Anchor's Heart by Cavan Scott

Publisher – Absinthe Books

Published – Out Now

Price – £18 hardback £2.99 ebook via PS Publishing website

Paramedic Mark Poole is subletting his aunt’s flat as he recovers from a work-related breakdown. He fills his days with helping the neighbour with her garden, doing odd jobs, trying not to think about the call that resulted in his having to take a leave of absence. When he hears a voice that no one else seems to hear, sees things that no one else seems to notice, the house next door assumes a darker significance and he determines to find out what’s going on, who it is that needs his help?

His search opens the floodgates to more strange occurrences, and soon Mark is fighting for his life―or his sanity, if he’s wrong, as his friends insist he is.

Some places scream there will be a horror story here – dark forest, creepy manor house etc all do and yet some tend not to. Suburbia is…a bit too normal? All those nice houses, ordinary people and regular routines don’t really scream imminent danger…or do they? Suburbs are often a little ..too.. ordered, everyone fenced off from each other and while a community by definition not one where you really know everyone (talking to the neighbours??? arghhh). What really happens behind the nice door and curtains? In Cavan Scott’s very enthralling horror novella Anchor’s Heart a broken man finds himself trying to get to the bottom of a mystery on the other side of the fence but may lose his sanity or even life in the process.

Mark is a paramedic on leave after a breakdown experienced at work after one horrific encounter too many. He is avoiding his friends, family, his employer and apart from drinking and trying to learn to do gardening for his neighbour his life is aimless and importantly quiet. That is until he starts to hear a strange tune and then get a memory that is not his own. Mark’s attention is drawn to the smart house next door and the owner the quiet and largely left alone yet enigmatic Hawkridge. But Mark continually gets haunted by this tune in his head that no one else hears; he sees things that no one else can and very soon realises no one believes him so he will have to investigate himself.

What wins you very over in this tale is Mark’s voice. Scott beautifully and tragically sets the scene for how Mark broke down and Mark’s style of storytelling is simple but hiding a lot of pain. Just one tragic experience too many can break anyone. It’s a great example of the reader picking up a lot of hidden emotion under the said words. He is extremely likeable but lost. As such when the weirdness arrives in spades we fear he is less intrepid investigator and more likely next victim.

That weirdness though is very well handled. We are in the classic sort of tale where one innocent sees and hears things no one else can and the Mark finds the more people shake their head sadly at their neigh bour going mad. What I think works is Mark captures the isolation of suburbia. There may be people we speak to, share a household job with but they know us in slight encounters only never have deep conversations and if there is someone people dislike or don’t trust yet we just tend to ignore them and not get involved. This all leads to Hawkridge who we find has various secrets and unanswered questions everyone has left well alone bar Mark. Poor Mark then has to suffer having realities switch on him and his desperation for answers gets him into more and more danger. We feel his is being played with and suspect ulterior motives for this strangeness

I really enjoyed the switching of realities and Mark having to make sense of it all. You can feel in his narration his growing desperation and fear for his sanity but also that this is giving him some long-missed focus and a cause. You want him to succeed but this may all be too much. The end is overall very satisfying and climactic, but could I feel, have just needed a little more explanation but with horror sometimes we just have to accept bad things happen to good people anywhere. Overall Anchor’s heart is a fine horror tale using a different but often sinister setting to tell a modern scary tale and its emotional hits are delivered very very well and a very enjoyable read. Well worth your time!