The Remaking by Clay McLeod Chapman
Published 8th October 2019 by Quirk Books
Star Rating - ****
Goodreads Challenge - 58/50
I was gifted a copy of this book, unsolicited, from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis (from Goodreads)
Inspired by a true story, this supernatural thriller for fans of horror and true crime follows a tale as it evolves every twenty years—with terrifying results.
Ella Louise has lived in the woods surrounding Pilot’s Creek, Virginia, for nearly a decade. Publicly, she and her daughter Jessica are shunned by their upper-crust family and the Pilot’s Creek residents. Privately, desperate townspeople visit her apothecary for a cure to what ails them—until Ella Louise is blamed for the death of a prominent customer. Accused of witchcraft, both mother and daughter are burned at the stake in the middle of the night. Ella Louise’s burial site is never found, but the little girl has the most famous grave in the South: a steel-reinforced coffin surrounded by a fence of interconnected white crosses.
Their story will take the shape of an urban legend as it’s told around a campfire by a man forever marked by his boyhood encounters with Jessica. Decades later, a boy at that campfire will cast Amber Pendleton as Jessica in a ’70s horror movie inspired by the Witch Girl of Pilot’s Creek. Amber’s experiences on that set and its meta-remake in the ’90s will ripple through pop culture, ruining her life and career after she becomes the target of a witch hunt. Amber’s best chance to break the cycle of horror comes when a true-crime investigator tracks her down to interview her for his popular podcast. But will this final act of storytelling redeem her—or will it bring the story full circle, ready to be told once again? And again. And again…
Ella Louise has lived in the woods surrounding Pilot’s Creek, Virginia, for nearly a decade. Publicly, she and her daughter Jessica are shunned by their upper-crust family and the Pilot’s Creek residents. Privately, desperate townspeople visit her apothecary for a cure to what ails them—until Ella Louise is blamed for the death of a prominent customer. Accused of witchcraft, both mother and daughter are burned at the stake in the middle of the night. Ella Louise’s burial site is never found, but the little girl has the most famous grave in the South: a steel-reinforced coffin surrounded by a fence of interconnected white crosses.
Their story will take the shape of an urban legend as it’s told around a campfire by a man forever marked by his boyhood encounters with Jessica. Decades later, a boy at that campfire will cast Amber Pendleton as Jessica in a ’70s horror movie inspired by the Witch Girl of Pilot’s Creek. Amber’s experiences on that set and its meta-remake in the ’90s will ripple through pop culture, ruining her life and career after she becomes the target of a witch hunt. Amber’s best chance to break the cycle of horror comes when a true-crime investigator tracks her down to interview her for his popular podcast. But will this final act of storytelling redeem her—or will it bring the story full circle, ready to be told once again? And again. And again…
My Thoughts
| I was sent this book unsolicited from the publisher and I'm usually quite wary of unsolicited review copies but this one sounded so intriguing I couldn't help but give it a go. The synopsis of this one sounded perfect for the Halloween season and I was right. The story was creepy and the writing style was extremely atmospheric which made it the perfect Halloween read. The thing I loved most about this one was the storytelling. I loved the way the author told the story using four different timelines all following the same urban legend. We started at the beginning with the original legend and then moved through the years with the remakes, but it all linked back to the very beginning. It was really clever, all of the stories interconnected well and I think this made the story quite unique. Not only did the stories connect but so did the characters. Our female MC was featured in all 3 of the remake story lines and all of the male MCs had the same traits. I'm not really sure how I feel about the male characters, which is the reason why I gave this one 4 stars. Each of them came across as quite possessive of the story they were telling and therefore the female MC however, this did fit quite well with the story and definitely added to the creepy vibe. Overall I quite enjoyed this one. It was very creepy and atmospheric and definitely makes a great Halloween read, perfect for the spooky season.
Overall Rating
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