Wicked Jenny

November 11, 2024
Hilton (Death Pact) takes on a classic trope—people involved with a horrible deed in their adolescence are threatened by something possibly supernatural as adults—in this middling horror novel. In 1988, teenager Andy Miller belongs to a group of five friends in northwestern England, one of whom, Carl Butler, has a sadistic streak. Two girls from their school—Melanie Bishop and her adoptive sister Poppy—encounter the group torturing frogs at a pond before going on their way—only to be viciously attacked. Andy and his pals were the last to see the sisters before someone bludgeoned them, killing Melanie and leaving Poppy with serious brain injuries. They suspect the assailant was Ian Nixon, an older boy reputed to be slow-witted, whom they’d seen nearby with a claw hammer, and report him to the police, leading to Ian’s arrest and suicide while in custody. Thirty-five years later, Carl is beaten to death, possibly by the legendary local monster Ginny Greenteeth. Whatever it was that killed Carl, it’s coming for the other four friends next. The final reveals are shocking but not particularly satisfying and Hilton isn’t successful at creating a spooky atmosphere. There’s little to make this stand out.

December 1, 2024
Most anyone opening Hilton's spooky new novel will likely be hit with memories of the 1986 film Stand by Me. And maybe Stephen King's The Body as well. They do have things in common: a gaggle of early adolescent boys frolicking in the woods come across something bad that changes their lives. The difference? The lads in the earlier works are a good sort. Hilton's boys like to ram a straw up a frog's anus and . . . never mind. And King's creations live foursquare in the present, while Hilton's sulk through a time warp--the 1980s, then the present, then back. We're in the present when the meanest of the group is brought down as a ghostly voice mocks, "you've been very, very bad." The others suffer really disturbing hauntings until they join forces and begin to investigate. A woman in white on a deserted roadway. A witchy creature who can't be photographed. Are these psychic phenomena or is somebody up to something? The inquiries open a new level of ghosting, but at least provide answers. Sort of.

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