Gethsemane Hall: A NovelDavid Annandale
Dundurn, August 2012
ISBN: 978-1459702257
The skeptics think they know what's going on at Gethsemane Hall. So do the religious. So do the spiritualists. They're all wrong. Richard Gray, grieving over the loss of his wife and daughter, learns that his ancestral home holds the secret of what lies beyond the grave. And all of a sudden, everybody wants a piece of Gethsemane Hall.
Following the death of his wife and daughter, philanthropist Richard Gray returns to his ancestral family home, the titular Gethsemane Hall. The rambling house, nestled in the British countryside near the village of Roseminster, was the home of Saint Rose the Evangelist, and has long been thought touched by spiritual forces. When a CIA agent kills himself on the grounds, a group of disparate people converges on the house, some seeking to debunk the stories, others to celebrate the spiritual presence. What they find, however, is the stuff of nightmares.
At its core, Gethsemane Hall is an exploration of religious faith versus cynicism versus spiritual belief in the face of unexplained phenomena. Each of the main characters, excluding Richard Gray, falls immediately into one of those categories and has their belief structure thoroughly tested if not destroyed by the events that follow.
Gethsemane Hall is a cerebral sort of horror, briefly hinting at what’s to come with only visceral moments of violence and blood to punctuate the unsettling tone that hangs over each word. The tension spikes suddenly at appropriate, organic moments that never feel forced or tacked on out of necessity. This is not a predictable, expository story nor is it a simple mystery to unravel. The questions continue to build as the story goes on in conjunction with the growth, or deconstruction, of the characters and comes to what is simply a disturbingly satisfying conclusion.
DAVID ANNANDALE is the author of Crown Fire, Kornukopia, and The Valedictorians, thrillers featuring rogue warrior Jen Blaylock. His short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies of horror fiction. He teaches literature and film at the University of Manitoba and lives in Winnipeg.
ISBN: 978-1459702257; ISBN10: 1459702255; Imprint: Dundurn; On Sale: 8/13/2012; Format: Paperback; Pages: 304; $22.99
