Hex By Thomas Olde Heuvelt Book Review

 Hex 

(Robert Grim #1)

By Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Nancy Forest-Filer 

Published Year: 2016( English version ) 

Page Count: 384 pages 

Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader 

Genre: Horror, Gothic, Supernatural Horror, Psychological, Thriller, witches, Gore and Macabre, Mob madness, Mystery, Fantasy, 2026-read.

Rating: 5/5 😎😎😎😎😎 

This is a strong, unwavering 5 pointer for me. I mean, gosh. This has all the elements that always raised my hair on end. I have always feared falling a victim to mass madness, mass hysteria. I have feared coming in touch and falling on the bad side of a supernatural,evil entity. I always feared being made to choose between those of my family. Its like this book is written by taking all my fears into a mortar and beating or churning out a psychological thriller that is not just addictive but unforgettable. This book is very immersive. The writing/translation from dutch is flawless and brilliant. This story places a hook in the reader from page one and doesn't let go untill the last page. Even then it is hard to forget. I mean everything we consider important like fame, success, material comforts fade into insignificance in the face of such mad, supernatural horror that is unleashed by a bunch of stupid kids playing pranks. I agree what started as a joke and a need for solicitation from the outer world turned nasty and ridiculously spiteful. But even so, the repercussions are really strong and crushing. The witch seeking vengeance for not just the horror commited on her by the kids but by all the humans of her time bursts out in one go - like in an explosion. It is uncanny.

Katherine Van Vyler is a witch and has been present in the fictitious American town of Black Spring for over three centuries. She was executed for witchcraft in 1664 and had been present in a human like body around the town. She can disappear and appear wherever she wants, at her will. Some 350 years ago, the priests of that town have sutured up her eyes and mouth. So she can't see or talk. Those that hear her whispers, get intense, unshakable thoughts of suicide and melancholy, hopelessness of life. If someone from the town plans to leave or go on a vacation for any length of time, they will be inspired by suicidal thoughts and immense despair. So the people of the town can't share their menace with the outer world, can't escape the confines of the town, can't even find hapiness outside the limits of this blasted, cursed town. 

During all this time people have been leaving her to her own devices and random wanderings thereby living a peaceful co-existence. But a bunch of kids get into their heads to reveal of this nightmare to the outer world and also prove to their town that the witch is not so dangerous as they feared. Initially it goes as a fun attempt in which the witch falls onto her butt, hitting a pole set in her path. She doesn't do anything. Then one of the boys develops more sinister plans to torture the witch. He tears her clothes and exposes her nipples, sets a dog onto her.  She accepts them initially without retaliation but later gets vengeance to her heart's content. She sinks the town into madness. The events and the details involving this transition chilled me to my bone. They are a must read. Made me reconsider about love and what it means to live in freedom - not just democracy but real freedom to go where my mind wants. Its like all the people forced to stay in the town with no escape outside are unleashed from sanity and non-violence .. they torch everyone they consider compromised and disembowel, burn innocent kids and others of their town. Its like a pressure cooker blowing up with all pent up emotions simmering! 

What stood out for me in this book is parents choosing sides over their children. It was an enduring theme through out the book. I wondered if it is possible that parents choose sides and are ok with this arrangement in their households. Steve Grant loved his elder son Tyler and his wife loved their younger Matt. Tyler has always been benevolent and considerate to Katherine but after his death, his burial plans are decided by Steve rather than the parents together. Felt strange. And then the children who were torturing Katherine after the dog is murdered - didn't they learn their lesson? Didn't they see her warning that they let her alone? How could they drag her through another of their abominable behaviours? I had also found strange is that clearly Katherine was the reason behind all that had gone wrong with the town but the author tried to show as if she was a silent spectator to the bedlam that resulted from her release. She was seen chanting and uttering words from an old language that created fear in the people who heard .. so how is she exempt from blame? 

I saw the story deviating from the ordinary and the established in a number of ways. Here we don't see the victory of good over evil. In fact there is no demarcation between the two. Everyone falls victim - irrespective of their natures or involvement in the episode of torturing Katherine and stoning her. I see no fairness in this. What happened to Robert Grim? He is the hero right. But the only one who seemed to have survived the ordeal is Steve Grant and he too barely. He is a monster himself for what he had done to all and to his own family,isn't he?!