Today is DCR’s tourstop for Storytellers on Tour’s blog tour for Once Upon a Lane by Duncan Wilson! I’m excited to share my thoughts on this intriguing slice of life, suburban gothic tale! First, thank you to the amazing team over at Storytellers on Tour for the chance to hop on this blog tour with so many other fabulous bookish content creators! Make sure to pop by the |event page| over on SOT and give some love to the other hosts!
Published by Duncan Wilson on November 23, 2019
Genres: Fiction, Literary, General, Fantasy, Paranormal
Pages: 116
Format: eBook
Source: ARC
Goodreads
"There once was a lane, filled with well-tended lawns and well-fostered friendships, of well-appointed houses all neat and tidy and those that live within, of stories and mysteries that manifest for only fleeting moments for the few who pay attention. This is one such tale. A tale about pleasant people, about the lives they live, about their wants and dreams, about their loves and losses, their joys and hates, about their days and nights in the company of cherished companions in the houses they call home. In this tale of the happy little lives of blissful simple folk, there are monsters, to be sure. But this is not the story of monsters, this is not the tale of their evil deeds, this is the tale of those they make suffer. In this tale, the monsters have no names. The monsters do not deserve names."
A character driven slice-of-life story that follows the humble lives of the residents of a suburban neighborhood as they live and love, and about the house with the dead yard, a vacant lot, that sits among their homes, inert and immobile, yet intimidating and terrifying to any who look at it too long. The children of the lane are not the only ones who are fearful of the anomaly in their midst. Every adult upon the lane wonders why the structure still stands, with no known owner and no reason to be. The lingering question is not who owns the house, but why no one ever goes in or comes out, and why there are such ghastly noises emanating from within. Day by day, the happy people of the lane go about their tasks and trials, and day by day, the house with the dead yard seems a little more ominous, a little more intrusive, and a little less ignorable than before.
Once Upon a Lane is an enthralling story about a seemingly typical picturesque neighborhood. A colorful cast of neighbors go about their daily lives with a comforting routine; visiting friends, gardening, dodging rambunctious children on adventures filled with imagination. All of this carries on with an overarching mystery shifting from merely “who owns the dilapidated house with dead vegetation on the block” and “what are those odd noises at night?” to a host of weirdness that happens without most of the community even noticing. I think my tagline for this review is “Oh, that’s bizarre” or “Huh, that’s just creepy.” A dark, tense read, this is an excellent introduction to suburban gothic tales.
Notably, Wilson has crafted several vibrant characters to decorate the well-manicured neighborhood. Even though little time is spent with each, the characters feel familiar. It makes the marring of the simple domestic picture feel all the more jarring with that strange creepy house looming on the lane.
While I was thoroughly invested, I did struggle a bit with the writing. Most neighbors are granted screen time through a whirlwind head-hopping style. It felt almost like the opening of a commercial that follows people for just a moment until someone else walks by and then the camera shifts to follow that new character. I get twitchy if I have to keep more than two or three character POVs straight so this was a challenge for me as a reader. I found myself rereading portions because I couldn’t decide if I had missed something. I ended the book feeling frustrated with more questions than answers.
I have so many unanswered questions even after forcing this review to marinate for a while. If nothing else, Wilson has written an intriguing, creepy, mind-bending that has stuck with me. It was absolutely an entertaining way to spend some of my down time and I will keep an eye out for Wilson’s work in the future.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed a review copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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