Simone and Her Books

I’ve been on a weird kick lately reading a lot of books featuring demons, possession, the fight between heaven and hell, good and evil, etc. It’s a weird little kick and I think I’ve reached the pinnacle with Boys in the Valley by Philip Fracassi.

The book takes place in a small orphanage somewhere in the Delaware valley right at the turn of the 20th century. For all intents and purposes, this was your average orphanage where there was never enough to eat and all the kids were subject to some cruel punishment at the hands of the priests in charge. You have dirt under your fingers, you don’t get dinner. You talk back to the priests, you get the leather strap. If you’re quite problematic, well, then they put you in the hole, which is something one of the brothers learned from his time in prison.

Yup, just your average orphanage where the kids don’t get adopted, age out, and then become miners or farmers somewhere far away. Life isn’t easy with not enough to eat and chores too exhausting to do with little in their stomachs. You know, average life of a orphaned boy at the turn of the century.

That is until the night the local authority bring in a man covered in scars, weird tattoos, and blood and the priests unleash an evil that possesses the boys at the orphanage. You can only imagine what ensues next.

In terms of horror stories, I’ve read scarier. But as Stephen King so aptly put it on the front cover of the book, it’s “old-school horror.” It reminds me a lot of my teenage years reading The Exorcist and having that feeling of dread at the pit of your stomach. You’re wondering to yourself if the outcome is going to be good. Will good triumph over evil? Will they able to save this little girl from her sad fate? That’s kind of what you’re getting from this one and not some cheap jump scares to get you out of your seat. The horrors are there. I mean, you have kids possessed by demons causing destruction and butchering a horse so badly you can’t even tell it’s a horse anymore. But it’s more the rising suspense. It’s knowing that something is about to happen but you can’t figure out what it is just yet and it’s until the final page of the book that you feel the sweet release of anticipating. Satisfaction most definitely brought back this cat.

One of the key components of this book is that it’s set in the perspective of one of the boys. Peter is nearly old enough to leave the orphanage. One of the other priests has high hopes that he’ll join the ranks of the church and help them run the place without the cruel punishments and intolerant oldies. But Peter has bigger plans for himself. He wants to get married and have a family of his own, but struggles with the decision because of the dark and twisted past he came from.

While you’re reading, you get to know more about Peter and you realize slowly that this is a hero’s story and Peter is at the center. The one who will save the rest from the demons possessing the little boys. The one who is smart enough to know what’s really going on while the other fathers are all scratching their heads as to why a kid who’s never been a problem would hang himself at the chapel altar. You know, he’s smart. It was incredible to watch Peter step into this role. While he has been with the kids, playing father figure to the young ones, this is the moment that you’re hoping for in a hero’s journey. It’s that switch from “eh, I don’t know. I don’t think I can save the world,” to “oh wow. yeah I guess I’m doing the thing.”

This level of growth in a character is what I want to see. I want to see the goofy kid who can’t decide marrying the girl of his dreams or becoming a priest fall into the role of hero out of necessity because there’s more to care about in the given situation than his reputation or even his life. This is the kind of story that I absolutely love to read.

And while the ending will surprise you (trust me, I’m still reeling at what happens), it still satisfies. There’s still that hint of hope that despite all the horrors these kids somehow survived, they’re going to live…perhaps with a couple hundred hours of therapy.

Overall, this was such a great, fast-paced novel that I devoured all too quickly. It’s my first from Philip Fracassi and I already have the next one of his lined up. Thanks to Tor Nightfire for the gifted copy of this book.