Review: The Sorrows

The Sorrows by Jonathan Janz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review of THE SORROWS by Jonathan Janz

Accomplished horror author Jonathan Janz not only brings his characters to life, not only delineates them, but strips his characters (and readers) right to the bone. Reading THE SORROWS (in this case, rereading its new publication after several years) is like a kind of emotional skinning: the reader discovers all unwittingly all sorts of secrets contained in our lives and genes, of which we have been blissfully unaware. The author's X-ray vision exposes to us his characters, and in so doing, exposes ourselves to our unflinching witness, as well.

THE SORROWS is not just a title, but the appellation of an incredible former residence, a castle, on a wildly isolated island some distance off the California coast, and also the title of a musical composition (allegedly penned by the original owner, a traumatizing individual who was the son of a famous composer and in his megalomania determined that he would be every bit as excellent, if not more so). Please note I wrote “traumatizing,” not “traumatized.” There is dysfunction and then there is this character. Incredibly evil. Then there is THE SORROWS itself, and the island on which it stands. If a genius loci can be said to magnify what is in a person's soul, then THE SORROWS and its island do exactly that, and maximally.

THE SORROWS is not a book you walk away from. Once you commence reading, it owns you.
Forever.

View all my reviews