Date of Review:

10/16/2008

Published Work:

A Gathering of Doorways

Reviewer:

Carl Hays

Source:

Booklist

Review Excerpt:

In his third novel, speculative-fiction rising star Jasper offers a finely nuanced blend of fantasy and horror centering on a salesman turned organic farmer who confronts an unusual terror in the woods surrounding his land. Gil and his wife, Melissa, are already facing some serious disillusionment about their quixotic move to the country when their son Noah disappears into the forest under Gil’s watch. Still reeling from the stillbirth of the couple’s second child, Gil faces the grim task of not only finding Noah but protecting his family from the diabolical denizens of the shadowy world around and below their property that he dubs “The Undercity.” Jasper shifts the narrative between Gil’s trek into the forest, Melissa’s battle with self-inflicted guilt while conducting her own confusing search, and Noah’s more innocent encounters with the mythical, dragon-like creatures that live beneath the forest’s earthen floor. Jasper demonstrates a sure hand in balancing his imaginative rendering of middle-class angst with the familiar supernatural ingredients of a 1980s-era horror novel.

Link to Full Review:

A Gathering of Doorways Review