Rate this book

Caretaker Of Lorne Field (2010)

by Dave Zeltserman(Favorite Author)

3.63 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1590205383 (ISBN13: 9781590205389)

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

Overlook

review 1: A possibly unreliable narrator, a rural town, an ancient pact, a terrible secret. In concept, "The Caretaker of Lorne Field" is "Frailty" meets "The Ruins" (with a hint of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” thrown in for good measure). The story centers on Jack Durkin, a man who quite literally carries the weight of the world on his shoulders while laboring as a town caretaker – just as his family has done for centuries – divesting a unique field of what the outside world believes are weeds. But Jack knows otherwise, he understands the true nature of the tiny little plants that he calls Aukowies. To Jack the stranglers are anything but ordinary, rather, they’re fiendish, sentient little creepers that if left to mature, will bring about the end of the world. He ... moreknows this because he’s been snuffing out the Aukowies his whole life, just like his father did before him, and his grandfather, and his grandfather’s father. In the days gone past, Jack’s caretaker position was venerated, he was the savior of his little town after all, but no longer. As the book opens, Jack’s under siege, his wife, his son, and most of the townspeople no longer believe in the Aukowies. They think Jack’s gone mad out in the heat, wasting his life in a shack, busting his hump plucking up the tiny plants 70, 80 hours a week for a petty little stipend. But is Jack truly unhinged, or is he the only one who can see things for how they really are? Without spoiling the rest of the story, the book moves briskly and does an excellent job fleshing out Jack and the mounting pressures he faces from his family, the town, modernity, and his ostensibly pedestrian job that’s slowly killing him.The book’s not perfect, of course. The ending is abrupt and disjointed, more time could have been spent on the history of Jack’s family, the Aukowies, and some of the peripheral characters are not believable and/or one note, particularly a few of the townspeople and Jack’s wife who makes a wholly unbelievable attempt to capitalize on the purported legend of the Aukowies. But these quibbles are small and the story as a whole is very enjoyable and would have made an excellent “Twilight Zone” episode (paging Charles Beaumont) back in the day.
review 2: I struggle mightily to find good modern horror. (If you have recommendations, please, share them.) So the "shortlisted for best horror novel of 2010" sucked me in ... but I gotta dispute the assertion.Caretaker would've made a great short story. And it's not exactly like I was bored or felt there were swathes to chop (ah, pun if you've read it!), but I have no idea why it took 244 pages to tell the tale. (Had to look up the printed length, as it's awfully hard to judge on a Kindle.)Anyway. Interesting idea. less

Download links for: Caretaker of Lorne Field

Advertising