura in early 2014.
