Grotesque horror, gallows humour and taut suspense

I SOMETIMES wonder about the voluntary suspension of disbelief. How much will we swallow and overlook to immerse ourselves in a gripping story? Writers sometimes place high demands by way of credulity from readers, play cat and mouse with them or mix genres as they please. With varying degrees of success.

S.E. Tolsen is the pseudonym of the couple Emma Olsen and Vere Tindale. Bunny, their first book, is adapted from a screenplay they wrote, Crepuscular, which was nominated for Best Feature Screenplay at the 2018 Renegade Film Festival in Atlanta, Georgia. The novel was awarded Best Horror Novel at the Aurealis Awards in Australia last year.

I believe one should read outside one's comfort zone and taste preferences. Horror in any form or format normally repels me, but I have tested the waters here. See, the premise is supernatural. I've never struggled with willing suspension of disbelief – after all, it's for the sake of the story. I make room for all kinds of phenomena. I watched Days of Our Lives in the 1980s when the goody-two-shoes Marlena was possessed by a demon, sported red eyes, and acted randomly evil. One makes concessions and who even knows what is possible?

So the story drew me in: Silas, a boy growing up with his hard-drinking, promiscuous mother, Lou-Lou, and her drunken sister, Bunny. When Lou-Lou goes on dates with men, Bunny babysits. Silas is terrified of her because sometimes someone else appears in her green eyes and she mercilessly mocks and tortures him.

The plot shifts forward to Silas as a young man with a sweet girlfriend, Rose, and an irresistible dog, Goober. He seems to have survived his abusive childhood. But then a script he and Rose are writing is conditionally accepted, provided they work on it full-time for a few months and make certain changes. This means they have to leave their jobs and are not able to pay the rent. So they retreat to the house of abominations on the edge of the forest in which Silas grew up. Bunny, too, is still there, and her beauty has perished; she is a consummate alcoholic, incoherent, wild and evil.

Slimy malice, and the love of a dog

Then the plot shifts backwards again to more horrors in Silas's tender youth. And forward, to the present in his mother's house. Things aren't at all well and the trio – Silas, Rose and Goober – more or less barricade themselves in the room of his childhood, across from Bunny's room. However, Bunny can walk through walls, crawl upside down on the ceiling like Spiderman and she is very interested in Rose.

Their script is progressing at a brisk pace and they're trying to survive. It's one of the most striking representations of the landscape in a dog's head, almost like the consciousness of the rhinoceros in Decima. The dog is intuitive and represents pure love and goodness as opposed to the slimy malice of Bunny, the vehicle and host of evil. I'm not going to tell you about all the terrifying attacks – if that's your thing, feel free to read it. This couple can write.

I was furious about the ending and wanted to tear up the book, but passed it on to a friend who is into horror. She described it as freaky, and one scene in particular – which I'm not going to describe – is worse than anything she's ever seen in a horror movie.

Bunny by S.E. Tolsen was published by MacMillan Australia and costs R360 at Graffiti.

Bella Mackie's What a Way to Go is also quite horrifying, highly suspenseful, and often funny. Parts are narrated by a dead man, Anthony. He believes he was murdered, but can't remember what happened at his 60th birthday party when he fell into a man-made lake and was impaled by a spike. He was super wealthy, deadly charming, egotistical, successful and selfish. Many people would have wanted him out of the way, not least the wife on whom he cheated so often.

He finds himself in a kind of in-between world, a waiting room, with even more red tape than in life. He has to fill out all kinds of forms, obey rules, and can't move on until he remembers how he died and achieves closure. He is allowed to watch his bereaved relatives on monitors. They don't shed a tear for him and he suspects them all in turn.

Greedy, with a head full of schemes

It is also told from the point of view of his wife, Olivia – also shallow and greedy, with a head full of schemes. She has no love for her children. They are spoilt brats, lazy and demanding, with expensive habits.

It then comes to light that Anthony was running a Ponzi scheme and had defrauded all their friends and hordes of people of their savings. The number of suspects continues to rise and still, he remembers nothing.

It's entertaining, but there really isn't a single character the reader can like or identify with. Everyone is thuggish. One reads to solve the mystery. There are quite a few twists in the tale. Tongue-in-cheek horror, if that's your thing.

What a Way to Go by Bella Mackie was published by HarperCollins and costs R297 at Exclusive Books.

In Jeffrey Archer's previous book, Traitors Gate, British villain Miles Faulkner tried to steal the Crown Jewels and detective William Warwick had to thwart him. They're both back in his latest, An Eye for an Eye – an elegant crime novel.

Faulkner is in prison now, but not for long. Simon Hartley is instructed by the British prime minister to seal an arms deal with Saudi Arabia in Dubai. There he is led into a trap by a villainous middleman, pal of the defence minister's son, an evil swindler.

The Black Prince, as the minister's son is called, stabs a Dutch rival for the arms contract with a dagger in front of an entire exclusive club. The middleman blames Simon Hartley for the murder and bribes everyone in the club to back up his story. Everyone except the woman the fight was about. Of course, her life is worth nothing now. Simon is summarily jailed in Dubai and his ambassador is kept away from him.

Elegant and loaded with suspense

Simon's father has recently died and his will is contested. There is a Constable painting and the original version of the Declaration of Independence at stake; big money. Faulkner feverishly dreams of vengeance against Warwick, who had got him into prison. He uses these two intrigues to perfect his master plan. After all, the title suggests revenge. It becomes a race against time.

It's typical Archer: elegant, smart and full of suspense. He fulfils his contract with the reader.

An Eye for an Eye by Jeffrey Archer was published by HarperCollins and costs R358 at Exclusive Books.

What are we watching?

Crepuscular Rays Discussed and Explained: 

♦ VWB ♦

BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION: Go to the bottom of this page to share your opinion. We look forward to hearing from you.